Menacing calls for the imprisonment or execution of former President Barack Obama skyrocketed on social media in the days after a Trump administration report that accused the former president of staging a coup against President Donald Trump following the 2016 presidential election, according to a liberal watchdog.
The Global Project Against Hate and Extremism issued a report this week detailing that since Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard's criminal referral against Obama and members of his former national security team to the Department of Justice, calls for the death sentence against the former two-term Democrat have seen precipitous increases:
- 1,100% increase of calls for Obama's imprisonment or execution on Truth Social
- 430% increase on Gab
- Comments on Telegraph went from 0 to 12
The White House decried the rhetoric against Obama.
"President Trump and the entire administration strongly condemn all forms of violence. The Trump administration also believes in accountability and that individuals who participate in criminal activity should be held to the fullest extent of the law," White House spokesperson Davis Ingle told Newsweek.
In a statement to Newsweek, GPAHE sought to blame statements made by Trump and Gabbard rather than the evidence of the alleged coup presented so far by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.
"GPAHE's research continues to show a spike in online bigoted and violent rhetoric whenever the president targets people with his online posts. The combination of Director Gabbard's and President Trump's conspiracy-laden and racist posts not only inflamed extremists, but further normalized language and ideas that are completely unacceptable in a thriving democracy."
Gabbard has laid out the case that Obama and his national security principles generated a case for Russian interference to benefit Trump in the 2016 election after months of downplaying it or dismissing it altogether.
"I am not an attorney, but as I have said previously, when you look at the intent behind creating a fake, manufactured intelligence document that directly contradicts multiple assessments created by the intelligence community, the expressed intent and what followed afterward can only be described as a yearslong coup and treasonous conspiracy against the American people, our republic, and an attempt to undermine President Trump's administration," Gabbard said Wednesday.
GPAHE was founded by Heidi Beirich and Wendy Via, two "veterans of the Southern Poverty Law Center."
Mark Swanson ✉
Mark Swanson, a Newsmax writer and editor, has nearly three decades of experience covering news, culture and politics.
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