NJ Democrat refuses to resign after ‘stupid joke’ about John Wilkes Booth, Trump

A New Jersey Democratic official has refused calls to resign after he made a reference to Abraham Lincoln’s assassin in a post-Election Day tweet.

Chris Emrich, a member of Camden County’s Democratic Committee, made the offensive comment on Twitter Wednesday, according to The Courier Post.

A Twitter user knocked The Lincoln Project, an anti-Trump group of Republicans, as “The Stinkin’ Project.”

Emrich reportedly responded with “need a John Wilkes Booth Project (in my opinion),” a reference to the actor who fatally shot Lincoln at the Ford’s Theatre in April 1865.

The comment came around 8:45 a.m. on Wednesday after states across the country continued counting votes in the presidential match-up between Trump and Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden.

“Like a lot of people, I’ve been stressed out following the election and I made a stupid joke. I’m going to own it,” Emrich said in a statement to NJ.com. “I made a dumb joke on Twitter. I’m embarrassed. It’s something I’m not proud of.”

News of the remark sparked widespread condemnation from both local Democrats and Republicans.

“While we do not support President Trump or his disastrous administration, the idea that someone would apparently threaten the life of a sitting President, regardless of party, is unconscionable, dangerous, and antithetical to our democratic values,” state Sen. James Beach, chairman of the Camden County Democratic Committee, said in a statement. “The disgraceful and dangerous tweet from Chris Emrich below in which he apparently calls for the assassination of Donald Trump exemplifies the dire state of American affairs and has no place in our Democratic Committee.”

The Democratic committee provided members of local media outlets with screenshots of the tweet since Emrich’s tweets were not able to be viewed by non-followers.

Camden County Republicans said in a statement that Emrich’s comment was “what the woke and morally superior progressives from Camden County think of life in general, only certain lives matter it seems.”

“These are the same frauds calling for defunding the police, but that’s none of our business. Democrats are dangerous and the are right here in Camden County,” the group said in statement, adding the hashtag “DemocratsAreDangerous.”

Biden held a massive victory over Trump in the reliably blue state of New Jersey, securing the state’s 14 electoral votes by garnering 60.6 percent of the vote, compared to Trump’s 38.3 percent support.