Newly elected Idaho mayor says 'evil' far right took his comments out of context to appear as if he hates Christians

The newly elected mayor of Coeur d’Alene in Idaho was accused of making hateful comments against Christians in a video spliced together from the many rants he posted to social media.

Councilman Dan Gookin garnered 34.2% of the vote to defeat the incumbent mayor as well two other opponents. Gookin had been a member of the city council since 2011 and ran as a Republican but has a history of tangling with the local GOP.

'I admit that my language is salty. For that I apologize. I am a passionate man. I get worked up, especially when extremists are trying to destroy my community.'

After Gookin won the mayoral election, a video of his comments about Christians resurfaced on social media. The video contains multiple clips, many of which are unrelated phrases.

"Christians, they tend to be the rudest, most disrespectful jerks I have ever seen," he said in the video.

"I seriously think if Jesus were here today he would have a message for everyone who's a Christian, and he would just say, 'Get the f**k!" he says in another clip.

The Kootenai County Republican Central Committee reposted the video in Oct. 2024 along with a statement of condemnation.

We have received multiple complaints from community members regarding Dan Gookin, Precinct Committeeman, Coeur d'Alene City Councilman, "North Idaho Republican" member. ... It has been reported that he has engaged in verbally abusive behavior towards Christians, including the use of insults and defamation. The KCRCC rejects ALL forms of racial, religious, sexual, and political supremacy; and ALL political violence; and ALL political weaponization of mislabels.

However, Gookin responded at that time with a video explaining the context of many of the spliced clips and showed that they were misleading.

For instance, the second comment quoted was actually from a rant against Facebook but was cut off to make it appear that he was simply criticizing Christians.

"I seriously think if Jesus were here today he would have a message for everyone who's a Christian, and he would say, 'Get the f**k off Facebook!'" reads the full quote in context.

He said that some of the other clips had to do with comments he saw from people identifying as Christians but mocking the death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

"It's obvious to anyone with a brain that this stuff is taken out of context! But the far right lack brains," Gookin said.

"I admit that my language is salty. For that I apologize. I am a passionate man. I get worked up, especially when extremists are trying to destroy my community," he adds.

He went on to post other clips with more context.

"I'm sure the Pharisees back in Judea would have loved this technology and used it to take Christ's teachings out of context and do a video like the local far right has done to me," he continued. "Evil hasn't changed much in 2,000 years."

RELATED: Liberal feminists melt down on Twitter over one tweet from a Christian pastor

Gookin complimented the voters for choosing to elect him mayor.

"The citizens of Coeur d'Alene made a good decision, and I look forward to serving them," he said.

In Oct. 2023, the KCRCC sued Gookin for defamation related to accusations of "money laundering, election fraud, and campaign finance violations." That lawsuit was dropped after they reached a mediated settlement to receive $25,000 from Gookin's insurance company.

Gookin also defended a local ice cream shop from critics who attacked it for showing support for Charlie Kirk after his assassination.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!