A Lincoln Project adviser on Wednesday attempted to connect the boycott against Bud Light controversy over its sponsorship of a transgender influencer to a spate of recent shootings, blaming both on a "culture of fearfulness."
"Look, I think there’s a direct line between a culture of fearfulness where people who live in a world in which they feel threatened by Instagram posts or a beer label," Stuart Stevens, a senior adviser for the Lincoln Project, said in an appearance on MSNBC after host Stephanie Ruhle asked him about recent gun violence.
Frequent MSNBC guest and Lincoln Project senior advisor Stuart Stevens suggested that there's been a surge in violence in the United States because of the Bud Lite ad with transgender activist Dylan Mulvaney. pic.twitter.com/93BkJqZzpa
— Kevin Tober (@KevinTober94) April 20, 2023
Stevens was referencing the conservative backlash this month against Bud Light after transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney announced a collaboration with the brand. His comments connected the boycott to recent allegedly unprovoked shootings in the United States, such as the shooting of a black Missouri teenager who knocked on the wrong door and of a woman in New York who was killed by a homeowner when she pulled into his driveway.
The Lincoln Project adviser went on to blame Republicans for the shootings, even though there have been no allegations of a political motive in either case. Stevens accused the party of making America the "home of the fearful" through their efforts to "maximize their predominantly white vote, which is a fear- and grievance-based tactic."
Stevens wrote on Twitter before the TV segment aired, "The same fear that an Instagram post and a beer label is a personal threat to your way of life is the fear that drives someone to shoot a stranger at their door or driveway. It’s a culture of fearfulness in which anything you don’t know or understand is a threat."
The commentator's remarks come after members of the media blamed Republicans for the Nashville shooting that killed six people at a private Christian school, with one Nation columnist stating, "Republicans are complicit in these murderers" as "the party of literal death."