When news reports first broke that former President Donald Trump was likely to be indicted over the hush money payments he made to a pornographic actress with whom he had an alleged extramarital affair, radical right-wing broadcaster Pete Santilli reacted by calling on the military and law enforcement to round up former President Barack Obama and other members of a supposed“criminal cabal,” line them up against a wall, and execute them.
In the event that Donald Trump is arrested, radical right-wing broadcaster Pete Santilli calls on the military and law enforcement to round up Barack Obama, Eric Holder, Susan Rice, and other members of the "criminal cabal," line them up against a wall and execute them. pic.twitter.com/ODg3NADztL
— Right Wing Watch (@RightWingWatch) March 20, 2023
Santilli is a right-wing conspiracy theorist who was deeply involved in the 2014 Bundy standoff and who once declared that he wanted to shoot Hillary Clinton “right in the vagina." Give that Santilli has used his radio program to encourage violence against his perceived political opponents in the past, it was no surprise when he reacted on Saturday to the news that Trump had in fact been indicted by doubling down on his call for the military to rise up and execute Obama and others.
Santilli used the Saturday program of his "The Pete Santilli Show" to lay out a plan that he said will result in Trump being restored to the White House by the end of the month. Santilli's plan revolves around having 150 million United States citizens send $1 to Trump's 2024 presidential campaign as a pledge of their intention to vote for him. Once Trump raises $150 million in individual $1 donations, Santilli asserted that this would conclusively demonstrate that there is no need for a presidential election in 2024 at which point the military would immediately restore Trump to office and execute his political enemies.
Santilli said this would be a "constitutional restoration" that he likened to the execution of Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu in 1989.
"Every single one of you that's wearing a badge and a gun, be forewarned: We the people are rising. Serve us," Santilli declared. "It's not sooner or later; it's now."
"I'm escalating things because they're escalating taking away my freedom," he continued. "I wanted to wait till 2024, but no, they want to meddle in my election in 2023. Not sooner or later, now! I'm liighting the candle. Will you join me?"
"You in the military, you need to work for us and protect us," Santilli said. "Ceaușescu was taken to the concrete wall and executed as a symbol of what I'm talking about. I want to set up a scenario where the military and the police have no choice but to execute Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton—through proper process. I'm not in charge of that. ... I think I share a lot in common with 150 million other people that don't want communism, and if we come together and we say that the military and police are to set up a law that requires when you get overthrown by we the people and a constitutional restoration happens, that you should be swiftly brought to a concrete wall and hold a little hearing and fire away."
It is worth remembering that Santilli has hosted numerous Republican candidates for office on his show including Ohio Senate candidate Josh Mandel, Arizona congressional candidate Jerone Davison, and Kari Lake. Lake, the broadcaster-turned-MAGA-cultist who lost her bid for governor of Arizona last year, appeared on Santilli's show in February, where she praised Santilli and agreed with his assertion that the nation has been overthrown by “a CIA coup.”
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