Federal authorities have arrested a 21-year-old U.S. Air Force veteran from Michigan accused of making multiple online threats to assassinate President Donald Trump including a chilling claim that he would “raise him from the dead and kill him again.”
Joshua Young of Ishpeming, Michigan, is charged with threatening to kill or injure the president and transmitting interstate threats after federal investigators traced a series of violent social media posts across multiple platforms earlier this year.
In court filings, prosecutors said Young’s online activity revealed a clear intent to harm the president. On Instagram, he allegedly wrote: “I am going to kill trump raise him from the dead and kill him again.” Other posts reportedly included statements such as “Death to the dictator” and “Kill the dictator,” alongside longer rants criticizing Trump’s stance on LGBTQ rights and immigration.
According to a criminal complaint, Young wrote on Facebook, “The trump administration will not listen to peaceful protests. They can’t comprehend it with their little rich braincells. The Whitehouse burned down once before, we need to burn it down again. This time with them in it.”
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He allegedly continued, “Their cries need to be heard all over the world. This is what we do to Nazis. Their reign of terror is over. DEATH TO POTUS. DEATH TO MAGA. #FreeAmerica.”
In another post on X (formerly Twitter), he reportedly stated, “We need to bring back public executions and execute the trump administration for the world to see. We can’t let that Nazi gain anymore power.”
U.S. Magistrate Judge Maarten Vermaat ordered Young detained last week, citing the “weight of evidence” and calling him a “serious danger to any person or the community.”
The threats, according to investigators, were made between January and June before the U.S. Secret Service was tipped off in September. Agents confronted Young at his Ishpeming residence on Oct. 7, where he allegedly admitted to authoring the posts.
“When asked why he made the comments,” investigators wrote, “Young stated, ‘I don’t like what he’s doing,’ referencing President Trump.” The complaint added that Young identified as a gay, non-binary person who felt angered by the administration’s stance on LGBTQ and immigration rights.
“Young continued by stating the administration’s ‘lack of assistance and protecting the American people and protecting the elites’ frustrates him,” the complaint noted.
Young, who served in the Air Force from August 2022 until his discharge in January 2024, reportedly confirmed he operated the online accounts tied to the threats. He remains held in Marquette County pending trial.
Each felony charge carries a maximum sentence of five years in federal prison.
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