Jake Banta, the Republican nominee to update state Rep. Curt Sonney in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, says he needs constitutional rights, restore confidence in elections, fight record inflation and get others back to work.
He says he’s a “common sense” candidate.
On social media, Banta embraces conspiracy theories about politics and the pandemic.
In the same way he used a microphone and amplifier as singer and guitarist for local band Jake’s Blues, Banta used platforms like Facebook, Gab and former President Donald Trump’s Truth Social to magnify false, misleading and questionable claims and conspiracies to an audience. Banta says his outspoken rhetoric prompted the FBI to make a stopover at his home in early 2021 while he was out of town, a claim the Erie Times-News could not confirm with the FBI.
Banta said he believes the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U. S. Capitol would take place in the U. S. Capitol. The U. S. was planned by Democrats and led by the Capitol Police and others.
He is convinced that Democrats stole the 2020 presidential election from Joe Biden.
He wrote that he believes COVID-19 was created through Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, as part of a broader plan through the “globalists” — which he says includes Democrats, the World Health Organization and the World Economic Forum — to depopulate the planet.
And he claims that 99% of the COVID-19 vaccine is made from graphene oxide, which can have serious side effects at high doses, and that it has killed more people than the virus itself.
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If demographics and demographics are any guide, the race for the 4th legislative district seat is lost for Banta.
He opposes Democrat Chelsea Oliver, a former Corry town councilman, to fill the seat won nine times through Sonney, who ran for office.
All House and Senate districts were redesigned based on redistricting. The distribution isan among the electorate in the new District 4 will replace little when the maps go into effect next year. In March, 49. 57% of the registered electorate were Republicans; 36. 5% were Democrats and 13. 94% were independent or affiliated with a 3rd.
Banta, a Waterford-area resident, won 42 percent of the number one vote, beating five other Republican hopefuls on May 17.
Sonney said Banta would be a successor because he is “more of a citizen legislator. “
“That’s their fear for other people in general,” he said. “He has an underlying fear for his fellow citizens. And surely he’s very open to listening to everyone. “
Sonney said he was unaware of Banta’s online comments and declined to comment on them.
Tom Eddy, chairman of the Erie County Republican Party, also said he was not aware of the comments. He called Banta “sensible” and added that the candidate did not talk about some of the claims he made online at fundraisers and other crusades. Eddy attended.
Although Banta agreed to be interviewed on April 25 before the Republican primary, he declined to be interviewed for this article, as recently as September 30.
Banta, 57, is most recognizable as the leader and dynamic guitarist of his band, Jake’s Blues, formed more than 3 decades ago. before a regional band and then flirting with the national scene. Banta even recorded with blues-rock duo Double Trouble, the rhythm segment he played with Banta’s idol, Stevie Ray Vaughan.
Banta grew up and then inherited the farm from the circle of relatives in the municipality of LeBoeuf.
“I love it; it’s kind of a passion,” Banta said of the kinship circle farm in a 2010 Erie Times-News article. “I grew up doing a small part of farming. I love the setting there. I live in the countryside and things haven’t replaced much there in my life. So I hope it stays that way for my kids. “
Banta enlisted in the U. S. Navy. and as a SEAL after graduating from Fort LeBoeuf High School.
He worked for a time in the oil and fuel industry and then stated that he had a personal security contractor for the federal government. He would spend several months in Afghanistan, Iraq and other parts of the Middle East before accepting maritime missions.
“My job is to provide security by helping diplomats and agents start and/or rebuild democracy and loose nations that can exist in harmony and thrive on their resources,” he said in a recent guest column for the Erie Times-News.
Banta says he lost his contract for refusing to get vaccinated against COVID-19. He told The Times-News that he now regrets receiving more vaccines when he joined the military.
Banta, a self-proclaimed “guitarist,” a “proud patriot” and a “cold beer boy,” said he never imagined he would one day assume a new level of presence, reciting lines from the U. S. Constitution. UU. de Stevie Ray Vaughn.
“I’ve ticked so many boxes in my life and I think it’s vital that we get it right,” Banta, a married father of 3 adult children, said in an April 25 interview. “It’s vital for me. Whether they’re talking about the economy, education or lockdown and COVID and mandates, all the things that played into this. I was looking for it more and more and I said, Oh my God, we can do more than this. “
Banta’s political and musical worlds have collided in years when he delivered the national anthem at Trump rallies.
However, Banta has not aligned himself with the Republican Party. He was a registered Democrat since 2004, but replaced his party association with Republican in June 2009, according to the Erie County voter registration office.
“Parties change,” he said earlier this year. “And what I’ve noticed in recent years outdoors is that the left has not been my choice. “
A video of the crusade described Banta as “passionate about preserving constitutional rights, ensuring the integrity of the electorate and getting the economy back on track. “
Banta is a strong defender of Second Amendment rights. It was recently approved by Gun Owners of America, which gave it a one hundred percent rating.
It would also be subject to regulations and heavy taxes that would save it from business expansion in the state.
He will oppose the “excess” of the government’s emergency powers, such as those invoked by the pandemic to order the masking and closure of businesses, and “radical” programs. He also needs to cut taxes and provide subsidies to small businesses, as well as assets imposed on homeowners and seniors, according to his column.
On abortion, Banta in her interview with Erie Times-News earlier this year said she was “pro-life” and would do everything she could to dissuade an expectant mother from having an abortion. However, it would not ban abortion.
Asked if an abortion ban was enacted, Banta replied, “You can’t force a woman to remain a baby,” she said. be the next Einstein. “
However, Erie News Now reported in September that Banta “called for a debate on the issue” and advised that he could ban abortion if exceptions were made for rape, incest and the life of the mother.
Banta denies the final results of the 2020 presidential election and also claimed without evidence that he didn’t just steal the presidency. He said on social media that even Democratic state incumbent Ryan Bizzarro’s victory over Republican Greg Hayes in the 3rd Legislative District race that year was the result of fraud. There is no evidence of the accusation.
Banta supports stricter voter identity legislation and also reverses Pennsylvania’s vote-by-mail legislation, he told The Times-News in April. He also believes ballots have serial numbers, as he recently wrote in the Erie Times-News guest column.
Jake Banta: A promise to oppose agendas, repair sovereignty, taxes
Banta believes recreational marijuana legalization is inevitable in Pennsylvania, but said in the same April interview that he wants more debate about the factor first. He would oppose any law that eliminates other rights, such as carrying a concealed weapon.
Banta’s political rise began online, where he mocked what he calls “plandemic,” accused Democrats of being “tyrants” and “globalists,” and distributed a series of unsubstantiated claims from far-right anti-vaccine websites. When some of his comments were removed from Facebook, resulting in the suspension of his account, Banta took refuge in sites like Gab and Truth Social.
However, Banta’s largest audience is on Facebook. He doesn’t have crusader pages or non-public Facebook pages, but he created and now runs his own “I Am America” page, which has surpassed 5,300 members.
Banta uses “I am America” as a common signature in many of his publications. It is also an organization he formed that meets face-to-face to communicate about politics.
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The “I am America” Facebook page includes several posts from members referencing or announcing conspiracy theories, adding QAnon, a motion that baselessly claims the world is controlled by a cabal of satanic cannibals: the most sensible Democrats, government officials, business leaders and Hollywood. celebrities, who operates a global child sex trafficking operation and conspired against Trump in his 4 years in office. He also claimed that Trump would remove and disclose this deliberate clique someday called “the storm. “
The claims, presented through a user or other people known as ‘Q’, first appeared in 2017 on the marginal website 4chan and spawned a network of ‘Qtubers’, YouTubers who specialize in analytics. cryptic “drops”.
Although Banta himself did not make any known express reference to QAnon on social media, some of his posts bear a striking resemblance to some of his theories.
For example, on November 14, 2020, he posted the following: “In the coming months, President Trump will win the election and the liberal socialists, Marxists, and left-wing globalists attacking our country will be arrested. Evidence will soon emerge that the election will not only change, but prosecute those involved in fraud, tyranny and murder. The now-proposed closure is part of this coup. Resist. ALL of this will be justified and the perpetrators will be shot. your commander-in-chief. “
None of that happened.
Banta has defended the rioters who stormed the U. S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, calling them “patriots” and avoiding references to the insurrection.
It posted that Ashli Babbitt, the 35-year-old veteran who shot and killed inside the Capitol, was killed by a Capitol police officer as she and others gathered outdoors in the president’s room, which leads to the House of Representatives.
“A hero died protecting that his country was stolen from us all. SHE deserves a statue than a criminal with a drug overdose,” Banta wrote in an article, referring to George Floyd, the black man who was killed by Minneapolis police in 2020.
On June 16, as the House committee investigating the riots at the Capitol was holding its third public hearing, Banta floated an unsubstantiated theory that the riots were planned through Trump’s political opponents.
“AMERICA. They think you’re stupid,” Banta wrote. There are transparent photographs from Jan. 6 of the Capitol Police opening doors and letting other people walk quietly through security. This day of January 6 will be used against ALL Americans. To divide and accuse. To derail President Trump’s return,” Banta wrote, in part.
However, as noted on the website FactCheck. org, an assignment from the Annenberg Public Policy Center, video footage that appears to show instances of Capitol Police officers keeping doors open does not show they were allowing rioters into the building.
“There is no evidence of misconduct in the short video clip,” U. S. Capitol Police said. The U. S. government in its report to Factcheck. org to do not attack or assault and to remain calm. “
The Committee interviewed Epps. Epps informed us that he was not hired by or operated at the direction of any law enforcement firm on January 5 or 6 or at any other time, and that he was never an informant for the FBI or any other law enforcement firm.
The Capitol and conspiracies about it stem from unsubstantiated claims that Biden stole the election.
Banta echoed many of those false claims online.
Banta wondered how it is possible that Trump would simply lose when his crusade rallies “were 10 times bigger” than Biden’s events.
But it ignores the fundamental facts, adding the fact that Trump held classic demonstrations while Biden, due to COVID-19, held invitation-only events that strictly adhered to social distancing and other physical protective protocols, such as the case when applicants gathered in Erie in October 2020. Biden’s campaign, for example, did not tell the media or the public where he appeared in Erie until hours before the event.
Banta also questions how Biden won 11. 5 million more votes in 2020 than then-candidate Barack Obama in his historic 2008 race, but reportedly doesn’t say there were 27 million more eligible voters in the U. S. In the U. S. Department of Homeland Security in 2020, that the number of registered voters is higher across 22 million other people over that 14-year period, and that turnout. 4% more than in 2008, according to the U. S. Census Bureau. The U. S. Department of Health and Federal Register.
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More recently, Banta claimed that the discredited film “2000 Mules,” directed by commentator Dinesh D’Souza, proves that the election was stolen.
The film unsubstantiated alleges that another 2,000 people or “mules” were paid through the Democratic Party to gather and deposit polls in mailboxes in key battleground states, adding Pennsylvania. The generation on which the film bases its claims cannot identify other people and is not accurate enough to know if a user made several stops in a mailbox or had other reasons for being in those places. found in crowded public places (Erie County is located in the courthouse). The film also ignores exceptions to survey collection legislation: Some states allow other people to issue surveys for family members and members of the same family, for example.
Even the pundit and ultra-conservative provocateur Ann Coulter criticized the film.
“Even if each and every mobile phone point represented a left-wing organizer illegally issuing someone else’s poll, that would not invalidate the poll,” Coulter wrote in a June column. Whoever delivered it is likely to get into trouble. “
However, Banta is alone.
In August, a vote conducted through the Franklin
Banta, in particular, spoke about the COVID-19 pandemic. He called the virus a “biological weapon” and called the vaccine “Jim Jones multiplied by millions. “He claims to have spoken to dozens of others who have had adverse reactions to the vaccine. , adding blood clots. He said and posted that he thinks the U. S. government will not be able to do so. The U. S. government will prevent the vaccine from being licensed.
Their most common false claims are that the vaccine killed more people than the virus itself and that it was created through Gates and Fauci with the help of China.
Banta cites a 52-page report on vaccine deaths that falsely claims millions of others died from the vaccine. Its authors draw their conclusions from misinterpreted data in databases, namely the Virus Adverse Event Reporting System, as other anti-vaccination activists have done, according to Science. org.
Banta’s claim that the mRNA vaccine with 99 percent graphene oxide appears to be based on a much-criticized study by a Spanish professor, who claimed that the vial he tested came from a “single and limited sample” of unknown origin, according to Reuters, and that his “microscope provides no conclusive evidence. “
As for Gates, the Republican candidate for state representative airs a 2005 video that has been circulating for a long time on the Internet and purports to show the billionaire making a presentation to the U. S. Department of Defense. The U. S. Department of Health and Prevention on how to use vaccines to inoculate devout extremists. But the video is a hoax and does not show Gates, as Reuters reported at the start of the pandemic.
Not only has it deterred others from getting vaccinated against COVID-19 and detoxifying if they have already done so, but Banta, who has no medical training, has pushed for a treatment of choice: ivermectin, an FDA-approved antiparasitic drug to combat tropical diseases in humans and serves to save heartworm disease and treat internal and external parasites in animals.
Banta said he promotes ivermectin because of his own reports with the drug (he says it saved his mother’s life after she tested positive for the virus) and its purported efficacy in India and other countries.
The Poynter Institute notes that there is no clinical basis for claims of efficacy of the drug in India and there is no consensus on why COVID-19 cases were declining at the time ivermectin was used.
The FDA has not approved ivermectin for use to treat COVID-19 in clinical trials. The National Institutes of Health acknowledges that ivermectin has been shown to inhibit SARS-CoV-2 replication in mobile cultures. But additional studies, the NIH notes, “show no transparent evidence that ivermectin reduces recovery time or prevents the progression of COVID-19 disease. “
Banta says ivermectin has been so successful in India that the World Health Organization’s leading scientist is on trial for manslaughter for discouraging its use in favor of the vaccine. This claim is misleading, according to the Poynter Institute and the website Myth Detector. The lawsuit filed through an organization of lawyers, not prosecutors, and dismissed in June 2021.
Banta said efforts to impose masks, business closures and vaccicountry mandates, ban guns and “steal” elections, among others, are all components of a “new global order” plot through “globalists” to depopulate the planet and “take their sovereign country and make the world a socialist Marxist state. “as he wrote in May. He considers the World Health Organization and the World Economic Forum, as Democratic lawmakers, as the main culprits.
Banta opposes Biden’s comments in March when he used the term “new global order. “
The Southern Poverty Law Center says the conspiracies of the “new global order” are based on “paranoia” and use “disinformation and disinformation (to) target establishments and public figures. “
“Today’s conspiracy propagandist feeds on confidence that American ideals are being eroded by liberal forces aimed at destroying the country from within,” the SPLC’s website states. “The purpose of this clique of liberal elites is to identify a communist/socialist/Marxist regime and relinquish American sovereignty, opting for a single global government. “
Banta has also used social media to comment on social issues.
Banta said that after the spread of the COVID-19 virus, the momentary component of what he calls “planetamic” is the “riots installed through Floyd,” a reference to the protests that followed the May 2020 killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
It falsely claims that public schools “indoctrinate” academics through critical race theory training, which is taught at any Pennsylvania school, college, or university.
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He criticized the Pennsylvania Department of Education for providing guidance to teachers about their gender identity, adding the use of non-public pronouns they like.
And he misunderstood Dr. Rachel Levine, a transgender woman and former secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Health who is now U. S. deputy secretary for fitness.
“What I do on social media doesn’t make unusual sense,” Banta wrote in a text message to an Erie Times-News reporter in August. “On my own, I think I have 99% accuracy. to be impartial. I do studies on a basis. And this has been the case for some years. My purpose is to help the county exit. “
The 4th Legislative District includes the city of Corry; Edinboro, Elgin, Girard, Lake City, McKean, Mill Village, the Northeast Districts, Platea, Union City, Waterford and Wattsburg; Amity, Concord, Franklin, Girard, Greenfield, Leboeuf, McKean, North East, Union, Venango, Washington, Waterford and Wayne cities.
Matthew Rink can be reached on mrink@timesnews. com or on Twitter in @ETNRink.