Former Republican state legislator and Mississippi gubernatorial candidate Robert Foster is under fire after calling for supporters of trans rights to be executed.
In the tweet, Foster, an evangelical Christian who runs an agritourism business called Cedar Hill Farm, also equated LGBTQ activism with pedophilia while calling for a "firing squad" for trans supporters--a form of execution that is legal in Mississippi thanks to legislation Foster wrote during his time in the state House.
The tweet has since been deleted by Twitter for terms of use violations, but a screenshot, seen below, has been widely distributed. Be advised that the tweet contains language that many will find offensive and disturbing.
@RobertFoster4MS/Twitter
In the tweet, Foster wrote:
“Some of y’all still want to try and find political compromise with those that want to groom our school aged children and pretend men are women, etc."
"I think they need to be lined up against [a] wall before a firing squad to be sent to an early judgment.”
After pushback, Foster doubled down on his statements.
“I said what I said."
"The law should be changed so that anyone trying to sexually groom children and/or advocating to put men pretending to be women in locker rooms and bathrooms with young women should receive the death penalty by firing squad.”
In other tweets in the deleted thread, Foster called parents and other adults who allow children to be transgender "groomers" and pedophiles, and called "transgendered" people merely victims of these abusers.
Robert Foster added on to his prior tweets: "I see this really set some of the whack jobs off, let me elaborate for you..."pic.twitter.com/lrXcgEJRMQ— Ashton Pittman \ud83c\udf3b (@Ashton Pittman \ud83c\udf3b) 1648315450
He also suggested the death penalty for adults who allow transgender children to have "surgery to remove their sex organs," procedures which are illegal for minors in the United States.
Even Republicans in Mississippi, arguably the most conservative state in the country, decried Foster's tweet, including the former executive director of the state's Republican Party, Spencer Ritchie, who accused Foster of being a "fascist" for the tweet. Foster lashed out in response, accusing Ritchie of enabling "Communists."
Spineless establishment RINOs like you have conceded every fight with the Communists when you held power.\n\nYa\u2019ll \u201cConservatives\u201d haven\u2019t actually conserved anything.\n\nNow the Godless have power and they are destroying our country. Soon we will have to deal with this directly.https://twitter.com/SpencerMRitchie/status/1507370104270602241\u00a0\u2026— Robert Foster (@Robert Foster) 1648221969
Foster closed his response to Ritchie with what many interpreted to be a call for civil war to save America from "godless" Democrats.
"Now the Godless have power and they are destroying our country. Soon we will have to deal with this directly.”
On Twitter, Foster's naked Christofascist fanaticism left many people shocked and outraged.
I am just trying to stay alive. \n\nRobert Foster, a former Mississippi House lawmaker who lost a 2019 bid for governor, is using his social-media platform to call for the execution of political foes who support the rights of transgender people.https://www.mississippifreepress.org/22283/ex-gop-gov-candidate-calls-for-firing-squad-for-trans-rights-supporters-political-foes/\u00a0\u2026— Riley Wolf \ud83c\udff3\ufe0f\u200d\u26a7\ufe0f (@Riley Wolf \ud83c\udff3\ufe0f\u200d\u26a7\ufe0f) 1648307200
This thread... Those who scream the loudest about being pro-life, are the ones who really aren't.\n\nRobert Foster has cemented his legacy as scum of the Earth. The wall is waiting for him. To line up against it. \n\n#Mississippi\n\n#TransRightsAreHumanRights #EvenInMississippi\nhttps://twitter.com/ashtonpittman/status/1507482156821536770\u00a0\u2026— \ud83c\uddf9\u200b\ud83c\udded\u200b\ud83c\uddea\u200b \ud83c\uddef\u200b\ud83c\uddf4\u200b\ud83c\udde9\u200b\ud83c\uddfe\u200b \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6 (@\ud83c\uddf9\u200b\ud83c\udded\u200b\ud83c\uddea\u200b \ud83c\uddef\u200b\ud83c\uddf4\u200b\ud83c\udde9\u200b\ud83c\uddfe\u200b \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6) 1648303667
There's that Christian loving kindness we hear so much about.— Jenna Smith (@Jenna Smith) 1648307077
this is the republican party\n\nnot just a faction, not just a handful\n\nthis *is* the republican party\n\nvote accordingly— sam (@sam) 1648307870
Yesterday, March 26, 2022, in America, we had two sitting politicians make violent threats against trans and gay people, one of them (Mississippi's Robert Foster) going so far as to say he wants trans people to be lined up and shot.\n\nCis people: Do something. Be thunderous.— Eerie Emilie, streamer extraordinaire! (@Eerie Emilie, streamer extraordinaire!) 1648367195
Good lord. And the scary thing is, there seems to be no bottom.— RS Thomas \ud83c\udff3\ufe0f\u200d\ud83c\udf08 (@RS Thomas \ud83c\udff3\ufe0f\u200d\ud83c\udf08) 1648392969
Mississippi seems to be returning to the attitudes of the sixties before civil rights were passed\nSeems scary and unreal— LisaRPrice (@LisaRPrice) 1648393578
I feel that this is exactly the type of guy Sinclair Lewis was thinking of when he wrote this.pic.twitter.com/zaKugeasG2— PixelNixie \ud83c\udf3b (@PixelNixie \ud83c\udf3b) 1648341861
As a devout follower of Christ, nothing hurts me more than people propagating hate and violence in His name. The Bible teaches repeatedly to not judge others because we are imperfect judges (mote in the other's eye, beam in yours, etc.). 1/2— Soni Kim Monroe, PsyD (@Soni Kim Monroe, PsyD) 1648308443
Robert Foster, a Mississippi republican gubernatorial candidate, calls for LGBTQ youth and transgender people to be murdered by firing squad\n\nYour reminder: The nazis didn\u2019t start with murdering Jews, they started with attacking trans rights.\n1/https://lgbtqnation.com/2022/03/mississippi-republican-calls-execution-transgender-people-firing-squad/\u00a0\u2026— flexghost. \u0413\u0435\u0440\u043e\u044f\u043c \u0441\u043b\u0430\u0432\u0430. (@flexghost. \u0413\u0435\u0440\u043e\u044f\u043c \u0441\u043b\u0430\u0432\u0430.) 1648499035
Foster thankfully lost his bid for governor in 2019 when his views were too extremist even for Mississippi, resulting in him winning less than 18% of the GOP primary vote.