Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer Is the Target of Dozens of Threats on Private Facebook Groups Ahead of Armed Rally at State Capital This Week

Steve Neavling, reporting for The Detroit Metro Times:

Metro Times gained access to four private Facebook groups that can only be seen by approved members. The pages, which have a combined 400,000 members, are filled with paranoid, sexist, and grammar-challenged rants, with members encouraging violence and flouting the governor’s social-distancing orders. […] Assassinating Whitmer is a common theme among members of the groups. Dozens of people have called for her to be hanged.

“We need a good old fashioned lynch mob to storm the Capitol, drag her tyrannical ass out onto the street and string her up as our forefathers would have,” John Campbell Sr. wrote in a group called “People of Michigan vs. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer,” which had nearly 9,000 members as of Monday morning.

Steve Doxsie had the same idea: “Drag that tyrant governor out to the front lawn. Fit her for a noose.”

“Either President Trump sends in the troops or there is going to be a midnight lynching in Lansing soon,” Michael Smith chimed in.

Others suggested she be shot, beaten, or beheaded.

If a newspaper without inside access to Facebook can find these private groups, imagine how easily Facebook could find them on their own. Facebook allows these groups to fester.

★ Monday, 11 May 2020