Victor Marx says the first time he participated in killing a man, he was seven years old. He says he was forced into it by his stepfather, but also would like folks to believe that he’s killed many, many times since then — although he refuses to say how many people — but of course, only for the greater good. According to Marx, the U.S. military empowered him to order strikes that killed 70 ISIS fighters. He has also claimed he rescued over 45,000 women and children from slavery around the world, like something from a high-stakes action movie. He later pulled that number off his All Things Possible Ministries website when called out on it. He bragged that he’s led more than 130 missions in 30-plus nations, but declines to provide details of these daring rescues. He performs exorcisms over the phone, assuring folks that one doesn’t need to be in person to cast out demons.
The people who would donate to a pastor who presents himself as a John Wick-style action hero are overrepresented with GOP primary voters.
When Kyle Clark of 9News asked Marx, who also claims to have a black belt in “Cajun karate,” to defend these stories during the recent primary debate between Republican gubernatorial candidates, the tough guy turned to his dog to save him. After calling the vest-adorned dog on stage and joking that she would bite Clark, he bellowed, “Is she lying, too?”
Perhaps it should no longer be surprising to report that Marx has a commanding lead in the polls over his two opponents, state Sen. Barbara Kirkmeyer and state Rep. Scott Bottoms. People who would donate to a pastor who presents himself as a John Wick-style action hero are overrepresented among Republican primary voters. Still, it is shocking to see such a clownish figure so far ahead in Colorado, a purple state that has long had a reputation for moderation. It’s a sign of how deranged the Republican Party has become under the leadership of Donald Trump that the GOP can’t get it together to nominate a candidate moderate-seeming enough to have a shot at winning in what should be a swing state.
As longtime opinion columnist at the Colorado Sun Mike Littwin wrote last month, “offering lies, damned lies and more lies is the way to win MAGA hearts.”
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Bottoms must be annoyed, since Marx really took over the “nutty right-wing pastor spouting obvious B.S.” lane during this race. Bottoms is no piker in the art of saying wild, clearly false things in the name of Jesus and collecting donations.
In a 2022 town hall, Bottoms raved that “demonic” school officials are forcing elementary school children to undergo gender transition surgery. “We have these transvestites that dance around in the schools,” he continued, insisting that he will put people in jail for all these things he alleges, which are not actually happening.
“I don’t have anything wrong with transgender people,” he added at the same event.
As Colorado Public Radio recently documented, Bottoms continues to insist that Democrats in the state house are running a pedophile sex trafficking ring, without a single shred of evidence.
“The moment I’m governor, we’re going to shut down the pedophile rings that are in the House, in the Senate, and in the governor’s office,” Bottoms promised on the campaign trail. He also claims “I’ve been working with the FBI for three years now” to uncover this sprawling conspiracy. Luckily for Bottoms, he’s third in the polls right now, so it’s unlikely he’ll have to make good on this promise.
Kirkmeyer is laying claim to the “sane person” lane in this three-way race, though it’s only netting her 13% in the poll of Republican primary voters, well behind the 42% Marx is pulling. Worse for her, the gap widens to 59% for Marx to only 9% for her when voters are given a summary of candidate policy positions. Kirkmeyer’s evidence for moderation is that she has actually worked on bipartisan legislation and believes that Joe Biden won the 2020 presidential election. She also, as far as I know, avoids accusing Democrats of running child sex trafficking rings and does not claim to parachute into foreign brothels to rescue women at gunpoint.
But we should eschew the temptation to treat Kirkmeyer like a reasonable person. She’s been at the forefront of prior efforts in Weld County to secede from Colorado. She’s pushed for local jurisdictions to refuse to enforce gun control laws and supports banning abortion without any exceptions. She may accept the results of the 2020 election, but she claims there is no evidence for human-caused climate change.
Climate denialism seems mundane in an age when Republicans are always raving about demons and imaginary pedophiles. (While covering up the evidence of actual abuse of minors, of course.) But decades of climate denial from Republicans are why we are in this wretched state, where there is simply no limit on how outrageous MAGA lies will get. The scientific evidence of climate change is overwhelming. Denying that may not be as flashy as sex trafficking lies, but it’s just as surely false — and it’s a lie that justifies climate inaction that is already leading to deaths worldwide, including in Colorado.
Colorado’s primary is June 30, though mail ballots start going out to voters today. Sen. Michael Bennet and state Attorney General Phil Weiser are in a tight race in the Democratic gubernatorial primary, and yet their second debate last Thursday night was a dog-free snoozefest compared to the Republican weirdness. Mostly, the two candidates accused each other of being too wimpy to stand up to Trump, and sadly, both had a point. It was a depressing reminder that, even though Republicans fall further into the deep end, Democrats still struggle to connect with voters, because they come across as feckless and weak more often than not.
Still, whoever wins the Democratic primary will likely win in November, because, like Democrats across the country, they’re currently winning the “lesser of two evils” contest with the loons that increasingly populate the Republican side. Still, Trump’s triumph in 2024 over then-Vice President Kamala Harris is a sobering reminder that “less crazy” isn’t always the election winner it promises to be for Democrats in 2026. The scariest thing about watching Colorado’s GOP go down the rabbit hole is the realization that this may not doom them forever, even in a state long known for relative moderation. The kooks have passion, or at least they can fake it. That can win elections, especially when voters are comfortable or bored. Democrats can’t coast on Republican nuttiness forever.
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