Ty Masterson had a lot to say about witchcraft while speaking at a Wichita church this weekend.

“Like I said, my opponent, she didn’t even hide it,” Masterson added. “She talked—they had witch—I mean, they’re doing like witchcraft spells on TikTok so she can win the governorship. I mean, they’re like … it’s like demonic stuff that they’re doing, right? Just in your face that way.”

  • Slashme@lemmy.worldEnglish
    24·
    12 hours ago

    To save you a click:

    The state senator had seemingly drawn his conclusions from a series of playful TikTok videos posted by Holscher’s 20-year-old daughter, Maddie, who had shared clips of her and her mom brushing their teeth set to a song from the Wicked soundtrack.

    “Casting a spell so my mom wins Kansas Governor except she’s so done with me,” Maddie Holscher captioned one clip from April, in which she waves her arms around her mother.

      • Slashme@lemmy.worldEnglish
        72·
        12 hours ago

        Gullibility isn’t reserved for Republicans though. Just look at how many people were eager to believe that a Yandex datacenter being hit meant that a Russian bot farm got taken out and that it was affecting online discourse.

  • Formfiller@lemmy.worldEnglish
    182·
    16 hours ago

    I figured this was going to start soon. I have made friends with a Murder in my neighborhood, I am related to two accused witches one of whom was hung in Salem and I own a black cat so I expect to be named in the upcoming witch trials too.

  • Séimhe (sé / é)@lemmy.worldEnglish
    67·
    20 hours ago

    Question from another part of the world: do they believe this nonsense, or do they just think their voter base believe it, or is it just a shared excuse for misogyny? I’m so lost.

    • CapuccinoCoretto@lemmy.worldEnglish
      11·
      16 hours ago

      I used to say: " They are not that stupid, they think you’re that stupid."

      Now I say: They they aren’t that stupid, they know you’re that stupid.

    • ProjectAzar@lemmy.worldEnglish
      32·
      20 hours ago

      Kansan here, Masterson probably doesn’t believe it, but I also bet he’s not entirely sure. There will be a small subset of voters who actually believe it because the American Heresy is strong. The vast majority of his voters/Kansans will literally never hear about this. And if they did, my guess is that most wouldn’t believe it and most wouldn’t change their vote if they heard about it.

      Party loyalty is dumb.

    • DigitalTraveler42@lemmy.worldEnglish
      26·
      20 hours ago

      It’s dehumanization language, make the enemy an “other”.

      Some are true believers, but most seem to treat it like a football game or something mentally where as long as their team or the one issue they vote (usually abortion, bigotry or guns) is satisfied they don’t care about all the other performative crap.

    • kat_angstrom@lemmy.worldEnglish
      231·
      20 hours ago

      Unfortunately, a large percentage of the Christian population in North America actually believes that witchcraft is A Real Thing that needs to be fought against tooth and nail. I was raised by people like this, who believe to this day that Harry Potter is evil because “spells” and “magic” are evil, as though they’re some kind of insidious gateway to hell itself. It’s madness. :)

        • idiomaddict@lemmy.worldEnglish
          9·
          11 hours ago

          That’s literally their issue with it. The thinking goes, if you’re essentially praying, but not praying to god, then you must be working with the devil.

      • starblursd@lemmy.zipEnglish
        17·
        19 hours ago

        Well they weren’t entirely wrong on Harry Potter… Books about spells and magic may not be evil but their author sure is 🤣

    • GuyFawkesV@lemmy.worldEnglish
      71·
      18 hours ago

      I’m not sure if the speaker actually believes it. He’s a slimeball. But yeah far too many people here will. I hate what it’s gonna take to fix this, or else a millennia of darkness. ☹️

  • finallymadeanaccount@lemmy.worldEnglish
    121·
    17 hours ago

    So his opponent is practicing her Freedom of Religion. In this instance, Wicca. If he’s a solid Catholic, he’s free to go drink the literal blood and eat the literal flesh of Jesus (after transubstantiation) during mass. By the same token, she should be free to perform whatever spell/s she likes. That doesn’t make her ‘demonic’. Unless she’s literally summoning demons, in which case, Masterson needs to play The Best Song in the World.

    • Dæmon S.@catodon.rocksPortuguês
      1·
      3 hours ago

      Exactly!

      Unless she’s literally summoning demons

      …and even then, just like Neo-charismatic movement evangelicals summoning their “Holy Ghost” which makes them speak in tongues, it’d be Freedom of Religion.

      !nottheonion@lemmy.world

  • Miller@lemmy.worldEnglish
    7·
    19 hours ago

    When we said if you don’t have dirt on your opponent then make it up we meant something like misappropriation of funds.

    • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.worldEnglish
      21·
      3 hours ago

      Go pray on TikTok, then.

      You can’t, on account of the Communist Chinese Censorship which only allows Antifa Wiccans to channel their dark arts.

      • fartographer@lemmy.worldEnglish
        2·
        52 minutes ago

        God is dead and infinite scroll feeds killed him. That and Starbucks cancelling Christmas every year.