This U.S. Senate candidate drank a goat's blood, is metal af

by Jeremy Mersereau

Usually when you think of the Senate, you immediately start thinking of absolutely anything else, or lately, how sweet it would be to claim a solid gold helicopter as an expense.

Here in Canada, senators are appointed and their powers are very limited; in the U.S., it’s a whole other story. U.S. Senators must win a popular election to serve their six-year term, and so aspiring Senators have to campaign just like any other political candidate, which leads to all sorts of shenanigans. Typically, though, those shenanigans are limited to the usual mailers of dubious origin or ill-considered social media posts, not pagan animal sacrifice and blood-drinking, but hey, first time for everything.

Former lawyer Augustus Sol Invictus (great name, can’t wait for his new neofolk album) is currently running for Senate, under the banner of the US Libertarian Party. Invictus isn’t having the easiest time with his campaign, though: Libertarian party chairman Andrew Wyllie resigned in order to convince other party leaders to boycott Invictus’ candidacy, and party members claim that the 32-year-old Florida native is a virulent white supremacist, a Neo-Nazi sympathizer, and once sacrificed an innocent goat tro drink its blood.

Well, one out of three ain’t bad: Invictus admitted to goat sacrifice, telling the AP that “I did sacrifice a goat. I sacrificed an animal to the god of the wilderness … Yes, I drank the goat’s blood.” To be fair, the sacrifice wasn’t just a lark, it was performed to give thanks to the pagan pantheon for a successful stint of fasting and prayer in the desert. Ah, I see. That clears that up. All the best on your political campaign, sir.

For his part, former chairman Andrew Wyllie claims Invictus is a disaster for the Libertarian party, saying that “it’s absolute insanity. We must explain to people this is the opposite of Libertarians.” Well, in terms of political conversation starters, you don’t get much more attention-grabbing than “this guy is a animal-sacrificing pagan worshipper. Thoughts?”

To put things in perspective here, we are talking about the Libertarian Party, who received a whopping one percent of the vote in 2012. Invictus’ actions and beliefs probably serve to draw way more attention to the party than they would otherwise receive. Take note, Prohibition Party! Just perform an occult ritual and you too could be part of the conversation! I’ve always wanted to see what a speakeasy’s like anyway.