Can Mark McCloskey Ride Viral Fame Into the Senate?

The St. Louis lawyer's clash with BLM protesters last summer made him a right-wing folk hero and landed him a felony charge. The logical next step: GOP politics.

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With Sen. Roy Blunt set to retire next year, what do Missouri Republicans want from his replacement? 

Is it, A) a dependable if unremarkable politician with legislative experience and a track record of conservative votes—someone like Rep. Vicky Hartzler or Rep. Jason Smith? Is it, B) a state official who used his office to wholeheartedly support Donald Trump’s attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 election—someone like state Attorney General Eric Schmitt? Is it, C) a disgraced but defiant politico who insists his raft of recent scandals were witch hunts by an establishment desperate to stop his anti-corruption agenda—someone like former Gov. Eric Greitens? Or could it be D) a wealthy personal injury lawyer who became a figure of national controversy after he was caught on video last summer, barefoot in chinos and a Brooks Brothers polo, brandishing a rifle at a crowd passing the palatial home he shares with his wife?

If you answered D, you’re recently in luck. Mark McCloskey, the attorney whose clash with Black Lives Matter protesters last June became an instant piece of 2020 lore, threw his hat in the 2022 ring last week, making it official with a lengthy campaign announcement video and a segment on Tucker Carlson’s primetime show on Fox News.

It’s not unfair to McCloskey to say he thinks his viral armed argument is sufficient to make him Senate material: It’s what he claims himself. Here’s how he kicks off that campaign launch video: “When the angry mob came to destroy my house and kill my family, I took a stand against them. Now I’m asking for the privilege to take that stand for all of us. I will never back down.”

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  1. Kurt Von Fuchs

    Why hasn't this jack ass been stripped of his law license do you think a felony conviction would do that

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  2. Susan Huckaby

    Interesting write up in local paper on this couple.

    https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/metro/the-st-louis-couple-charged-with-waving-guns-at-protesters-have-a-long-history-of/article_281d9989-373e-53c3-abcb-ecd0225dd287.html

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  3. Bill O'Donnell

    The countdown begins as we await endorsements from Marjorie Taylor Nazi and Matt Pedophile.

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    Pat Riot

    As much as I find Kevin Williamson fundamentally dishonest, I have to say that his article predicting this phenomenon--and it continuing to get worse--was exactly right:

    https://www.nationalreview.com/2021/01/the-rights-playboy-problem/

    Mr. Williamson's thesis is that GOP politicians are doing what porn industry players needed to do in the last 20 years: get increasingly raunchier in order to compete.

    Whether McCloskey gets the nomination or not isn't as important as the fact that he's gone from zero to a national GOP figure in the political equivalent of 1.9 seconds precisely **because he did what he did**.

    If you want to get into GOP politics, therefore, then *be* Mr. McCloskey: wave a gun at black people, repeat Q-Anon tropes, or do something... even crazier than anybody has done before. It doesn't matter what it is, as long as it gets national attention. Anything will do, as long as it tweaks the libs (and unless you are already high profile like Trump or Paul Manafort or Matt Gaetz, you probably still need to keep yourself out of prison).

    I agree with Mr. Williamson's prediction here: it's going to get a *lot* worse in the coming months and years.

    Kyle Rittenhouse is probably the next up-and-coming GOP star (he is already old enough to join the Wisconsin statehouse so he's all set).

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      Johntadian

      P Riot,
      How exactly do you find KDW fundamentally dishonest? You seem to agree with his entire position. At least in the referenced article.
      Meanwhile, in dem-ville, one finds exactly the same lunacy of sound bite stars as on the right; but with a little "Racist America sucks" sauce thrown in for the woke crowd. I hoping most of us are able to cut through the chaff of idiotic fringers and media grifters to find people really interested in something besides using elected positins as a spring board to Fox or MSNBC.

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        Pat Riot

        Every time you whatabout away what the Republicans are doing they are just going to get worse. You realize that, don't you?

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          Johntadian

          And ignoring the parity of assininity between the two makes the dems, what, more acceptable?

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  5. IamJACKSventedSPLEEN

    Great. Let's keep giving the loons on the right fully oxygenated here on The Dispatch - the place were Democrats go to get their talking points. Wonderful. What's next, a 3000 word piece on MTG?

    Andrew, It would have been better to do an interview with one of the credible MO candidates and talk about the issues that would go into beating and stopping the Biden administration. Nope, the Dispatch has to go full Bulwark/Anti-Trump to keep the liberals here entertained and engaged in Anti-Trumpism. So disappointing...

    Please showcase the great candidates on the right, who will focus on the issues that matter. You guys are propping up the clown show here by giving them editorial preference. It's maddening...

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      Angie

      There are quite a few liberals who post here, ( but most of them are center-left, not progressives) but, conservatives still outnumber them, and I would bet a lot of money that the lurkers skew almost entirely right
      They don't cater to us at all, and I don't get your posts at all
      I come here because it is center-right and also mostly civil, and not: lib owning"..so, I can have rational discussions about politics on both sides..
      I doubt many actual dem politicians read here or use it for talking points
      I certainly don't

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    2. James D

      Ah, as always, "soft MAGA" folks on the right who don't like Trump, but don't like people taking a stand against Trump, act like the reason the nuts are running the GOP is because of the media and not because the GOP base is increasingly deranged.

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      1. James D

        If your biggest priority right now is "beating the Biden administration" like it's just business as usual and not confronting a major American political party's rapid backslide into naked authoritarianism and anti-democratic behavior, you are part of the problem, frankly.

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      Justin Perry-Naw Dawg Doctrine

      I don't know if I would say they've gone full Bulwark (actually, I honestly don't know, I don't read Bulwark, you may be correct). But I totally agree this article, and others like it, are extremely disappointing. As a former STL resident, I ABSOLUTELY want to know who the serious candidates are, not this jackoff.... Instead? Now the only two names I remember from this article is McCloskey and Greitens (who I already knew)....

      So disappointing.

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      1. James D

        Bulwark is very explicitly anti-Trump and mostly (completely?) opinion/editorial. They're quite different from the Dispatch, which does a lot of actual on-the-ground reporting, and is more incidentally anti-Trump in that if you're reporting news from a reality-based conservative viewpoint you are going to bump up against the cult of personality insanity that is the current GOP pretty frequently.

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    4. @fakeJohn

      Everyone laughed when Trump came down the escalator. Everyone laughed at MTG. In Colorado we laughed at Boebert doing her best impression of Tina Fey doing Sarah Palin. What do all of these “clown” candidates have in common?
      This guy has name recognition and “fights”. Sadly, that makes him a credible candidate in today’s GOP.

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    George.Skinner

    Unless McCloskey has some other attributes as a candidate that have hitherto failed to distinguish him in politics, his chest-thumping and irresponsible display last summer probably isn't going to get him all that far. A better question is whether he'll be another Joe the Plumber, or have other issues that'll turn him into another Roy Moore.

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      Mudskipper

      Dear Lord. I had forgotten all about Joe the Plumber.

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  7. Jim Sneeringer

    There was a time (at least, I hope there was a time) when the GOP would have nothing to do with a candidate like this.
    https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-insane-neighborhood-drama-behind-the-gun-toting-st-louis-lawyer-couple

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  8. Tony Rice

    100%, I am a MO resident, and an actual conservative, and I will definitely not be voting for McCloskey, as he attempts to adorn himself, a democrat up until a minute ago, in his Trumpiest MAGA clown suit.

    The muzzle sweeps of the crowd were 100% wrong. That they feared for their lives? At that time, structures across the country were being overrun, looted and burned. And, people who looked different than the mob were getting beaten, maimed and/or killed.

    If I am being honest, I think I would have been scared too. I am pretty sure that anyone posting here, including you Jonah, would also have been scared too. For me, there's just a little bit too much bravado sailing through this article and through this comment section.

    Did they handle the situation perfectly. Heck no. I just cant honestly tell you if I would have handled it perfectly either.

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    1. David R

      Being a Democrat until shortly before seeking office as a Republican is on-brand for a Trump wannabe, though.

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    2. @fakeJohn

      I think you mean Andrew not Jonah.

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      1. Tony Rice

        Yes, thank you for correcting that!

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      Marty

      If I were in that situation, I would go inside, lock the door, call 911, and stand at the window closest to the door with my gun (if I had a gun) in hand, ready to repel anyone who actually tried to break in.

      Seriously, isn't calling the police the only appropriate and responsible thing to do here?
      McCloskey: "When the angry mob came to destroy my house and kill my family, I took a stand against them." That's not a stretch; it's total BS. The crowd (or mob, if you prefer) was walking from point A to point B on McCloskey's street and passed by McCloskey's house on the way. To the best of my recollection, none of them even set foot on his lawn. "Came to destroy my house and kill my family"? Please.

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      1. Tony Rice

        And thank you. It's please and thank you...

        The Stl PD, on a good day, is not exactly a lickety-split rapid response organization. On that day, they, like most large city police departments were overwhelmed and standing down.

        They DID call the police, and were given a response that it would be a long time, if ever, for the police to come over to check out that situation. They were on their own, and they knew it, and they did not know what was going to happen next.

        They were outside eating when the mob came up, saw them, and began shouting threats of every sort at them, including death threats. Threats to kill their dog. Threats to break in and burn the place down. etc... He came out front with his gun, because they said they were coming in. He wanted them to think twice before doing that.

        Four days later, in St Louis, a retired police officer, working as a security guard, was shot, and slowly died on live TV because no help could get to him. Context matters a lot here.

        I'm not a fan of this guy, but on that day, they were figuring out how to survive in real time. When somebody shouts that you are going to die, it is a pretty good idea to take them at their word. There are videos to support the details.

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        1. James D

          I think the act of standing in their yard with firearms was 100% appropriate, but where they lose me is pointing a firearm at people who weren't immediately threatening their lives. I've only gone shooting like twice in my life with Boy Scouts and even I could tell you that was an egregious violation of the most basic firearms safety principles & ran a real risk of accidental discharge.

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          Marty

          I appreciate the details, which I was not aware of. Thank you.

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    4. RedBeardRob

      It's fair to ask if you, or I (some hypothetical version of me who owns both a house and a gun) might also have handled a similar situation imperfectly. Whether McCloskey's actions were imperfect to the point of criminality, I'm happy to leave to the courts.

      But when he chooses to make his actions that day the centerpiece of a Senate campaign, I think he's inviting a pretty high level of scrutiny.

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      1. Tony Rice

        I just think that we have become way too comfortable in melding all events/details into singular political viewpoints. Trump made it cool, now everybody's doing it.

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  9. Dennis Trask

    This citizen sued a synagogue over spiritual artwork in his neighborhood falsley claiming a few feet of public property as his own. He has compiled a depressing list of other similar worse acts. God help us all as the field of candidates in this race promises little to advance civilization or actual conservative values.

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  10. RedBeardRob

    "This is, to put it kindly, a stretch."

    This is, to put it kindly, putting it way too kindly.

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      Aylene Wright

      Coming from Mr. Egger, who is BTW a former resident of Missouri himself, it's pretty much the equivalent of a fiery condemnation.

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