At Trump Rally, Cries of 'Lock Her Up' Not About Clinton

A crowd in Michigan provided a chorus for President Trump's attacks on the state's governor on Saturday, chanting "Lock her up!" The FBI announced earlier this month that it had uncovered a plot to kidnap Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. "They said she was threatened," Trump said at his rally in Muskegon, USA Today reports. "And she blamed me." Whitmer did publicly ask that the president tone down his rhetoric, saying that it inspires hate groups. "Lock 'em all up," Trump answered when the chant began, per the Hill. Whitmer responded on Twitter. "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," she posted. "It needs to stop."

Trump also ripped Whitmer's handling of the pandemic. "You gotta get your governor to open up your state, OK?" he told the crowd, drawing cheers. "And get your schools open." The president repeatedly has criticized coronavirus restrictions imposed by Whitmer, a Democrat, and said she's done "a terrible job" during the pandemic. On Saturday, he added a warning about voting: "Be careful of her and her attorney general because you know they're like in charge of the ballot stuff. How the hell do I put my political and our country's political life in the hands of a pure partisan like that?" (Trump attacked Democrats in general at the rally, calling them "anti-American radicals.")