Republican Missouri gubernatorial candidate vows to burn ‘woke pornographic books’ after miscaptioned flamethrower clip goes viral

A clip of Missouri state Sens. Bill Eigel (R-Weldon Spring) and Nick Schroer (R-Lake St. Louis) burning a pile of empty boxes with a flamethrower has gone viral, prompting book burning concerns and a controversial statement from Eigel, a gubernatorial candidate.

MO State Senators Eigel (R) and Schroer (R) burned the “liberal agenda” with flamethrowers in effigy this weekend.

Today, Eigel, who is running for governor, vowed to burn books: “Those woke pornographic books … I’ll burn those too – on the front lawn of the gov’s mansion.” pic.twitter.com/SZ6Vw4Uqyd

— Heartland Signal (@HeartlandSignal) September 18, 2023

The flamethrowers were used at a St. Charles County GOP fundraising event called “Freedom Fest,” at the Sugar Creek Winery in Defiance. In the middle of the video, Schroer can be heard chanting, “Let’s go Brandon,” a popular Republican code phrase that means “F— Joe Biden.”

After speculation that the senators were burning books and intervention from fact-checking organizations like Snopes, Eigel made a statement clarifying his actions to the Kansas City Star.

“In the video, I am taking a flame thrower to cardboard boxes representing what I am going to do to the leftist policies and RINO corruption of the Jeff City swamp,” Eigel said on Monday. “But let’s be clear, you bring those wok pornographic books to Missouri to try to brainwash our kids, and I’ll burn those too – on the front lawn of the governor’s mansion.”

Eigel has served as a state senator since 2017 after a career in the U.S. Air Force for seven years. His pledge to burn books has been the cause of concern, considering the act is more attune to the actions taken by extremely oppressive governments like Nazi Germany in an effort to suppress opposing cultures, not to promote freedom.