Donald Trump’s daughter-in-law and campaign advisor Lara Trump appeared on CNN’s State of the Union, where host Jake Tapper questioned her on a number of topics. Chief among them was Trump’s Michigan rally, where the president smiled as the crowd chanted “lock her up”, responding “lock them all up”. The chant was directed at Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, who was recently targeted in a domestic terrorist kidnapping plot that was foiled by the FBI.
The plot on Whitmer was led by right-wing extremists who were furious about the governor’s shut-down and mask mandate. Their rage was stoked by Trump’s frequent attacks on Whitmer, and his demands on Twitter to “LIBERATE MICHIGAN!”. Whitmer herself held Trump accountable, saying in a press conference “When our leaders speak, their words matter. They carry weight. When our leaders meet with, encourage, fraternize with domestic terrorists, they legitimatize their actions and they are complicit.”
Whitmer’s Deputy Digital Director Tori Saylor also tweeted the following in response to Trump’s “lock her up” chants:
I am the Governor's Deputy Digital Director. I see everything that is said about and to her online.
Every single time the President does this at a rally, the violent rhetoric towards her immediately escalates on social media.
It has to stop. It just has to. https://t.co/eupQXzGydN
— Tori Saylor (@tori_saylor) October 17, 2020
When Tapper asked Lara Trump if the president would tone down his vicious attacks, she said that her father-in-law’s words had “nothing to do with this attack against her[Whitmer].” Lara Trump said, “He wasn’t doing anything, I don’t think, to provoke people to threaten this woman, at all,” adding that Trump was “having fun at a Trump rally. And quite frankly, there are bigger issues than this.”
Tapper responded, “I don’t think ‘lock her up’ is fun.”
Look, I know we are deluged with huge issues at the moment, but a terrorist plot to kidnap a governor still qualifies as a “bigger issue.” Lara Trump tried to pivot by complaining that she and her own family routinely receive threats on social media, but Tapper countered that those threats weren’t echoed and endorsed by Joe Biden or any democratic politician.
Whitmer herself tweeted, “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.”
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
She also tried to suggest that Joe Biden’s stutter was evidence of cognitive decline, and then pretended not to know that Biden has had a stutter all his life. Tapper handled Trump decisively by ending her segment and calling her out by saying, “I think you were mocking his stutter and I think you have no standing to judge somebody’s cognitive decline.”
Tapper, who had clearly had it with Trump, said “I’d think the Trump family would be more sensitive to people who don’t have medical licenses and diagnosing politicians from afar, … Plenty of people have diagnosed your father-in-law from afar. I’m sure it offends you. You don’t have any standing.”
Here’s yet another reminder that everyone needs to vote in this election, so we can look forward to a future where none of these Trump bobbleheads get a minute of airtime.
(featured image: screencap/CNN)
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