CT Lawmaker Under Fire As His 'No Kings' Photo Goes Viral

SOUTH WINDSOR, CT — A local state senator is drawing criticism for a social media post many believe calls for the death of President Trump.

In the Facebook post, Sen. Saud Anwar is shown holding a sign depicting French fries, a cheeseburger and a bucket of chicken, which is captioned "Cholesterol, Do Your Job."

Anwar represents the 3rd District, which includes the towns of South Windsor, East Hartford, East Windsor, and Ellington.

Connecticut Senate Republican Leader Stephen Harding called the post "disgusting" and hateful," and called for Anwar's immediate ouster as Chair of the legislature’s Public Health Committee.

"This man is a doctor: He is someone supposedly entrusted with protecting health," Harding said in a statement released Sunday. "Yet, he just posed, with a wide grin on his face, with a sign wishing death upon the President of the United States."

Harding called the photo, taken at a "No Kings" protest on Saturday, "frightening, abhorrent, disgraceful, and beneath the dignity of our state legislature."

Anwar dismissed the opposition's outrage as posturing.

"Some Republicans are pretending to be outraged over a photo of me standing next to a satirical sign at a No Kings rally," Anwar said in a statement released Monday. "Republicans are furious over a joke, but silent when our democracy, our health care and our planet are under attack. The outrage is a performative distraction."

The comments on Anwar's Facebook page are mainly condemnations of the photo, echoing the anger of Republicans in the legislature. The post is "subtly rooting for death …love it. The party of acceptance," one post reads. But some were more sympathetic to Anwar's message, urging the President's cooks to "Keep salting his food."