President Donald Trump has escalated his threats against House Speaker Hakeem Jeffries.
The 79-year-old president has been posting a photo of Jeffries from last year holding a baseball bat in his office and calling the House speaker a "thug" and insulting his intelligence, and Trump stepped up his attacks this week by calling for his impeachment and, on Thursday morning, his prosecution.
"This lunatic, Hakeem 'Low IQ' Jeffries, should be charged with INCITING VIOLENCE!" Trump posted. "The Radical Left Democrats actually want to Destroy our Country. President DJT"
The Truth Social post was accompanied by side-by-side photos of Jeffries in front of a sign promising "maximum warfare" against the president's agenda and a surveillance photo of a gunman attempting to rush into the White House Correspondents Dinner, which the meme makes clear took place three days after the speaker vowed to fight his policies.
"As it relates to the comment related to 'maximum warfare, everywhere, all the time,' in connection with the redistricting battle that Republicans launched, I stand by it," Jeffries said last month after he was questioned about the message in the wake of the shooting. "You can continue to criticize me for it. I don't give a damn about the criticism ... get lost."
Trump earlier this week demanded Jeffries' impeachment for criticizing the Supreme Court, which the president himself does often.
"Hakeem Jeffries, a Low IQ individual, said our Supreme Court is 'illegitimate,'" Trump posted. "After saying such a thing, isn’t he subject to Impeachment? I got impeached for A PERFECT PHONE CALL. Where are you Republicans? Why not get it started? They’ll be doing this to me!"