Adrian Wyllie, chairman of Florida’s Libertarian Party, resigned his post Thursday to protest the party’s U.S. Senate candidate, accusing the rival of supporting eugenics and for being expelled from a cult group for “sadistically dismembering a goat in a ritualistic sacrifice.”
The Senate candidate, who goes by the adopted name Augustus Sol Invictus, counter-accused Wyllie of spreading “half-truths and lies” for political gain.
The dispute between the two has brewed for months, but finally came to a head after Wyllie was unable to persuade the Libertarian Party of Florida’s executive committee to publicly disavow Invictus, an adopted name that means something like “Invincible Sun Emperor.”
“I’m not making this up. It’s crazy, I know,” Wyllie, a Palm Harbor businessman who ran for governor in 2014 and received 3.8 percent of the vote, told POLITICO after announcing his resignation and levelling his accusations against Invictus in a Facebook post. “I resigned to draw attention to this, as a protest. I did this as a pre-emptive strike. I don’t want anyone to think this guy represents Libertarians. He doesn’t. Under the law, we can’t keep him from the ballot.”
Invictus, an Orlando lawyer, said he shares classic Libertarian beliefs: Opposition to the war on drugs, support for slashing the federal budget and programs and scaling back interventionist foreign policies. Invictus said he does believe in some environmental regulations, however, but has a harder political line on immigration and believes the government needs to restrict immigration.
Invictus, 32, is an adherent of a religion called Thelema, established in the early 1900s by occultist Aleister Crowley. Invictus was expelled from the religion’s fraternal organization, Ordo Templi Orientis, but denies Wyllie’s specific claim about dismembering a goat.
“I have never dismembered a goat in my life. I have performed animal sacrifices as part of my religion,” Invictus said. “I was expelled from the order for political reasons. And animal sacrifice was part of it. But that is a deliberate misrepresentation by Wyllie.”
Wyllie said he brought up the issue of Invictus’ religion because the candidate has cited it as justification for supporting potentially violent revolution. Invictus denies that as well.
The bizarre back-and-forth between the two Libertarians added a new dimension to Florida’s already headline-grabbing race for U.S. Senate to replace Marco Rubio.
On Wednesday, Florida Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater surprised fellow Republicans — four of whom are already running for the seat — by saying he might run. Months before, Atwater refused to enter the race. On the Democratic side, the campaigns of U.s. Reps. Alan Grayson and Patrick Murphy are attacking each other on a weekly, and sometimes daily, basis.
Adding to the drama: former Republican dirty trickster Roger Stone, an on-again-off-again adviser to Donald Trump, has been recruited by fellow Libertarians to run against Invictus.
“The guy is a nut, speaks in tongues or whatever. Weird stuff,” Stone said. “They need someone to run against him to make sure he doesn’t win and make us all look crazy.”
Wyllie said he had no interest in running for Senate. But, he said, Invictus must be stopped and listed a series of reasons to oppose his candidacy. In early September, Invictus posted a detailed point-by-point refutation of Wyllie’s claims on Facebook. Invictus specifically said he does not support eugenics and forced abortions, contrary to Wyllie’s claims.
“Many of his supporters are known members of Neo-Nazi and white supremacist groups, such as American Front, Vinelanders and Stormfront, and he has been recruiting them into the Libertarian Party,” Wyllie said Thursday on Facebook.
Invictus said that as a lawyer, he has represented some of these groups in a professional capacity. He said, however, that he’s no racist. “My four children are Hispanic,” said Invictus, who’s divorced.
Invictus acknowledged he changed his name and wouldn’t confirm or deny Wyllie’s claim that his birth name was Austin Gillespie.
Another notable change with Invictus: His public speaking persona is far different than his one-on-one interactions. On his Facebook page, Invictus has a fierce and dramatic oratorical style and occasionally sounds like a Southerner. In casual conversation, though, he has no accent. Invictus said the change is a result of nerves.
“I still get that game-day adrenaline,” he said.
The substance of his stump speech is unique in the Senate field. In a black-and-white video of a speech featured on his campaign website, he warns of government overreached and how he has been “hunted” by the FBI. At one point, he looks in the camera and addresses the law-enforcement authorities he says are watching him. Urging Libertarians to resist using the same tactics as the two major political parties, Invictus also asks his audience to think for themselves.
“I want you to take LSD and practice sorcery,” he says at one point. “I’m also Old World Pagan and a white Southerner. So I know what it’s like to be treated like a wolf in a hen house.”
Originally Posted by Ron Paul
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