GOP youth group under fire for cosplaying as arrested Fauci and ‘sexy cop’

A photo of a group of young pro-Trump Republicans cosplaying the arrest of Dr Anthony Fauci by a woman dressed as a “sexy cop” has caused a stir online.

The “cringeworthy” picture was tweeted out by Patriot Takes, a partner of MeidasTouch, a producer of pro-democracy political video and content, and appears to have been taken at an event in a hotel ballroom.

A young woman wearing a high-cut, dark blue police uniform costume with a plunging neckline is smiling for the camera as she pretends to put handcuffs on a man wearing a white lab coat and a name tag that reads “Tyrant Fauci”.

Two men stand near by, one smiling, the other giving two thumbs up. In the background, people in suits are milling around or sitting in a group.

Patriot Takes captioned the photo: “Republicans for National Renewal is a conservative group that works with Marjorie Taylor Greene, Kari Lake, and Paul Gosar.”

Many on Twitter reacted to the “cringeworthy”, “childish” nature of the photo, the objectification of women, and with confusion at the right’s hatred of the nation’s leading expert in infectious diseases almost two years into the pandemic.

Jim Swift, a senior editor of Bulwark Online, wrote: “This is some weird s***.”

Fred Wellman, founder of The Beer Hall Project and former executive director of The Lincoln Project, wrote: “I’m literally old enough to remember when the Republicans were the party of family values pushing back against the leftist degenerates! It’s so quaint now.”

The Atlantic’s Tom Nichols tweeted: “The Forgotten People in the dying and ignored heartland only want us to hear their cries and solve the problems of infrastructure, drug addiction, unemployment, and also to watch some of their weirdo cosplay.”

Hannaih Gais, a senior researcher at the Southern Poverty Law Center, added: “At least 10,000 of my brain cells jumped off a cliff right now.”

Others described it as “creepy”, “deranged”, “cosplaying their Fascist fantasies”, and “the intersection of cringe political theatre and porn”.

Responding to the original tweet of the photo, Republicans for National Renewal posted: “Yep, we throw the best Halloween parties!”

The group host a party on Halloween in Orlando called “Nightmare on RINO Street”, referring to “Republicans in Name Only” — those members of the GOP seen as too centrist, or who do not conform to the party line.

The pro-Trump group has endorsed a number of state and national candidates for public office and its objective is to change the make-up of the Republican Party by “assisting activists in taking over the party apparatus and pushing Republicans in Congress to back our President’s agenda”.