Leftists keep learning the hard way that it is illegal to threaten to harm the president or other federal officials, and that posting such threats on liberal social media sites is likely to end quite poorly for them, as the Department of Justice is prosecuting such offenses with a vengeance now.
One such case out of Michigan was announced by the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Michigan, Timothy VerHey, who revealed that a 67-year-old Michigan radical named James Donald Vance had not only been found guilty of threatening to kill the presidenta nd others, but had been sentenced to years in prison for it.
Announcing as much, the US Attorney’s office noted that “Grand Rapids resident James Donald Vance, Jr., age 67, was sentenced to two years in federal prison for posting threatening communications online, including threats to kill the President and Vice President of the United States, and one of the President’s children.”
Continuing, the statement went on to note that the sentencing judge, U.S. District Judge Paul L. Maloney in Kalamazoo, Michigan, had described the crime committed by the leftist radical as “grievous conduct” which required a prison sentence, as only jail time would deter others from making similar threats against the president or other officials.
That’s when the US Attorney’s office got to describing the man’s crimes. According to it, “In March and April 2025, Defendant James Vance, using the alias “Diaperjdv,” posted several threatening posts on the social media service Bluesky in which he made specific threats to kill four people, including President Donald J. Trump and Vice President JD Vance.”
Giving an example of the sort of threats he made and describing what he had been found guilty of, the press release then noted, “In one message, he proclaimed that he did not care whether he was shot by Secret Service or would spend the rest of his life in prison for his actions. He pled guilty to two felony offenses: threatening to kill or injure the President and Vice President and interstate threatening communications. Each violation carries a maximum of five years in prison and a fine of $250,000.”
Further, it noted that another, similar case had recently been prosecuted, saying, “This is the second time in one month that a defendant has been sentenced in the Western District of Michigan for threatening to kill the President. On October 20, 2025, Richard James Spring of Comstock Park was sentenced to serve 18 months in prison and fined $2,000 by U.S. District Judge Jane M. Beckering in Grand Rapids. Spring pled guilty to threatening to kill President Trump.”
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Commenting on the situation, VerHey said, “The advent of the internet gives us all an opportunity to engage in the healthy exchange of ideas that are so important to a democracy. But some would rather use this tool to threaten and intimidate, conduct that causes fear and damages our democratic ideals. When Vance said he planned to kill our President and the Vice President simply because he disagreed with them, he crossed a line we all understand and so had to be punished.”
Similarly, William Shink, Special Agent in Charge of the United States Secret Service’s Detroit Field Office, said, “Threats against our nation’s leaders and their families will not be tolerated. Individuals who threaten the President, Vice President or any U.S. Secret Service protectee will be investigated and held accountable for their actions.”
Watch a report on another leftist getting locked up for much the same crime: