‘About time for an assassination’: Trump death threats swamp Twitter
Numerous disgruntled Americans have taken to Twitter to encourage the murder of Donald Trump, echoing the reaction to Barack Obama’s 2008 election victory, albeit from a different side of the political spectrum.
“I'm not saying someone should try and assasinate [sic] trump.... but if you do, don't miss,” was a sentiment tweeted by many unhappy with his election win, hoping Trump will be killed before his inauguration as the 45th US president on January 20, 2017.
yo i'm not saying someone should try and assasinate trump.... but if you do, don't miss.
— ☄️ (@OctobersVeryOm) November 9, 2016
I just pray that the first nigga who tries to assassinate Donald Trump don't miss
— Greg (@BankRolllGreg) November 9, 2016
Democrats on Nov 8th: 'When they go low, we go high'
— Rebellion Report (@RebellionReport) November 10, 2016
Democrats on Nov 9th: 'people have to die' and 'assassinate Trump'
Baltimore Trump Protesters: "Assassinate That N***a" pic.twitter.com/RqdPX3DhWy
— Jack Posobiec 🇺🇸 (@JackPosobiec) November 11, 2016
A journalist from the UK found herself in hot water after she too tweeted that it was "about time for a presidential assassination."
Monisha Rajesh, who wrote for both the Guardian and Telegraph newspapers, has since deleted her account on the social network.
Why does @monisha_rajesh want the President assassinated?
— Michael Lindsay™ (@GoosesTweets) November 10, 2016
Btw, deleting your tweet and protecting your account doesn't hide everything 😘 pic.twitter.com/vplXlpTrHV
Others warned that assassinating Trump will only leave the US with a bigger problem – Mike Pence. The vice president-elect is an unpopular figure with many Democrats, upset by his opposition to gay marriage and abortion.
honestly if you guys are serious about wanting to assasinate trump youre gonna have to ask for the 2for1 special and take pence out too pic.twitter.com/bAZwzPYbdK
— terry (@exterryminator) November 9, 2016
if trump gets assassinated then y'all are gonna have michael pence and he is possibly even worse. so u need to assassinate both of them
— molly (@protectisak) November 9, 2016
Some have appealed to the “sketchy” side of the Democratic Party to carry out the assassination, claiming it can help atone for the murder of Martin Luther King Jr.
come on DNC, you guys are sketchy af assasinate Trump and Pence before January. It'll be a freebie, consider it revenge for MLK jr.
— sabrina 🍂 (@ssabrinapazz) November 10, 2016
The Secret Service are aware of the threats, a source reportedly told the Daily Mail. Mining through social media, the agency said it can corroborate which threats carry weight and which don’t.
One Twitter user claimed officials showed up at his home to interrogate him after tweeting “Ima shoot Donald the next time I see him.” The agency said that anyone making threats could face a fine and up to five years in prison.
Got interrogated and room raided cuz of this tweet smh pic.twitter.com/dDK5L9zNPT
— Kevin Supernaw (@WhoIsKevinChea) December 30, 2015
President Obama faced a similar backlash when he first took office, with many worrying that white supremacists would attempt to assassinate him.
Even before he was nominated the Secret Service began protecting him in 2007. The security of the then-junior Senator for Illinois became a concern after a threat was made against him.
The current mood against Trump in the US has led to protests across the country from those unhappy with the election result.
