Weiser, who also is an elected member of the University of Michigan Board of Regents, said multiple times that the party is focused on defeating “three witches” — a misogynistic reference to Whitmer, state Attorney General Dana Nessel and Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, who are up for reelection in 2022.

“Our job now is to soften up those three witches and make sure that when we have good candidates to run against them that they are ready for the burning at the stake,” he said. “Maybe the press heard that, too.”

Whitmer noted that she had been the target of an alleged kidnaping plot by anti-government extremists last year over the state’s pandemic lockdown.

“Given the dramatic increase in death threats against Michigan elected officials during the Trump Administration, this type of rhetoric is destructive and downright dangerous,” Whitmer said. “It’s time for people of goodwill on both sides of the aisle to bring down the heat and reject this kind of divisive rhetoric.”