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MAGA Cultist Pastor Mark Burns Makes A Third Run For Congress

Right-wing pastor(link is external), conspiracy theorist(link is external), and unabashed(link is external) Trump(link is external) cultist(link is external) Mark Burns is running for Congress(link is external) once again. Burns, who unsuccessfully(link is external) ran for Congress in South Carolina in 2018(link is external) and 2022(link is external), has now switched districts for his latest run, perhaps hoping that voters in his new district will not be familiar with his long history of lying about his accomplishments(link is external) and repeatedly making outlandish statements.

Burns is an overt(link is external) Christian nationalist(link is external) who has declared that far-right Christians intend to "take over(link is external)" the government and ensure(link is external) that “laws that are contrary to God’s word" are overturned.

Burns has repeatedly(link is external) demonized(link is external) and endorsed(link is external) violence(link is external) against his political enemies, declaring that if he is elected, he'll resurrect the infamous House Un-American Activities Committee for the purpose of charging citizens, members of the media, and elected officials with treason.

Burns even went so far as to proclaim(link is external) that the LGBTQ agenda represents “a national security threat” and that anyone promoting it is guilty of treason and should be executed.

“They were indoctrinating those young minds then; they are doing the very same thing here in America,” Burns said. “The LGBT, transgender grooming our children’s minds is a national security threat because it is ultimately designed to destabilize the republic we call the United States of America. That’s why when I’m elected, I don’t want to just vote, I want to start holding people accountable for treason to the Constitution.”

“I am going to push to reenact HUAC, the House Un-American Activities Committee,” Burns vowed. “It is a committee that we should reenact that starts holding these people accountable for treason."

Predictably, Burns has already secured the endorsement(link is external) of former President Donald Trump:

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