There was the President Donald Trump look-alike.
Add in the AR-15 rifle raffle.
Plus several dozen protesters outside.
There also was the red-white-and-blue Jeep with the replica machine gun that’s created such a stir after it appeared in a Shawnee parade.
It all came together Saturday afternoon in Lenexa where Secretary of State Kris Kobach held his fundraiser with ’70s rocker and political provocateur Ted Nugent.
The “Motor City Madman,” who worked with Kobach to legalize shooting feral pigs from helicopters in Texas, came to town to help his friend in a tight Republican primary for governor.
Leading off with a hard rocking rendition of the National Anthem on guitar, Nugent spent about an hour on stage with Kobach talking about gun rights and hunting while breaking to play a couple hits, “Fred Bear” and “Free for All.”
Later in an interview backstage, Nugent expressed his support for Kobach this way.
“Kris is a constitutionalist,” Nugent said. “He is an absolutist. He doesn’t need an interpretation. English words. Even guitar players can figure out what they mean. He’s going to stand up for that without compromise.”
Nugent praised Kobach for his “full-throttled” conservative approach, saying that the country needs fewer politicians such as Mitt Romney who want to bring a “doily to a grenade fight.”
“We need an ass-kicker. We need a shit-kicker,” Nugent said. “We need a guy who respects…working-hard and playing-hard America.”
Nugent’s stop in Lenexa generated criticism this past week, most notably from Emily’s List and the Kansas Democratic Party.
Democratic Party Chairman John Gibson issued a statement in advance of Nugent’s visit, criticizing the secretary of state for sharing the stage with a musician who performs songs demeaning women.
“I am the father of daughters — as is Kobach — but a man doesn’t need to be the father of a daughter to be repulsed by a has-been with a playlist full of songs that range from dehumanizing women to advocating rape,” Gibson said.
“Rejecting him and his hateful ideas about women and girls should be easy for anyone with basic human decency.”
Nugent calls the criticism directed at him as “nonsense.”
“That’s the Saul Alinsky propaganda ministry of hate. I am not guilty of any of the things they claim,” Nugent said referring to the famed community organizer.
“There’s not a racist bone in my body. There’s not a misogynist bone in my body. I’m a person’s person. I love people.”
Across the street from the Lenexa Community Center where police officers provided security, several dozen protesters lined the street with signs denouncing Kobach.
A handful of cars passing by honked to acknowledge the protesters.
“The protestors don’t like the Jeep. They don’t like Ted. They don’t like the Second Amendment. They don’t like guns,” Kobach said. “It was a perfect confluence of things they don’t like.”
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