Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer has accused President Donald Trump of encouraging “domestic terrorism” after his rally in the state included supporters chanting “lock her up” days after a botched kidnapping plot against her.
At a rally in Michigan on Saturday, Trump blasted Whitmer for keeping her state on lockdown during the Covid-19 pandemic, leading the crowd to chant, “lock her up.”
The president responded by saying, “lock ‘em all up.”
The comment earned Trump, who has referred to Whitmer as “a dictator” in the past, criticism from many liberals considering the comments came only days after multiple people were arrested for allegedly plotting to kidnap the governor out of anger over Covid-19 restrictions in the state. The governor herself responded on Sunday during an appearance on NBC’s ‘Meet the Press’ where she accused the president of inciting “domestic terrorism.”
“It’s incredibly disturbing,” she said, “that the president of the United States – ten days after a plot to kidnap, put me on trial, and execute me – ten days after that was uncovered, the president is at it again and inspiring and incentivizing and inciting this kind of domestic terrorism.”
Whitmer said Trump’s rhetoric is “dangerous” for her and her family, as well as other public servants facing public furor over lockdown restrictions.
“People of good will on both sides of the aisle need to step up and call this out and bring the heat down,” she said.
WATCH: Trump’s supporters chant “lock her up” at Mich. rally.@GovWhitmer: “Ten days after a plot to kidnap, put me on trial and execute me. Ten days after that was uncovered, the president is at it again. And inspiring and incentivizing and inciting … domestic terrorism.” pic.twitter.com/ipN3xvEbQ7
In a CNN interview the same day, Lara Trump, the president’s daughter-in-law and a campaign adviser, defended comments from the rally, saying the president was “just having fun.”
Whitmer has used what critics have called extreme rhetoric against the president in the past herself, even calling him “complicit” in the kidnapping plot against her.
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