Michigan GOP leader says Gov. Whitmer and other Democratic women are ‘witches’
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and two other Democrat office holders were referred to as “witches” by the state’s Republican leader.
Ron Weiser, the Michigan Republican Party Chairman, also made a reference to “assassination” during a discussion in front of a Republican club, shown in a video published by the Detroit News.
His “witches” comment came after he was asked what the party can do to remove U.S. Reps Fred Upton and Peter Meijer, Republican congressmen who voted to impeach former President Donald Trump earlier this year.
Weiser responded by saying he is “focused on the three witches,” presumably Whitmer, Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson and Attorney General Dana Nessel. All three are up for re-election in 2022.
“Our job is now to soften up those three witches and make sure that we have good candidates to run against them, that they are ready for the burning at the stake,” Weiser also said, according to the Detroit Free Press.
Nessel joked about Weiser’s quip in a Twitter post Friday afternoon.
“Witches who magically decrease Covid spread, increase voter turnout and hold sexual predators accountable without any help from the legislature?” Nessel tweeted. “Sign me up for that coven. Do better, Michigan GOP.”
Benson also responded by posting an image from the movie “Wizard of Oz,” showing Glinda the Good Witch.
As the conversation at the Republican event continued, another person in the crowd asked Weiser about the “witches in our own party.”
“Other than assassination, I have no other way other than voting out, OK?” Weiser said. “You people have to go out there and support their opponents. You have to do what you need to get out the vote in those areas. That’s how you beat people.”
Upton and Meijer were among the 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump. They have been met with disdain from members of their party and some counties have voted to censure them, which is a symbolic gesture, the Detroit News reported.
Whitmer has been scrutinized during the COVID-19 pandemic and a militia group had plans to kidnap her before their arrests in October, McClatchy News reported.
Whitmer’s press secretary, Bobby Leddy, said in a statement that Weiser’s “rhetoric is destructive and downright dangerous.”
“We saw this firsthand when Republican legislators met with the very militias that tried to kidnap and kill the governor, and when Republican party leaders helped organize the January 6th protest at the U.S. Capitol building,” Leddy told the Detroit Free Press.
This story was originally published March 26, 2021 at 3:37 PM with the headline "Michigan GOP leader says Gov. Whitmer and other Democratic women are ‘witches’."