Outrage as effigy of Biden beaten at fundraiser

A Republican fundraiser in the Kansas City suburbs where attendees beat and kicked an effigy of US President Joe Biden has sparked bipartisan outrage and calls for the GOP leaders responsible for the event to resign.

The event at the Overland Park Convention Centre – hosted by and promoted on the Facebook page of the Johnson County Republican Party – attendees paid US$100 (NZ$160) to US$300 a ticket to hear a keynote speech from musician Ted Nugent. It also featured a booth where attendees kicked and swung a foam bat at a mannequin topped with a rubber Biden mask, posts on social media showed.

The chairwoman of the Johnson County Republican Party told the Kansas City Star that the effigy had been set up as part of a booth hosted by a local martial arts school to promote its self-defence classes.

The incident prompted widespread condemnation and calls for Republican officials to resign.

The state GOP issued a statement describing the incident as “unfortunate” But it blamed the incident on an outside exhibitor and a former state party member who “created a false narrative in order to spew rhetoric and capitalise on continued attempts to divide the party”.

No state party officials attended the event, the statement said.

Mike Kuckelman, a former chairman of the state Republican Party, said in a Facebook post that guests at the event had been “invited to beat the effigy of Biden with a baseball bat in exchange for a donation”.

“This conduct is shameful, and it is WRONG,” Kuckelman wrote, calling for state GOP chairman Mike Brown to resign. “Silence is complicity in this case.”

The effigy incident comes during what is expected to be a highly charged 2024 campaign season, in which the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, Trump, is facing felony charges over his actions to overturn the 2020 presidential election before his supporters’ riot on January 6, 2021 at the US Capitol.

Potential violence against members of Congress, judges and other leaders is a growing concern, the Justice Department has said.

In recent months, law enforcement has been forced to grapple with bomb threats against state capitols and “swatting” – where prank calls are made to summon law enforcement to a particular address – of elected officials from both major parties.

In January, US attorney-general Merrick Garland called the wave of threats against government workers and public servants a “deeply disturbing spike”.

The new leadership team at the Republican National Committee – handpicked by former president Donald Trump – started firing dozens of employees days after taking over, according to three people familiar with the firings who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

The RNC is at a crossroads in a critical election year. According to a January campaign finance filing, it had a historically low US$8.7 million (NZ$14.09m) cash on hand compared with US$24m at the Democratic National Committee. More broadly, Trump and his allies are racing to close a fundraising gap with Biden and his affiliated groups. –