United States: Joe Biden's effigy beaten by participants in a Republican event

Several people at the Republican Party's "A Grand Ol' Party: Johnson County Road to Red Event" in Johnson County last Friday attacked an effigy of Joe Biden, according to video footage posted on the Rumble platform, popular with the American extreme right, as reported by the American daily The Kansas City Star. Subsequently removed, the video was however shared by several accounts on the social network X (formerly Twitter). We see Republican activists punching the representation of the current American president in the face, while others kick him on the chest. Still others use a foam bat to attack the model, who is wearing a “Let's Go Brandon” t-shirt, a political slogan used as an insult by anti-Bidens.

The event took place during the fundraiser held at the Overland Park Convention Center in Kansas. Guests included American rock musician Ted Nugent and former Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline.

Former Kansas Republican Grand Old Party (GOP) Chairman Mike Kuckelman posted photos from the event on his Facebook account on Saturday. “This conduct is shameful, and it is WRONG,” he condemned on the social network. He also called for the resignation of current Kansas GOP Chairman Mike Brown, as well as that of Johnson County Republican Party Chair Maria Holiday. “Republicans, especially elected Republicans, must demand the resignations of Brown and Holiday. Silence is complicity in this case,” he continued.

“I don’t agree with President Biden’s policies, but he’s a human being. No one should tolerate or defend this horrific and shameful conduct,” Kuckelman added. Republicans, too, would have been outraged when Kathy Griffin “engaged in similar shameful conduct against President Trump,” he recalls. This American comedian caused controversy in 2017 after sharing a photo in which she poses with the decapitated head of Donald Trump.

“The mask was regrettable and was removed,” Maria Holiday responded in a statement, according to the New York Times. “This booth was organized by a karate school to promote their self-defense course,” she said in an email, according to the American newspaper The Kansas City Star, before going on to explain that the message posted by Kuckelman on Facebook is “full of inaccuracies.” While Mike Kuckelman said in his message that those at the event were invited to “beat Biden's effigy with a baseball bat in exchange for a donation,” Maria Holiday said in the statement, according to the New York Times, that "no one raised or solicited any funds or donations in exchange for use of the training device."