'Clown show': GOP chairwoman under fire for linking Dems to fentanyl-laced Halloween candy

Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel is facing some blowback after claiming that the Democrat's "open-border policy" could lead to 500 million deaths from fentanyl - despite the population of the United States only being around 330 million.

McDaniel made the statement during a panel on Fox News on Tuesday. Her comments were a reply to an interview with former President Bill Clinton, in which he said that the Republican strategy to win was to "find some new way to scare the living daylights out of the swing voters about something."

"That's what they did in 2021, where they made critical race theory sound worse than smallpox," Clinton added.

In response, McDaniel said, "Newsflash, Bill, your party is [scaring people] just fine, we don't need to help you with that at all. You're scaring voters everywhere with the open border. Just last month, 2,000 pounds of fentanyl came across our border. That could kill 500 million people."

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Despite McDaniel's claim, fentanyl could not kill 500 million people, because the U.S. Census estimates that the country has a population of just over 333 million. Even if the drug were to hypothetically wipe out every single American, it would still not come close to McDaniel's number.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 107,622 Americans died from fentanyl overdoses in 2021.

"We're coming into Halloween," McDaniel went on. "Every mom in the country right now is worried, 'What if this gets into my kid's Halloween basket?'" She then made reference to 'rainbow fentanyl' - colored pills that the Drug Enforcement Agency has previously cautioned parents about.

Despite McDaniel's comments, people on social media seemed to disagree that they should be frightened by the possibility of fentanyl-laced Halloween candy.

"Bill Clinton says the GOP aims to win elections by stoking fear and hysteria," wrote journalist Mark Follman. "Ronna McDaniel scoffs at him and promptly declares that fentanyl could kill 500 million people in America (pop. 335M) including through Halloween candy. Clown show is an understatement here."

Kara Swisher, an editor at New York Magazine and mother of four children, tweeted that she was "not worried, since WFT Ronna, poster lady for mendacity."

NBC News senior reporter Ben Collins, who covers dystopia and the alt-right in the U.S., had a somewhat darker view of McDaniel's take. He tweeted, "This is another example of Trumpism's entire ethos morphing into straight up around stranger danger. Neverending caravans, the mythological trans teacher cabal, Satan in your library, and strangers giving your kid expensive drugs for no reason whatsoever."