Fact Check: Did a Republican US Representative Wear a "Kill Em All" Shirt at a GOP Event?

Months before the 2020 presidential election, social media is filled with political memes criticizing candidates and campaigns.

One of them was a widely shared photograph of U.S Rep. Ken Buck, a Republican from Colorado, at a GOP event wearing a shirt that read "Kill 'em all. Let God sort 'em out."

Controversial shirt

The meme was shared to Facebook in a post by Texas Rural Voice, a group that described itself as rural Texans and has supported Democratic platforms.

Numerous social media users wanted to know if the shirt that Rep. Buck was wearing is true, and it turned out that it was. The images were shared by the Colorado GOP's official Twitter account on August 29, 2020.

Joe Jackson, communications director for the Colorado Republican Party, said that Rep. Buck's shirt is not a story nor is it newsworthy.

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Jackson added that the saying on the shirt is well known as being associated with the Marines and Green Berets, and the t-shirt was a gift to the Congressman from his son. Rep. Buck's son is a veteran who went to West Point.

Maj Salinas, the branch head of media operations for the U.S Marine Corps, said that the phrase was never adopted as an official motto or slogan for the U.S Marine Corps.

The shirt's phrase

The phrase "Kill 'em all. Let God sort 'em out," comes from the Latin saying "Caedite eos. Novit enim Dominus qui sunt eius," which translates to, "Kill them. For the Lord knows those that are His own."

The Latin version of the phrase dates back to the Albigensian Crusade of the 13th century when Pope Innocent III launched a 20-year military campaign against the Cathari, a religious sect deemed heretics. The U.S Marine Corps is said to have unofficially adopted the saying during the Vietnam War.

Despite the explanation, some social media users argued that Rep. Buck's shirt was in bad taste after months of protests nationwide between protesters of racial injustice and the police.

Meanwhile, supporters of Rep. Buck stated that his wearing of the shirt should not be a controversy because he is showing solitary with U.S military forces, as reported by Colorado Peak Politics.

Although it is clear that Rep. Buck wore the shirt, it is still not known in what event he wore it. But since the event calendar showed that the GOP event in Colorado happened in August and was held in Delta County, Montrose County, and Mesa County, it is assumed that he wore it during the event.

On September 1, the images were shared again with residents in Colorado, and it was sent through an email campaign on behalf of Ike McCorkle, a Democrat from Colorado who is running for the state's 4th Congressional District, which is currently Buck's seat.

A spokesperson with McCorkle's campaign confirmed that the picture was taken by a photographer attending a GOP event and that the picture was authentic.

Samuel Banick, the communications director for McCorkle's campaign, said that the image captured for Ken Buck was from a "Guns and BBQ" rally held in Grand Junction.

Republicans are now accusing McCorkle of dirty politics and are using the shirt to scare off voters, but McCorkle's supports and other social media users stated that the shirt is tone-deaf to the current social and political climate in the country.