Democrat North Carolina Rep. Julie von Haefen of Wake County is facing harsh criticism after a social media post from a “No Kings Day” protest in Raleigh on Saturday afternoon.
In a now-deleted video on von Haefen’s Facebook account, a woman is seen holding a sign featuring an image of a bloodied guillotine, with the caption “In these difficult times, some cuts may be necessary” and a prop resembling a decapitated President Trump.
The post drew widespread attention on social media, with the popular X account Libs of TikTok sharing a screenshot of the image, which had surpassed 7.5 million views at the time of publication.
Von Haefen responded to the post Sunday afternoon on her Facebook page by condemning political violence.
“Yesterday, I posted a video on social media containing crowd photos from the No Kings protest in Raleigh. One of the images of a protestor holding a sign was inappropriate, and I later edited the video to remove the photo,” wrote von Haefen. “Let me be clear: I condemn political violence in all forms. My focus remains on bringing people together and fighting for the values that matter to North Carolinians. Like so many, I was horrified by the violence in Minnesota. There is no place for that kind of extremism in our democracy, no matter the target, no matter the party.”
House Speaker Destin Hall, R-Caldwell, called the behavior “disgraceful” and noted he is working with legislative attorneys to make sure these actions don’t continue.
“On the same weekend that a gunman in Minnesota targeted state lawmakers in an act of political violence, and after two attempted assassinations of President Trump within the past year, Representative von Haefen (D-Wake) shared an image of a ‘protest sign’ that glorifies violence against her political opponents-including President Donald Trump,” wrote Hall on his X account. “Her disgraceful behavior fails to meet the standards expected from House members and sets a dangerous precedent in an already volatile political climate. I am examining next steps with our legislative attorneys to ensure this behavior does not continue.”
Other reactions include state Rep. Erin Paré, R-Wake, who called the situation “horrible.”
This is why reasonable people are leaving the Democrat Party in NC. This is a sitting state legislator who is publicly applauding the beheading of President Trump just hours after a state legislator in our country and her spouse were murdered in cold blood. Horrible. #ncpol https://t.co/0DGshTmiZI
— Erin Paré (@ErinforNC) June 15, 2025
The North Carolina Republican Party has demanded her resignation over the controversial online post.
The post Democratic state representative faces backlash over social media post first appeared on Carolina Journal.