Missouri lawmaker under fire for comments on Confederate monument vandalism

A Missouri lawmaker is facing heat after making controversial comments on social media over a vandalized Confederate monument.

The vandalism was found on Wednesday at the Springfield National Cemetery while President Donald Trump was in Springfield.

After hearing about the vandalism, Republican Rep. Warren Love of Osceola wrote in a Facebook post about the person or people who did the act, “I hope they are found and hung from a tall tree with a long rope.”

According to The Associated Press, Love told the organization he didn’t really mean what he wrote and said he thinks it’s terrible when someone vandalizes an object of remembrance. Love later apologized in a note he gave the AP.

This is the second time this month a Missouri lawmaker has made controversial statements. Democratic Sen. Maria Chappelle-Nadal posted on social media that she hoped for the president’s assassination.

Missouri Democratic Party Chairman Stephen Webber is calling on Love to resign.

Missouri House Minority Leader Gail McCann Beatty said, “For the second time in recent weeks, a Missouri lawmaker has publicly hoped for someone to be murdered. Such statements are never acceptable and, as with the earlier incident, the responsible lawmaker has forfeited the right to hold office.”

“Monuments to the Confederacy are monuments to white supremacy; there is no separating the two. While vandalism is a crime, its punishment is not extra-judicial murder.”

“In calling for the lynching of those who vandalized a Confederate statute in Springfield, state Rep. Warren Love invoked a form of political violence used throughout the South to keep African-Americans subjugated for generations following the fall of the Confederacy, and for that he must resign.”

Love’s post is no longer on Facebook.