Gov. Whitmer Accused of Calling for Trump’s Assassination with Hidden Message

American politics are transforming in 2020, likely egged on by the overt and smothering stresses that the nation is feeling en masse.

This is a year like no other, and the election that is now just two weeks away is unprecedented in both character and controversy.  Donald Trump, a Washington outsider who promised to shake the status quo loose from its moorings when he arrived on The Beltway will be taking on Joe Biden – a man whose 40+ years in public service have provided Trump with a target that is awfully similar to those that he aimed for in 2016.

But the incumbent Republican President is a controversial and bombastic character himself, and he’s made plenty of enemies during his first term.  One such idealogical opposite is Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, who has been publicly feuding with Trump for months.

This tiff has been energized in recent days, after the FBI uncovered a plot by a right-wing domestic terror group to kidnap and likely kill Whitmer, once again putting the Governor in the national spotlight.

Since that time, she and Trump have exchanged a number of barbs online and via the media, but the Wolverine State official may have taken things too far this week.

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has been accused of encouraging assassination attempts on President Trump after displaying “8645” in the background of a national television interview Sunday.

Appearing on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” the Democratic governor spoke from Lansing, Mich., about her state’s coronavirus restrictions and slammed Trump’s response to the pandemic, all while the digits “8645” in bubble letters were perched by a house plant on a coffee table behind her. The numbers prompted a reaction from one of the Trump campaign’s verified Twitter accounts.

“Governor Gretchen Whitmer displayed an ’86 45′ sign during her TV appearance,” Trump War Room tweeted, adding: “86 can be shorthand for killing someone.”

The team felt that the timing was particularly salacious.

“Whitmer is encouraging assassination attempts against President Trump just weeks after someone sent a ricin-laced package to the White House,” the account wrote.

The term “86” is most frequently heard in bars and restaurants, and denotes an item that needs to be removed from a dish, or a dish that needs to be removed from a menu.