The Republican National Convention officially began on Monday, and it featured quite the lineup of speakers, among them: Mark and Patricia McCloskey.
The McCloskeys went viral earlier this summer when the couple pointed guns at people protesting the murder of George Floyd and countless other Black Americans by police.
Watch below.
St. Louis couple seen on video pointing guns at protesters marching by their mansion speak at the #RNC2020.
"What you saw happen to us could just as easily happen to any of you who are watching from quiet neighborhoods around our country," they say. https://t.co/ny9cCf7Qrp pic.twitter.com/uj9eau7zsF
— ABC News (@ABC) August 25, 2020
While most people would be arrested for pointing a weapon into a crowd of people, the McCloskeys have since become heroes within the pro-Trump conservative movement, as evidenced by their latest speaking engagement.
The couple invoked racist scare tactics that Democrats are trying to "abolish the suburbs."
VIDEO: Full remarks by Mark and Patty McCloskey at Republican National Conventionwww.youtube.com
Mark McCloskey said:
"Whether it's the defunding of police, ending cash bail so criminals can be released back out on the streets the same day to riot again, or encouraging anarchy and chaos on our streets, it seems as if the Democrats no longer view the government's job as protecting honest citizens from criminals, but rather protecting criminals from honest citizens."
Mark McCloskey went on to complain that none of the protestors were charged with a crime, but he and his wife—who, again, brandished weapons at strangers for protesting in their neighborhood—were.
Patricia McCloskey continued:
"They're not satisfied with spreading the chaos and violence into our communities, they want to abolish the suburbs all together by ending single family home zoning. This forced rezoning would bring crime, lawlessness, and low-quality apartments into now-thriving suburban neighborhoods. President Trump smartly ended this government overreach, but Joe Biden wants to bring it back...Your family will not be safe in the radical Democrats' America."
Single-family housing policies—which limit construction in a certain jurisdiction to homes designed for individual families—are cited as one of the ways the United States government perpetuates racial segregation without explicitly citing race. The lack of affordable apartments or duplexes in affluent communities makes it more challenging for low-income families, a disproportionate number of whom are people of color, to gain access to adequate schools and job opportunities.
According to the McCloskeys—and Donald Trump—the "invasion" of lower-income families is a threat to the institution of suburbia.
The Suburban Housewives of America must read this article. Biden will destroy your neighborhood and your American Dream. I will preserve it, and make it even better! https://t.co/1NzbR57Oe6
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 23, 2020
The “suburban housewife" will be voting for me. They want safety & are thrilled that I ended the long running program where low income housing would invade their neighborhood. Biden would reinstall it, in a bigger form, with Corey Booker in charge! @foxandfriends @MariaBartiromo
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 12, 2020
People heard the couple's dog whistle loud and clear.
The McCloskeys just made one of the most racist appeals to fearful white voters that I've seen since Pat Buchanan's infamous 1992 culture war speech.
— Keith Boykin (@keithboykin) August 25, 2020
The McCloskeys' pitch, in short: the Blacks are coming to your quiet suburb. #RepublicanNationalConvention
— Julia Ioffe (@juliaioffe) August 25, 2020
The McCloskeys are speaking just like Trump and look and sound so racist and so pro-segregation that I'm embarrassed.
— Jenmcpt (@jenmcpt) August 25, 2020
Congress adopted the Fair Housing Act days after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King. The goal is to combat racially segregated communities. Horrible to hear the gun-toting McCloskeys promote a racist narrative about people seeking to “invade" their homes. #RNCConvention pic.twitter.com/IckmejU2e0
— Kristen Clarke (@KristenClarkeJD) August 25, 2020
The McCloskeys' speech was the most racist set of remarks I've seen prepared for TV since George Wallace said, “segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever."
— Nathan Barankin (@nathanbarankin) August 25, 2020
The McCloskeys are racist. Period.
— chrissy (@chrissy461) August 25, 2020
While the couple warns of lower-income families ruining their neighborhood, the McCloskeys' own neighbors say they've made the block a living hell.
As recounted by THE FORWARD, Trump's new heroes—Mark and Patricia McCloskey—took a sledgehammer to a beehive erected by some synagogue children because it extended six inches onto their property. The McCloskeys—last seen threatening black protesters with guns—then left this note: pic.twitter.com/5LZyCzCjON
— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) August 25, 2020
The McCloskeys were my constituents. I'm friends w/ a couple dozen of their neighbors, who almost universally reviled them for decades before the recent episode.
Others should know that they are outliers in their neighborhood and in our City.
— Jeff Smith (@JeffSmithMO) August 25, 2020
Reminder that Mark and Patricia McCloskey are insane people who have pulled guns on their neighbors and are hated by pretty much everyone who knows them https://t.co/L45AGMmC2m
— Jonathan Myerson Katz (@KatzOnEarth) August 25, 2020
The Republican National Convention continues tonight.
Liam McBurney/PA Images via Getty Images
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