Noted homophobe and former Ohio state treasurer Josh Mandel, who is currently running to replace outgoing Sen. Rob Portman in the U.S. Senate, has once again made a complete ass of himself on Twitter.
Related: Photo of Josh Mandel in stuffed bra and wig resurfaces after he tweets transphobic slur
Earlier this week, the 43-year-old Republican shared a satirical op-ed written by Joe Mathews about abolishing parenthood to make the state of California a more equal place.
“This is not satire,” he raged. “They are trying to turn America into Sodom.”
How about we take this to the next level?
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This is not satire. They are trying to turn America into Sodom. https://t.co/7uZVQhMujt
— Josh Mandel (@JoshMandelOhio) January 17, 2022
To be clear, the article is satire. If that wasn’t already obvious by the headline (“California should abolish parenthood, in the name of equity”), then surely this line makes it abundantly clear:
My solution — making raising your own children illegal — is simple, and while we wait for the legislation to pass, we can act now: the rich and poor should trade kids, and homeowners might swap children with their homeless neighbors.
Either Mandel didn’t actually read the article before sharing it with his 66,000 followers, or he’s just really that dumb. Possibly both.
Now, the responses…
Actually, it’s satire.
— Lancelot Drink (@gergletweets) January 17, 2022
tHiS sAtIrIcAl WoRk Is NoT sAtIRe
— THEE Saucy Stacey (@DrSCubed) January 17, 2022
— Daniel Hassig (@DanielHassig) January 17, 2022
Josh, I need you to comb through The Onion articles to let us know which ones are satire since you seem to be an expert.
— ZsusK 🍷🌼🐝 (@Zsusk) January 17, 2022
You just wanted to write the word sodom because you add a “y” and it’s all you think about all day.
— daz™ (@artofdaz) January 17, 2022
hey josh… its actually satire 🤣 pic.twitter.com/IRCWjRwzUx
— Chuck Todd’s shamble bangs (@Drea_got_rage) January 17, 2022
Sodom actually sounded like a really fun place from what I read!
— Guapo (@hotdawg74) January 17, 2022
I mean, it is literally satire.
— SteelJake (@SteelJake2) January 17, 2022
I wanted to laugh at Josh Mandel for taking satire seriously. But then it occurred to me – maybe Josh Mandel and campaign is a whole satire performance piece and *I* am the fool taking it literally! 🤯
— Castille (@panda_worries) January 18, 2022
Josh wants to stop teaching critical thinking skills in school so your kids can be as stupid and unable to pick up on satire as he is
— cheerwine 🌇 (@cheer_wine) January 17, 2022
That last comment is actually spot on.
Because shortly after expressing his outrage over an obviously satirical article that he claimed wasn’t satire, Mandel then took to Twitter to advocate for dismantling the U.S. Department of Education.
“America does not need a federal Department of Education,” he wrote.
America does not need a federal Department of Education.
— Josh Mandel (@JoshMandelOhio) January 18, 2022
A December poll conducted by the Trafalgar Group found that Mandel was leading the field of candidates running in the Ohio Republican primary by nearly 10 points, with 21% of likely voters saying they’d cast their ballots for him.
Related: J.D. Vance posts racist video but all anyone’s talking about are his erect nipples and bad eyeliner
Next on the list was investment banker Mike Gibbons, polling at 12%. And behind him was homophobe/Hillbilly Elegy author J.D. Vance.
Graham Gremore is the Features Editor and a Staff Writer at Queerty. Follow him on Twitter @grahamgremore.
rangerwilcox
a moron is Ohio’s treasurer. he’s of that particular type of Republican that cannot seem to bothered to fact check.
danger is everywhere!
Ken A.
If Ohioans vote for him, they get what they deserve and deserve what they get.
Kangol2
True, except that if Mandel is elected as one of Ohio’s two US Senators, the rest of us–everyone in the other 49 states, District of Columbia and US territories–are stuck with this moron for 6 years!
Essie
Well, my fellow Ohioans voted for the Dumpster so I wouldn’t be surprised if this sack of sh!t was voted in. Ohio is mostly hillbilly country so anything can happen. We used to be a “swing state” but that time has passed.
barryaksarben
This wad of doghsit has no brains at all. Of course we need a department of education so our schools can keep our population up to the level of our adversaries
Jim
Remember that the “sin” of Sodom was not welcoming the stranger.
So since Texas is the state with the governor sending troops to the boarder one would have to say that Texas is THE state of sodomites.
SamB
The article does not read as satire, really. Maybe in a couple places I could possibly see it. Otherwise it reads like a communist or communal parenting guideline. I think it’s a poorly written piece.
ZzBomb
B/c like Josh, you too have terrible and poor reading comprehension skills.
Bosch
I’m never going to be able to take any of your comments seriously after seeing what you’ve written here.
Kangol2
You have zero critical reading skills but that was clear from your non-response to my comments about Biden’s first year. It’s clearly satire. Does it have to have the word “SATIRE” punctuating it every few lines for you to grasp what it’s doing?
SamB
I stand by my statement. It’s a poorly written piece. I read a couple more articles written by Joe Mathews and he tries to be funny, but he just misses the mark.
What is he supposed to be satirizing?
Bosch
The article is satirizing the way the right portrays the left. And clearly, it’s an accurate satire, since you said it looks like communist parenting propaganda to you.
SamB
Bosch: Incorrect. In Joe Mathew’s own words, actually in the column, “In fact, a suggestion from Justice Amy Coney Barrett, during a recent case that could overturn Roe, inspired this column. She posited that abortion rights are no longer necessary because all 50 states now have “safe haven” laws allowing women to turn their babies over to authorities after birth.”
He’s trying satirize her statement. So if people didn’t see that, even when he literally spelled it out for everyone, then how is it a successful satire?
Kangol2
@SamB, but you admit Matthews is “trying to be funny” so you are telling on yourself. Perhaps you’re so used to right-wing hype you can’t tell the difference between satire and non-satirical writing, but the rest of us can.
Bosch
You’re literally telling me that it’s inspired by how right-wing ACB thinks left-wing ideas on birth control are exaggerated and superfluous.
GrizzleyMichael
He is a sin and so are his parents for having him
Kangol2
It could just be me, but this piece by Tom Matthews isn’t just satire, it’s pretty hilarious. Josh Mandel is an imbecile, because you really have to be clueless and a total ideologue to miss not just the satire but all of the irony. How could anyone miss that it’s satire with lines like this:
“Once you’ve gone so far as to take immigrant children from their parents and put them in border concentration camps, it’s a short walk to separating all Americans from their progeny.”
OR
“Democrats also would have the opportunity to build a new pillar of the safety net — a child-raising system called ‘Foster Care for All.'”
OR
“My proposal would merely make mandatory such handovers of babies to the state.”
OR
This one, which refers to Aldous Huxley’s dystopia directly: “But don’t pay those critics any mind. Because they just can’t see how our relentless pursuit of equity might birth a brave new world.”
Prax07
I think most of these “outraged” Republicans don’t actually read, or know how to comprehend if they do read, the things they get “outraged” about. I think most cases are they’re sent articles as a joke to see whether they’ll tweet about how “outraged” they are about whatever.
Darryl R
Laugh like crazy now guys because there is a sanity beat down coming and come midterms 2022 there will be a lot of liberal tears flowing and rightly so as you have mismanaged our nation and things are worse than when “orange hitler” had the keys………………
Kangol2
Whether the GOP wins in fall 2022 or not, things aren’t “worse” than when Orange Hitler mismanaged and nearly brought down the US, including his attempted coup on January 6, 2021, but you keep telling yourself things are worse now than in 2020, and I’ll have a bridge or two in Brooklyn to sell you and the rest of the gullible cultists!
jlew64
Nice hair, Josh… what’s it made of?
CNY1983
yeah, its republican EXCEPT in Cleveland..
Andy
And except Akron your neighbor to the immediate south. OMG, I’m a transplant from Boston and some of these politicians are freaking me the hell out. Ohio has Gym Jordan and I hope to hell not Josh Mandel, he’s a damn half wit.
gaym50ish
I think he was confused. He thought critical thinking was critical race theory and he’s against it!