David Brat campaign manager scrubs Facebook page after election

The 23-year-old made provocative remarks about George Zimmerman and secession.

A cached version of Zachary Werrell's Facebook page.
A cached version of Zachary Werrell's Facebook page.

The campaign manager for the tea party-backed Republican who ousted House Majority Leader Eric Cantor in one of the biggest upsets in congressional history is a 23-year-old class of 2013 Haverford College graduate who posted a slew of provocative opinions on a public Facebook page that was removed from view overnight following David Brat's victory.

From comparing George Zimmerman’s shooting of unarmed black teenager Trayvon Martin to abortion to calling for the abolition of the Food and Drug Administration and encouraging the adoption of the silver monetary standard, Zachary Werrell – one of just two paid staffers for the upstart campaign of Randolph-Macon College economics professor David Brat – sought in 2012 and 2013 to build a public profile as a socially conservative libertarian voice. The Facebook postings were either taken down or made private overnight Tuesday in the wake of Brat's win, but Yahoo News took screenshots of some of the remarks before they were removed from view. A cached version of Werrell's page remained available on Google as of midday Wednesday.

“Can someone who was outraged that George Zimmerman was found not guilty of ‘SOMETHING ANYTHING’ and who is simultaneously pro-choice explain the logical dissonance there? Ie. Why its not ok to kill someone who is banging your head into concrete but its ok to kill someone for simply existing who, through your conscious actions, you brought into the world?” Werrell had written in an Oct. 24, 2013, posting.

Zachary Werrell's Facebook commentary.
Zachary Werrell's Facebook commentary.

The month before, the campaign manager for the likely next congressman for Virginia’s 7th District – since no Democrat has represented that district since 1971 – questioned whether existing state lines were defensible. “Should sections of States be allowed to secede from a State if they feel they are un/underrepresented in the State Government?” Werrell asked. “I say yes. I derive that opinion from our first foundational document – the Declaration of Independence. What say you?”

On Oct. 25, 2013, he called for an end to the regulation of prescription drugs, citing a story from the Ludwig von Mises Institute. “Abolish the FDA!” he wrote.

On Oct. 29 of that year, it was a piece by Fred Reed from Lew Rockwell’s website on the wussification of boys that set him off. “There is a war on boys!” Werrell wrote. “Rough housing, playing soldier, etc, are all punished or medicated away. And we wonder why there is gender inequality in the classroom and in college/attendance/graduation rates.”

Zachary Werrell's Facebook commentary.
Zachary Werrell's Facebook commentary.

The Reed piece called for the end of women teachers in coed or boys' schools. “It is time to get women out of the schooling of boys,” wrote Fred Reed. “It is way past time. Women in our feminized classrooms are consigning generations of our sons to years of misery and diminished futures.” The piece further argued that “women should not be allowed within fifty feet of a school where boys are taught” and that “Women are totalitarian. Men are happy to let boys be boys and girls be girls. Women want all children to be girls.”

LewRockwell.com describes itself as “founded in 1999 by anarcho-capitalists Lew Rockwell and Burt Blumert to help carry on the anti-war, anti-state, pro-market work of Murray N. Rothbard.”

The site’s co-founder, Llewellyn Rockwell Jr., is a staunch ally of libertarian former Texas congressman Ron Paul. Werrell served as a volunteer and canvasser for Ron Pauls' presidential primary campaigns in 2008 and 2012, according to his Facebook bio, which also lists under "favorite quotations" Barry Goldwater's famous statement: "Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice. Moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue."

In 2012, also while he was a college student, Werrell promoted Austrian economic theory and the “sound money” policies popular in such circles. “Heck, even if this doesn’t persuade you on the merits of sound money (as opposed to a Federal Reserve Fiat Paper Money System), then at least use it as intelligent long run investing advice,” he wrote over a graphic showing the value of “Paper vs. Silver: 1996 - Today.” In his current Twitter profile, Werrell describes himself as an "Austrian Economics geek."

Zachary Werrell's Facebook commentary.
Zachary Werrell's Facebook commentary.

A request for comment from the Brat campaign was not immediately returned.