Fox Host Attacks Veteran for Being Paid to Travel and 'Murder Brown People'

Fox News podcast host Ben Domenech has attacked a U.S. Marine veteran and Senate hopeful for being paid to travel and "murder brown people," amid a Twitter spat between the two men.

The argument began when Lucas Kunce, a 13-year Marine veteran running for the Democratic nomination for a U.S. Senate seat for Missouri, wrote a column for Fox News saying Republicans had turned their backs on veterans by blocking a bill that would have "expanded medical coverage for millions of combatants exposed to toxic burn pits during their service."

Kunce, 39, is a former marine who was exposed to toxic burn pits while fighting in Iraq in 2009. In the column, he advocated getting rid of the filibuster to pass the law.

Kunce will be running in the Senate primary in Missouri on Tuesday, his main challenger being Trudy Busch Valentine.

Domenech, who hosts the Ben Domenech Podcast and is an editor at large at conservative U.K. magazine The Spectator, criticized Kunce on Twitter, saying getting rid of the filibuster was "authoritarian horsec***" and that the veteran shouldn't "sweep away the tenets of government because it doesn't accord to your wishes."

Kunce responded: "What's horses*** is when people like you act like some archaic Senate procedure is more important than health care for our veterans. I got sent to Iraq and Afghanistan, so I'll be damned if some Bush White House toady is going to lecture me about democracy.

Domenech shot back: "I don't think we needed to pay you to travel across the world and murder brown people, Lucas. You should probably send that money back."

"I preferred the version of @LucasKunceMO that ran a decade and a half ago when he was pro-life instead of this fake Democrat," he added.

When he contested an election for Missouri state representative back in 2006, Kunce initially ran as an anti-abortion Democratic candidate. He lost to Republican Mark Bruns. Kunce is now running on a ticket supporting abortion rights.

Newsweek has contacted Kunce for comment.

Meanwhile, in an interview with ABC News, Sen. Bill Cassidy said he supported the veterans bill, despite voting against it. Cassidy had voted for the bill a month ago.

"The bill will pass and I strongly support it. We have to stand by our veterans who have been exposed to these chemicals," the Louisiana Republican said.

"There was a drafting error. A $400 billion drafting error that Democrats promised Republicans would get a vote on an amendment to fix. They denied us that vote. So what we're asking is give us the vote on the amendment, let us try and go after a $400 billion drafting error. By the way more than [Sen. Joe] Manchin claims this bill will reduce the deficit by."

Some Republican senators, including Cassidy and Pat Toomey, believe the veterans bill creates an additional $400 billion in discretionary spending unrelated to veterans, meaning Congress can hide a spending binge.

Cassidy said he would vote for the bill's final passage.

Correction 8/1/22 9:49 a.m. EDT: This article was updated to show that Ben Domenech hosts a podcast on Fox News audio, rather than being a Fox News Radio host.