President Trump shared a video showing a supporter declaring that politically “the only good Democrat is a dead Democrat.”
Couy Griffin, a GOP county commissioner in Otero, N.M., and founder of Cowboys for Trump, made the remarks at a rally earlier this month, sparking backlash from local Republicans.
At the rally in Truth or Consequences, N.M., Griffin said he has “come to a place where I’ve come to the conclusion that the only good Democrat is a dead Democrat.”
After drawing some applause from the crowd, Griffin quickly clarified: “I don’t say that in the physical sense, and I can already see the videos getting edited where it says I wanna go murder Democrats. No, I say that in the political sense because the Democrat agenda and policy is anti-American right now.”
“I say the reason why the only good Democrat’s a dead Democrat — I’m saying it politically speaking and I’m saying it because we need to have majorities in the House and the Senate,” he added later. “It’s the only way that we’re gonna put the breaks on an out-of-control governor.”
The Daily Beast reported that Griffin attended the rally in defiance of a local coronavirus measure. In an interview with the outlet published Wednesday, Griffin said he believes some prominent Democrats could have committed treason.
“You get to pick your poison: you either go before a firing squad, or you get the end of the rope,” Griffin told the outlet.
Griffin, who has previously been photographed with the president at the White House, pushed back on The Daily Beast story when it was shared on Twitter. Griffin said that the article, under the title “Anti-Lockdown Protesters Now Calling for Dems to Die,” was “fake.”
Trump shared that tweet and corresponding video at midnight Wednesday night, thanking Cowboys for Trump and promising to “see you in New Mexico!”
Local station KRQE reported that local Republican groups denounced Griffin’s comments at the rally earlier this month.
“The Republican Party of New Mexico wants to state for the record that any statements, whether in jest or serious about harming another individual are just plain wrong,” the state GOP said in a statement reported by the outlet.
Griffin, who has reportedly come out against coronavirus restrictions that have been implemented in states across the country to contain the COVID-19 outbreak, conceded in his interview with The Daily Beast that he “could’ve chosen a different verbiage.”
“I guess I need to be more careful when I choose the words that I speak,” Griffin said. “But you know, it’s just so hypocritical of the left how they’re blowing this up, like I’m some hate-speech murderer.”