Protesters Put Life-Size Donald Trump Doll in Guillotine Outside White House

A video has begun circulating online, of protesters outside the White House placing a life-sized effigy of President Donald Trump in a guillotine.

The clip, shared on Twitter by a reporter for conservative-leaning outlet the Daily Caller, shows a life-sized Trump doll with its head through a guillotine. Protestors dressed the doll up to wear a prisoner's jumpsuit, a straightjacket and the sort of mouth-covering mask made famous by the character Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs. The Daily Caller reporter said that there was a piece of paper on the presidential effigy that read "Fascist, Rapist, Criminal."

Music can be heard in the video's background, with one person shouting, "Off with his head." One protestor poses in front of the figure for a picture, while throwing up a middle finger.

Many conservatives on Twitter criticized the protesters for placing the Trump doll in the mock execution device. The Trump campaign's "War Room" Twitter account was among those to weigh in, using a quote from the president where he said that he was "the only thing standing between the American Dream and total anarchy, madness, and chaos."

The reporter shared more videos from the protests, including footage of protesters yelling at politicians and altercations between police and protesters.

A Reddit user shared the video—cut with another clip shared by the same Daily Caller reporter, featuring fireworks and people screaming, "F**k Trump"—to the subreddit r/PublicFreakout. Some Redditors treated the dramatic demonstration as more of a joke, and noted the best-known instances of guillotines being used: the French Revolution.

"The French are probably loving this," one comment directly below the video says. One person even made reference to American Revolution military officer Marquis de Lafayette from France, presumably due to the recent renewed interest in the Broadway musical Hamilton. A user replied with their own spin on one of the lines from the Hamilton song "Cabinet Battle #2": "They did ask King Louis's head but it turned out he was just super dead."

Despite some humorous comments, many people on Reddit found the guillotine stunt to be in bad taste, even if they don't personally like Trump. One person wrote that protests like the guillotine will lead to Trump's re-election.

Still, some people called conservatives criticizing the display hypocritical, as similar effigies were made of President Barack Obama during his time in the White House.

In a very measured response, someone pondered what will happen if Trump loses the upcoming election, but things don't improve in the country. get re-elected and little changes.

"I wonder what will happen when Biden gets elected. Will people suddenly start hating on the democrats if the situation remains the same? As much as I dislike Trump, I feel like the origin of the problem lies way deeper in the American culture. People should realize that change doesn't need to be initiated from the Oval Office. I understand that any President should lead by example and plays an important role for the most countries (maybe the most important), especially in the US. But it won't be a single president, who will be able to change the situation for the better," the user wrote.

Newsweek reached out to the White House for comment, but did not receive a response in time for publication.