A Democratic Missouri state senator has apologized for a now-deleted Facebook post wishing for the assassination of President Trump.
“I hope Trump is assassinated!” state Sen. Maria Chappelle-Nadal wrote Thursday morning in response to another commenter, Chistopher Gagne, who said his cousin is serving on Mr. Trump’s Trump’s Secret Service detail, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.
Ms. Chappelle-Nadal has since deleted the post, but confirmed to the Post-Dispatch that she indeed authored it.
“I didn’t mean what I put up. Absolutely not. I was very frustrated,” she said. “Things have got to change.”
Ms. Chappelle-Nadal told the Post-Dispatch that her frustration with the president stems from his response to the violent protest clashes in Charlottesville, Virginia, in which a reported Nazi sympathizer rammed his car into a group of counter-protesters, killing a 32-year-old woman and injuring 19 others. Mr. Trump has been widely criticized for blaming “both sides,” including the so-called “alt-left” for contributing to the violence.
“I put that up on my personal Facebook and I should not have,” Ms. Chappelle-Nadal said. “It was in response to the concerns that I am hearing from residents of St. Louis. I have deleted it, and it should have been deleted, but there is something way more important that we should be talking about.
“There are people who are afraid of white supremacists, there are people who are having nightmares,” she said. “There are people who are afraid of going out in the streets. It’s worse than even Ferguson.”
Ms. Chappelle-Nadal’s Facebook comment was condemned by Senate Minority Leader Gina Walsh, a fellow Democrat, The Kansas City Star reported.
“Promoting, supporting or suggesting violence against anyone, especially our elected leaders, is never acceptable,” Ms. Walsh said in a statement. “There is too much rancor and hate in today’s political discourse, and Sen. Chappelle-Nadal should be ashamed of herself for adding her voice to this toxic environment.”
Despite at least one call to resign by Republican state Rep. Kirk Mathews, Ms. Chappelle-Nadal said she’s not going anywhere.
“I don’t even know who he is. If he didn’t show up in Ferguson, then I don’t know who he is,” she told The Star. “I’m not resigning.”
• Jessica Chasmar can be reached at jchasmar@washingtontimes.com.
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