Leading Democrats in Missouri are calling on state senator Maria Chappelle-Nadal to resign following a Facebook posting hoping that President Trump will be assassinated.

"I hope Trump is assassinated!" Missouri state Sen. Maria Chappelle-Nadal, D-University City, wrote during a morning Facebook exchange, referring to Republican President Donald Trump. She quickly deleted her post, but not quickly enough. By midafternoon, the political verdicts of her own party were rolling in: U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo.: "I condemn it. It's outrageous. And she should resign." U.S. Rep. William Lacy Clay, D-St. Louis: "(C)alling for the assassination of the President is a federal crime. … (She is) an embarrassment to our state. She should resign immediately." Missouri Democratic Party Chair Stephen Webber: "The … Party will absolutely not tolerate calls for the assassination of the President. I believe she should resign." Missouri Senate Democratic Caucus leader Sen. Gina Walsh: "(She) should be ashamed of herself for adding her voice to this toxic environment." Republican Gov. Eric Greitens said in a statement: "We can have differences in our country, but no one should encourage political violence. The senator should resign." Lt. Gov. Mike Parson, a Republican, and state Auditor Nicole Galloway, a Democrat, also called for Chappelle-Nadal's resignation. In an interview, Chappelle-Nadal acknowledged she wrote the offending line on her personal Facebook page in response to another commenter before deleting it. "I didn't mean what I put up. Absolutely not. I was very frustrated. Things have got to change," Chappelle-Nadal told the Post-Dispatch. "It was in response to the concerns that I am hearing from residents of St. Louis. I have deleted it, and it should have been deleted, but there is something way more important that we should be talking about." She added later: "I am not resigning … What I said was wrong, but I am not going to stop talking about what led to that, which is the frustration and anger that many people across America are feeling right now."

"The Nazis made me do it" may be an entertaining excuse but hardly relevant. If she's frustrated and angry, she should put her fist through a wall or something.

After nearly eight months of the Trump presidency, calling for his death has become routine on the left.

A who's-who of actors and directors and musicians want him to suffer the most agonizingly brutal and gory death in the history of assassinations. Johnny Depp is the latest star of stage and screen to flirt with the idea of murdering President Trump. "When was the last time an actor assassinated a president? I want to clarify: I'm not an actor. I lie for a living. However, it's been a while and maybe it's time," he told an audience at the Glastonbury arts festival in England. The crowd erupted in cheers and applause at the idea of someone murdering our commander in chief. Mr. Depp, of course, was referring to John Wilkes Booth – the actor who assassinated Abraham Lincoln – a Republican president. His remarks were especially offensive considering the timing – just a week after a gunman opened fire on a Republican congressional baseball team. The New York Times reported the attacker was upset about President Trump's election. And how can we forget Nasty Woman Madonna wanting to blow up the White House or that wretched woman Kathy Griffin faux decapitation of the president? And most recently there was the incident in Central Park – with a bunch of liberal thespians. The lead character in the New York Theater production of "Julius Caesar" bore a striking resemblance to Julius Caesar. Jack Posobiec was one of several conservative activists who disrupted the show. "This play was savage and brutal. He is stabbed multiple times, running around stage, crawling through blood," he told me. "It made my blood run cold seeing Americans cheering a depiction of their president being stabbed 100 times with 100 blades."

Sheesh. Whatever happened to plain old-fashioned impeachment?

With this many people having the guts – or stupidity – to come right out and say they want Trump dead, how many Democrats out there are harboring secret thoughts about an assassination scenario? They'd never admit it, of course. They consider themselves far too civilized to actually give voice to their death fantasies. Bathing in Trump's blood is a dream best left unsaid, after all.

But we know it's there. Talk like this – far more than bulls-eyes on campaign maps – actually enables a potential assassin. You don't think words have consequences? I present as Exhibit A James Hodgkinson, who was so inspired by Bernie Sanders's incendiary rhetoric that he tried to assassinate a couple of dozen of Republican lawmakers.

Yes, but he meant well.

Secret Service agents are very good at their jobs. But, as President Kennedy remarked a few weeks before his own assassination, a determined assassin willing to give his life can get to a president any time. As these calls for killing Trump escalate, the danger will increase tenfold.