Democratic Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said Saturday that President Donald Trump’s rhetoric at rallies is putting her, her “family, and other government officials’ lives in danger” and that it “needs to stop.”
This is exactly the rhetoric that has put me, my family, and other government officials’ lives in danger while we try to save the lives of our fellow Americans. It needs to stop. https://t.co/EWkNQx3Ppx
— Governor Gretchen Whitmer (@GovWhitmer) October 17, 2020
Whitmer was referring to a Trump rally Saturday in Muskegon, Michigan, where Trump criticized the Michigan governor’s coronavirus lockdowns and the crowd erupted in chants of “lock her up.” (RELATED: Michigan Anti-Lockdown Protesters Had Their Phone Data Tracked — Floyd Protesters Did Not)
“You’ve got to get your governor to open up your state. Okay? And get your schools open. Get your schools open. The schools have to be open, right?” Trump asked as the crowd shouted, “Lock her up.”
“Lock them all up,” Trump responded as he encouraged media outlets covering the rally to point their cameras in the crowd’s direction. “Look where that goes, all the way over to there … You can show: turn the cameras. They never like turning the cameras. They never like to show the kind of crowds,” he continued, noting that the media was not responding.
“That’s a lot of people. That’s a lot of people. Go ahead, turn your camera, go ahead, turn it. They hate to do it. They hate to show the crowds.” (RELATED: ‘Her Decision Is Not Binding’: Michigan AG Says She Will No Longer Enforce Whitmer’s COVID-19 Lockdowns)
Earlier this month, federal authorities charging six people — allegedly involved with a state militia group — who were planning to kidnap Gov. Whitmer.
Trump suggested that Whitmer was an ingrate for not thanking his administration for foiling the plot against the governor, who instead called the president a “white supremacist.”
The Michigan Supreme Court ruled earlier this month that Whitmer’s emergency declarations were unconstitutional and should be immediately vacated.
