You might remember El Paso County Republican Party Vice Chair Joshua Hosler as the guy who got beat out by now state Rep. Dave Williams in a Republican primary for state Rep. Gordon “Dr. Chaps” Klingenschmitt’s abandoned seat.

He was introduced onto the scene by Lynn Bartels in this 2015 story for the Denver Post. In the following quote he paints himself as a moderate gentleman who would serve as a stark contrast to the infamous Dr. Chaps.

“My job isn’t to needlessly burn bridges and shut people down who don’t look and act just like me, but rather work tirelessly to earn your trust as a neighbor and someone who wants to fight together to preserve both our freedoms and our constitutional rights.”

Bartels introduced him as a “recycler,” which is fitting, since recycling is in a way the subject of this article. More on that later.

More recently, Mr. Hosler has been going on about the CNN story that resulted in the firing of several reporters and a retraction. Apparently he believes that following journalistic ethics and principles actually discredits a news organization. Here is an example:

He even tried to explain to Mike Littwin how to do journalism:

And just to show what an awesome guy he is, he ponders why Democrats “get offended by everything” in the same sentence that he says they all want “anarchy and blood in the streets”. This kind of lack of self-awareness is truly breathtaking.

Did I mention that Hosler was endorsed for the position of Vice Chair of the El Paso Republican Party by Colorado’s current Colorado Secretary of State Wayne Williams, also a Republican?

But let’s get back to “recycling,” which is what Mr. Hosler did with a four year old video of a man punching a reporter in the face. Here’s a recent Facebook post:

Hosler, who bills himself as an expert at discerning “fake news,” got taken in by an obviously fake video he ran across on the internet that was badly edited to make it appear relevant to the meme Trump shared of himself punching a man whose face is covered by the CNN logo. He then passed it along as real and reveled in what is actually the assault of a television reporter by a habitual criminal in Atlanta.

It seems like losing the race for Dr. Chaps’ seat has freed up Mr. Hosler from the bonds of decency and the need to pretend moderation. He calls for liberals to tone down their rhetoric while accusing them of wanting blood to run in the streets. How can anyone take him seriously at this point?

In closing: