Virginia lawmaker in hot water with Trump supporters

RICHMOND, Va., Dec. 29 (UPI) -- After calling Donald Trump a "moron," a Lebanese-American lawmaker in Virginia is facing an onslaught of Trump's supporters who accuse him of being a terrorist.

Virginia State Senator David Ramadan -- a Republican -- slammed Trump earlier this week on Twitter in response to Trump's criticism of the Virginia GOP primary system that will only allow registered Republicans to cast their vote.

Then Trump's supporters came for Ramadan.

Ramadan told The New York Times on Tuesday he has received more than 5,000 messages on Twitter, countless emails and enough voicemails to fill his inbox. Trump supporters accuse Ramadan of suppressing the vote, even though Ramadan had nothing to do with plans to limit the primary to registered Republicans.

Many messages go further, accusing Ramadan of being a member of the Islamic State, Hezbollah or any other number of terrorist groups. Some messages threaten his life.

"They say you're a terrorist, a Sharia guy," Ramadan told the Times. "This is not the state of my party, this is not the state of the conservative movement that I belong to."

Ramadan said he received similar attacks when he ran for office in 2011, despite the fact that he is not a Muslim.

"This is a phenomenon of mostly frustrated voters who fell for the hate and fear that Trump has put out," he said. "This is very unfortunate."

Ramadan told the Times he plans to speak to the FBI to discuss the threats.