A Republican running for governor in Pennsylvania posted a bizarre video on Facebook Friday in which he angrily threatened to “stomp all over” the incumbent’s “face with golf spikes.”
The GOP’s Scott Wagner was infuriated by a billboard he said was posted by Gov. Tom Wolf’s campaign that slammed him for aggressively pursuing customers of his company, Penn Waste, who didn’t pay their bills.
In the video, which had captured more than 14,000 views as of 1:45 p.m, Wagner stands in front of the billboard and next to a chair holding what he said were 600 paychecks that were to be delivered to his employees that day.
“You know what’s interesting? You don’t want to do town hall meetings. You don’t want to do debates. Your campaign people said I raised the white flag?” Wagner said in the video while gesticulating with gusto.
“Well, Governor Wolf, let me tell you what, between now and Nov. 6, you better put a catcher’s mask on your face, because I’m going to stomp all over your face with golf spikes. Because I’m going to win this for the state of Pennsylvania. And we’re throwing you out of office. Because I’m sick and tired of your negative ads. Governor Wolf, I am bound and determined, I am going to vote you out of office.”
He also defended his pursuit of his non-paying customers.
“Hey Governor, I don’t know if you know this or not, but when you render a service, you want to get paid for that service,” he said. “Hey Governor Wolf, did you ever have a customer not pay you when you were such a sharp business guy?”
In an email to PennLive.com, Wagner rep Andrew Romeo said the Republican nominee’s remarks “were not to be taken literally,” but ripped Wolf anyway.
“He wanted them to be a metaphor for how he will approach the final stretch of the campaign. Tom Wolf has spent the entire race hiding behind false and negative attack ads like a coward instead of debating in front of the people of Pennsylvania and Scott will spend the last month of the race making it clear to voters why they should not give him a second term,” Romeo said.
Beth Melena, Wolf’s campaign spokeswoman, told the website she was trying to figure out “if Wagner was channeling John Wayne, Clint Eastwood or Rambo in his latest unhinged rant.”
The Twitterverse also took notice.
“his ability to mix sports analogies is something,” deadpanned pollster Matt McDermott.
“Am I opening a can of worms if I call him a biathlete?” asked FG Piper.
“If you Democrats don’t start actin’ civil, Scott Wagner is gonna stomp on your faces,” added Tea Pain.