Brandon Herrera, a YouTube "gunfluencer" turned Texas Republican and Trump-backed congressional candidate, joked about the IRA while firing a semi-automatic rifle he branded "The IRA's Lucky Charm" in a YouTube video released on St Patrick's Day 2023.
Video Content and Remarks
In the video, Herrera dons a balaclava and fires an AR-180, a rifle associated with the Northern Irish terror group, who would smuggle such weapons in from the United States. He stated: "In making this video I'm not doing it because I like or support the IRA. They were pretty heavily socialist of course and really hurt a lot of innocent people. So I'm not doing this video because I like the IRA or I support them. I'm doing this video because I f***ing hate the British."
He added: "I'm kidding, I'm kidding. Mostly." The video has been watched almost 3 million times on YouTube.
Congressional Race and Endorsement
Herrera is standing for Texas' 23rd Congressional District, the largest single district in the state, stretching from El Paso to San Antonio. He is narrowly favourite to be elected to the House of Representatives in Tuesday's midterm elections. He was among a list of Texas candidates given Trump's endorsement last week on Truth Social. Trump wrote: "These Great Patriots have my Complete and Total Endorsement - They will never let you down."
Further Jokes and Context
In the same video, Herrera jokes that the IRA were "very famously unhappy for a certain group of folks going after their Lucky Charms" - a reference to a popular ad campaign for the Lucky Charms breakfast cereal, which featured a leprechaun. In another part of the video, while demonstrating the gun, it jams, and Herrera quips: "This is why Ireland isn't free."
Earlier this year, during a visit to his golf course in Doonbeg, Ireland, Donald Trump offered his support for the cause of Irish unification. He said: "I don't want to cause any problems but I will tell you I'd love to see it unified. It's gonna happen eventually. It may as well happen now. You have the right man over here to make it happen. Now, the UK will have something to say about it, obviously. But I think it'd be a great thing. How can it be bad?"
