Michigan's Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is being targeted with assassination threats from a head of an armed rally planned for Thursday, with members of private Facebook pages posting several comments calling for acts of violence against her and to defy her social distancing orders.
The four groups have a combined 400,000 members, according to The Detroit Metro Times, which accessed the commentary and reported that several people called for the Democratic governor's death.
"'Can we please just take up a collection for an assassin to put that woman from Michigan down," one person wrote, while another one commented that "plain and simple, she needs to eat lead and send a statement to the rest of the Democrats that they are next."
Other posts, while not specifically calling for her death, speculated what would happen if protesters showed up and demanded Whitmer step down.
"What do you think would happen if a thousand armed Patriots showed up in Lansing demanding her resignation," one post said. "They might get a few but they can't get all of us and it might not get her out that day but it would open up some eyes here in Michigan and more importantly in Washington."
Another man said he hoped someone "would take her out permanently."
The newspaper reported that Facebook removed a group called Michigan United for Liberty, which had organized a rally last month in Lansing, with Facebook saying the group was taken off because it violated the social media site's policy on inciting violence.
The threats came days after the governor said she'd support banning weapons inside the state Capitol building, after armed demonstrators stormed the building during protests on April 20.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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