Florida GOP Candidate Arrested for Threatening to Kill Trump | Headline USA

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(Ben Sellers, Headline USA) An former Marine, currently running as a write-in candidate to challenge Rep. John Rutherford in Florida’s 5th District, was arrested following an unhinged rant that referred to President Donald Trump as the antichrist and appeared to encourage another attempted assassination.

In two videos posted to his social media, William Upham suggested using a semiautomatic rifle to fire “two shots to the chest” and “one shot to the head” in order to “overthrow” Trump, according to a press release from the Justice Department.

In the videos, Upham, dressed in his Marine fatigues, attacks Democrats for being “wrong on the common-sense issues” and accuses Republicans of supporting systemic racism.

Both are also steeped in intense biblical imagery, accusing Trump of posing as a false idol for posting a meme of himself as a Christ-like figure.

“The lamb will be sacrificed to pay for all of our sins, and our country will be saved from the Babylon that we have become,” Upham said in one of the videos.

The criminal complaint filed last week in Duval County by the U.S. Secret Service said the 35-year-old Jacksonville resident was in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 871 for making threats against the president. The charge carries a potential penalty of up to five years in prison.

Upham was medically discharged from service last year for mental-health reasons, according to a statement released by the Marine Corps.

It added that “The comments made by Upham are a direct violation of the oath he swore to uphold and are not in keeping with the service’s values.”

The Justice Department also indicated that Upham had served as a state prosecutor.

He was approved in April to run in the Aug. 18 GOP primary for the House seat, but he filed last month to be re-designated from a Republican Party candidate to a write-in candidate, according to state records.

Sadly, Upham is just one of several high-profile cases involving servicemembers who have lost grip on their sanity due to Trump Derangement Syndrome.

Jason Watson, a U.S. Air Force major, was arrested on the steps of the U.S. Capitol earlier this month while wearing his active-duty uniform after calling for the impeachment and removal of Trump and Vice President JD Vance, CNN reported.

In February 2024, Aaron Bushnell, a 25-year-old Air Force senior airman, died after setting himself on fire outside the Israeli Embassy in Washington, D.C., USA Today reported.

The Pentagon also threatened to demote Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., who retired as a captain in the U.S. Navy, after Kelly joined five other deep-state lawmakers — collectively known as the “Seditious Six” — to urge active-duty servicemembers to ignore any orders from Trump that they deemed unlawful.

Trump has been the target of multiple serious assassination attempts, including the July 2024 attempt during a Butler, Pa., rally that grazed his ear and killed rallygoer Corey Comperatore.

Rhetoric glorifying left-wing political violence also was blamed, in part, for the Sept. 10, 2025 assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

Ben Sellers is a freelance writer and former editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/realbensellers.