The Vermont Republican Party’s effort to build a strong statewide ticket are proceeding apace. Mark Coester, who has once before been disavowed by the VTGOP, has announced he’s running for Congress. He is, so far, the only Republican challenger to Democratic U.S. Rep. Becca Balint.

Coester is seen here in the only video that comes up when you search YouTube for “Mark Coester Vermont.” It’s a 21-second clip of Coester meandering along the U.S.-Mexico border wall, pausing in front of a small section that’s either unfinished or damaged, gesturing at it, and saying “Ran out of concrete?” He’s carrying a big ol’ sidearm, just in case he has to Halt A Incursion or something.

This is kind of normal behavior for Coester, whose campaign website promotes him as a man who would bring “common sense and traditional values to Washington, D.C.” He speaks of government accountability and term limits and 100% Fair and Honest Elections and — my favorite bit — decries “the constant bickering, finger pointing and blame games that go on in politics.”

If you’ve read my coverage of far-right stealth candidates, you’ll recognize the warning signs. This guy is a Trump-lovin’ conspiratorialist.

Coester’s previous bid for public office did not end well. During the 2022 primary campaign, Coester drove his big rig in the Colchester Fourth of July parade. The truck was festooned with, among other things, “a flag commonly associated with fascism and included a ‘Pepe the Frog’ image,” according to VTDigger.

The display caused consternation among parade officials and led the VTGOP to disavow his candidacy after he won a Republican nomination for state Senate in Windham County. Coester instead ran for U.S. Senate as an independent, He finished sixth with 0.44% of the vote. To illustrate how dire that total was, the fifth-place finisher was Kerry Raheb,

Yes, that Kerry Raheb, whose background and campaign were sketchy as all hell. Coester finished behind him.

If Coester’s website presents the veneer of cromulent conservatism, his social media accounts offer a more colorful portrait. He is active on Twitter, Gab, and Donald Trump’s Truth Social. The Gab account features top-shelf graphics like, um:

Coester reposts a lot of content from a Gab user named “ShepQ,” and I think you can guess what the “Q” stands for. Good ol’ Shep claims that “TRUMP” was “chosen by GOD for this job at this Time.” It must be true because ALL CAPS.

Coester’s Truth Social account includes a bizarre six-minute video in which Trump says “There is nothing the political establishment will not do, no lie that they won’t tell, to hold their prestige and power at your expense” over footage of the attack on the World Trade Center.

So 9/11 was part of the establishment plot, I guess?

I could go on, but I think that will suffice.

Coester filed his petitions several days ago, but so far the only news coverage his campaign has received is a very brief item on WPTZ-TV. During the 30 seconds or so devoted to Coester, the news anchor managed to pronounce his name two different ways: “Coaster” and “Quester”.

So yeah, maybe a little work to do on raising his public profile.

Should Coester win the August primary and manage to avoid being disavowed by the VTGOP again, it should make for entertaining debates with our incumbent Scrappy Little Dyke.