News2Share speaks to Augustus Invictus, a controversial candidate currently running to fill Marco Rubio’s seat in the senate.
Invictus made headlines in October when Florida Libertarian Party chairman Adrian Wyllie stepped down to protest his candidacy. Invictus is currently running unopposed for the nomination.
“He is the absolute exact opposite of a Libertarian. He’s a self-proclaimed fascist. He’s promoting a second civil war,” Wyllie told the Associated Press.
Invictus disagrees and says that the backlash from within the party is a result of his pagan religion and a one-time animal sacrifice he performed after a dangerous trek through the Mojave Desert. “I sacrificed a goat, and that was that,” he told News2Share’s Ford Fischer.
“I sacrificed a goat, and that was that.”
Pointing to his campaign website, he contends that his platform is in line with libertarianism, “except maybe one or two issues like immigration and maybe abortion.” On the website, he calls himself “The most dangerous Libertarian in America.”
Mr. Invictus’s Campaign Logo
Earlier this month, Invictus was denied entry into Canada for accusations that he may be a fascist. When asked where allegations of fascism come from, he explained that “I think that a lot of criticism of fascism comes to the aesthetic of the campaign. The eagle and the fasces. One person’s pointed out that I use oratory tone instead of a conversational tone in speeches.”
As a third party, Invictus faces an uphill battle to gain money and support. He says that while he’s struggled to gain money, he’s received voter and media attention, sometimes unexpectedly.
“The subculture nobody aims for politically because they are apolitical, those are the people supporting the campaign by and large.”
“The black metal scene for instance, 100% support, all across the board,” he explained. “Some biker groups, tattoo artists… The subculture nobody aims for politically because they are apolitical, those are the people supporting the campaign by and large.”
His campaign tactics are certainly unconventional for a politician running in the United States. Following allegations that Republican Presidential Candidate Ted Cruz may have five mistresses, Mr. Invictus tweeted that “Seems there is a politician out there with more mistresses than me – and I’m a pagan polyamorist. I tip my hat to you, sir.”
“Well I’d have to give no comment on how many mistresses I have, or their names of course,” he told News2Share. “My hat’s off to Ted Cruz. That’s amazing that he could do that and still profess to be an Evangelical Christian… I’ve never professed to be a Christian so that moral standard does not apply to me.”
While he is open about polyamory and self-documented use of LSD, Mr. Invictus says these things should not be relevant to him as a candidate.
“Everybody knows that every politician in this city has done drugs. Everybody knows that every politician in this city has a mistress,” he said, explaining that voters will appreciate honesty on these issues. “I think it would be a lot worse if I said, ‘I want to help Israel nuke all their surrounding countries,’ or ‘I want to implement a total welfare state and go full Communism.’ Those would be bad things for a politician to say.”
As for the general election, he feels that he can bring Republicans on board, but as for people on the left “I’m not aiming for that demographic, I really don’t want their vote.”
While he may only grab a portion of Republican votes and does not seek the support of Democratic voters, he is still aiming to win.
“Even if I could do it all over, I wouldn’t change a thing.”
