Columbus: A Democrat running in a local Indiana election has gone viral for a slurred television interview in which she lurched wildly between lines of thought, ranted about the MAGA movement and ended with the observation: “We have guns too.”
Jaime West, a candidate for the Fayette County Council east of Indianapolis, appeared several days ago in a televised forum sponsored by local outlets TV3 and The Connersville News Examiner.
West appeared confused from the start, when she was asked to deliver her opening statement and conceded she did not write one. Following a rambling monologue, it sounded as though someone on a mic loudly broke wind.
At one point, West requested the interviewer to repeat the question. Asked for one thing she would do in office that might be unpopular with some voters, she said: “Firing all Republicans.”
West continued, appearing to slur heavily: “I don’t even talk to them. I don’t like ’em. I mean they voted against – our own state representative votes against her own party. I mean … what do you want me to say? I don’t like being around ’em.
“I mean, y’all did this to us. Y’all voted for us. You made this happen, this ICE coming into our communities, stealing people’s jobs. I mean – arghhh.”
West then began speaking about members of US President Donald Trump’s Make America Great Again coalition.
“I’ve been threatened so many times to my face by ‘MAGA’, we’ll call them. Because there’s Republicans who actually get it, you know. There are good Republicans out there. But then there’s these MAGAs, who are just racist and aren’t very intelligent at all. They call you names.”
West claimed a sheriff’s nephew tried to “blow my head off”. It was not clear who or what she was referring to.
Asked for a final message to the voters, West looked down the barrel of the camera and said: “We have guns too.” She then threw up both her hands.
The interviewer – the Examiner’s managing editor Amy Graham-McCarty – maintained her composure throughout, and never enquired about West’s condition.
The footage was uploaded to YouTube by TV3 and clips of the segment have been viewed millions of times on social media as the interview went viral.
West could not be immediately reached for comment, and it does not appear that she has spoken publicly since the interview.
She is running against Republican Gary Keener Jr for the council seat. Voting takes place on November 3 along with statewide contests in the US midterm elections.
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