After last weekend's mass shootings, this Republican House candidate didn't offer sympathy for victims. Instead, he went on a tweet barrage using the far-right's new favorite racist meme to blast Democrats. Can you give Dan McCready $3?

Friend, state Sen. Dan Bishop, the GOP candidate in next month’s special election for North Carolina’s 9th Congressional District, took to Twitter after last weekend's mass shootings, but not to offer sympathy to the victims. Instead, [he berated Democrats]( who’ve called out the far-right hatred that has sparked so much of this violence as “clowns”: [attribution: Dan Bishop Twitter feed] This whole “clown” business has been circulating among Republicans for some time, but it’s not just a particularly lame joke. It turns out there’s a disturbing genesis. Jared Holt, one of the tireless folks at Right Wing Watch, reported in April that white supremacists have begun adopting a version of the infamous far-right “Pepe the Frog” meme decked out in clown garb that they call “Honkler,” to symbolize “their exasperation over an imagined state of collapse in the Western hemisphere that they largely blame on immigrants and minority groups.” [White supremacists are the cornerstone of the Republican Party today, but the GOP won't change until they recognize that embracing hatred is a guaranteed loser for them at the ballot box. Chip in $3 to put Daily Kos-endorsed Democrat Dan McCready over the top in next month's special congressional election.]( The Forward’s Aiden Pink explained further, “While some users depict themselves as clowns who are ‘in’ on the ‘joke’ of the alleged downfall of white society in a multiracial country, others have targeted their supposed enemies by depicting them as clowns.” Whether or not Bishop understands the significance of his “clown” slurs, the propagation of this meme from the cesspools of the internet directly to the highest levels of Republican power shows just how in thrall to the far-right today’s GOP is. (As a reminder of the kind of guy he is, Dan Bishop was the author of North Carolina’s infamous anti-trans “bathroom bill.”) The idea of a cruel man like Bishop serving in Congress is repugnant, but fortunately, there’s a much better choice: Democrat Dan McCready, who very nearly won this seat last year in the face of a widespread Republican scheme to literally steal the election. [Please give $3 to help McCready defeat callous hatred and flip North Carolina’s 9th District blue!]( [Can't contribute? Click here to volunteer for McCready.]( Thank you, David Nir, Political Director Daily Kos Daily Kos, PO Box 70036, Oakland, CA, 94612. Sent via [ActionNetwork.org](. To update your email address, change your name or address, or to stop receiving emails from Daily Kos, please [click here](.