A Wisconsin election denier is under fire for calling for a bloody "revolution" in a recent speech.
Republican Michael Gableman—a former Wisconsin State Supreme Court Justice who led a fruitless attempt to overturn his state's 2020 election results—told a group of Republican supporters a "revolution" is needed to rectify the supposed wrongs of 2020.
But he decried the lack of will among his far-right compatriots to do what he thinks needs to be done—to "refresh" the "tree of liberty" with "the blood of patriots and tyrants."
See an excerpt of his speech below.
The speech was given at a dinner hosted by the Republican Party of Outagamie County. In it, Gableman says he fears Democratic President Joe Biden's election means America may be at a breaking point.
He said:
"For the first time in my life I am beginning to wonder if America's best days are behind us..."
He then called for a revolution to turn the country around, chiding attendees for not having the guts to start one.
"Our comfort is holding us back from taking the action that is necessary."
"The greatest challenge of our poor in this country is not lack of food, it's obesity. It's a beautiful world."
"But it's that very comfort that is keeping us from what our founders knew to be the only way to keep an honest government, which is revolution."
And just in case it wasn't absolutely clear he didn't mean a nonviolent revolution, Gableman added:
"Thomas Jefferson said that the tree of liberty must be watered by the blood of revolution in every generation. I don't think that's going to happen."
Gableman led a fraud probe into the 2020 election in Wisconsin costing taxpayers $1 million.
It produced no evidence to call the 2020 results into question and led to his firing by Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, who called his probe "an embarrassment to the state."
On Twitter, many would seem to agree with Vos, finding Gableman's speech absurd.
But others were sobered and shocked by the violent tenor of his rhetoric and warned others to take it seriously.
As for election fraud, Gableman's latest professional endeavor is representing a man who admitted to committing election fraud.
When asked why he was now defending election fraud, Gableman declined to answer.
