Editing Doug Mastriano

{{Villain_Infobox 
|Image =Doug Mastriano.jpg
|fullname = Douglas Vincent Mastriano
|alias = 
|origin = New Brunswick, New Jersey, United States 
|occupation = Member of the Pennsylvania Senate from the 33rd district (2019 - present)
|type of villain = Extremist Politician
|goals = Overturn the 2020 election results and give [[Donald Trump]] four more years in office (failed)<br>Become Governor of Pennsylvania (failed)
|crimes = Sedition<br>[[Terrorism]]<br>[[Homophobia]]<br>[[Hate speech]]<br>[[Islamophobia]]<br>[[COVID denialism]]
|hobby = 
}}'''Douglas Vincent "Doug" Mastriano''' (born January 2, 1964) is an American far-right politician and retired military officer who has served in the Pennsylvania Senate since 2019, representing the 33rd district. A member of the Republican Party, he was the nominee in the 2022 Pennsylvania gubernatorial election, losing to Democrat Josh Shapiro.
==Biography==
===Career===
Born in New Jersey, Mastriano served in the United States Army from 1986 to 2017 and obtained the rank of colonel. He ran for U.S. Congress in Pennsylvania's 13th congressional district in 2018, where he finished fourth in the primary. Mastriano won the state senate seat for the 33rd district the following year in a special election. In 2022, he announced his gubernatorial campaign and won the Republican nomination with 44% of the vote. He faced Democrat Josh Shapiro in the general election and lost.

Mastriano is a prominent figure in fundamentalist Christian nationalism and has called the separation of church and state a myth. He has made social media posts referencing [[QAnon]] and has spoken at events that promoted QAnon and [[September 11 attacks|9/11]] conspiracy theories.

A self-professed close ally of former president [[Donald Trump]], Mastriano received national attention for his efforts to overturn the 2020 United States presidential election. He attended Trump's January 6 rally in Washington D.C. prior to the Trump supporters [[2021 United States Capitol storming|storming the United States Capitol]] and was seen on video passing through Capitol Police barriers after they had been breached by others in the crowd. Mastriano was subpoenaed by the United States House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack in February 2022; he stopped cooperating with the select committee in August.
===Involvement in the 2021 United States Capitol attack===
Mastriano helped organize bus rides for Trump supporters to the protest that preceded the 2021 United States Capitol attack in Washington, D.C.

During the protest, Mastriano said he and his wife left the rally area when it turned violent, which he called "unacceptable". Democratic colleagues called for his resignation, saying senators must be held to a higher standard than others. On the morning of January 13, Mastriano wrote on Twitter and Facebook, "Please do not participate in rallies or protests over the next ten days," and "Let's focus on praying for our nation during these troubling times."

In May 2021, crowdsourced video analysis identified Mastriano and his wife watching as another rioter tore a police barricade away and then passing through a breached Capitol Police barricade, contradicting his previous claims that he had not been among the rioters. Mastriano said he was following police directions and dismissed the accusations as the work of "angry partisans" who were "foot soldiers of the ruling elite". This claim is not supported by the video evidence.

Mastriano said he was in the "second row, watching the Trump rally", hoping Congress would legally stop the election's certification. "Once I realized all the speaking events were off we left and that's a darn shame... I was there to cheer on Congress, the House and the Senate, not to disrupt it," Mastriano said. No negative consequences were expected as a result of the released videos, according to multiple university political science leaders.

According to CNN, after images of Mastriano outside the capitol emerged in the summer of 2021, Mastriano fully cooperated when questioned by the FBI. As of July 12, 2022, Mastriano has not been charged with any crimes related to the capitol breach by the DOJ.
===Ties to far-right groups===
During an Independence Day parade, supporters of Mastriano could be seen carrying a flag bearing the emblem of the [[Three Percenters]]. The Three Percenters are a far-right anti-government militia that has been labeled as an extremist organization by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

A July 2022 article in Salon, expanded upon by Media Matters for America in August, found that Mastriano has campaigned with and promoted Julie Green, an acknowleged prophet in the New Apostolic Reformation. Green, who says she has "a special relationship" with Mastriano and gave the opening prayer at one of Mastriano's campaign events, has promoted conspiracy theories including that Nancy Pelosi "loves to drink the little children's blood" and that Joe Biden is actually dead and being played by an actor. Green has prophesied that a number of politicians including Liz Cheney, Doug Ducey, Mitch McConnell, Jerry Nadler, Mitt Romney and Chuck Schumer will be executed for treason.

An August 2022 investigation by LNP found that Mastriano's security detail was made up of non-professional, armed guards including the former regional leader of the [[Oath Keepers]], a far-right extremist militia group. Several other members of the security detail are members of LifeGate, an Elizabethtown-based evangelical church, whose leaders have spoken publicly about their goals to elect Christians to public office to advance biblical principles in government.

At a September 2022 rally in Chambersburg, a speaker directed the crowd to raise their hands in unison and then to bring their hands down on the count of three. The crowd shouted "as one" as they lowered their hands. The gesture was described as being "eerily similar" to a [[Hitler Salute|Nazi salute]]. The Texas evangelist who directed the unison activity said he is part Jewish and that the salute comparison was "typical leftist lies" about a Republican event.

In October 2022, Mastriano appeared at a campaign rally with conspiracy theorist [[Jack Posobiec]]. Posobiec has repeatedly used [[White Power Movement|white supremacist]] and [[Anti-Semitism|anti-semitic]] talking points, including the [[Fourteen Words]], a notorious white supremacist slogan.

In November 2022, The Daily Beast reported that Mastriano was an administrator for a Facebook group, which features a number of racist and anti-semitic posts. The page features posts stating that Michelle Obama is transgender, George Soros is a Jewish puppet master, who controls politicians and that immigrants are "scary brown people."

At least six people who were in Washington, D.C. on January 6, 2021, during the Capitol attack have donated to Mastriano's campaign. He also received a $500 donation from [[Andrew Torba]], a white supremacist and Christian nationalist.
[[Category:Modern Villains]]
[[Category:Living Villains]]
[[Category:United States of America]]
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[[Category:Terrorists]]
[[Category:Traitor]]
[[Category:Republican Party villains]]
[[Category:Extremists]]
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[[Category:Paranoid]]
[[Category:Delusional]]
[[Category:Karma Houdini]]
[[Category:Dimwits]]
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[[Category:Military]]
[[Category:Alt-right]]
[[Category:Xenophobes]]
[[Category:Islamophobes]]
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[[Category:Political]]
[[Category:Corrupt Officials]]
[[Category:Misogynists]]