Jurors on Tuesday saw provocative social media posts written by a key figure charged in a plot to kidnap the governor of Michigan, including a photo of a noose and a question: which governor would be “dragged off and hung for treason first?”

Federal prosecutors were close to finishing their case after 12 days of trial in Grand Rapids, Michigan. They are trying to show that four men charged with conspiring to kidnap the governor, Gretchen Whitmer, in 2020 were committed to a plan without influence by informants or undercover FBI agents.

In 2020, when governors including Whitmer were issuing stay-home orders, requiring masks and restricting the economy during the early phase of the Covid-19 pandemic, Barry Croft Jr, a trucker from Bear, Delaware, regularly vented on Facebook about government and public officials.

“Which governor is going to end up dragged off and hung for treason first?“ Croft wrote on Memorial Day. “It’s really a spin the bottle match at this point and I’m sure a few mayors are in the running!!! God bless the constitutional republic!!!“

A few days later, Croft posted about seizing state capitols and “putting these tyrants’ addresses out here for rioters”.

The FBI said that message was “liked” by Adam Fox, who with Croft is described as a leader of the scheme to kidnap Whitmer. Daniel Harris and Brandon Caserta are also charged with the kidnapping conspiracy.

Defense lawyers deny there was an actual plan to snatch Whitmer, claiming the men were induced by agents and informants and exchanged wild talk while smoking marijuana.

The attorney Joshua Blanchard has accused the FBI of targeting Croft because agents didn’t like his strident views. He referred to a meme posted by Croft of ammunition with the message: “Oh, look, 30 votes that count.”

“A little tongue in cheek? A little bit funny?” Blanchard asked FBI agent Thomas Szymanski.

“I didn’t laugh when I saw this meme,” the agent replied.

Whitmer, a Democrat, rarely talks publicly about the kidnapping plot, though she referred to “surprises” during her term that seem like “something out of fiction” when she filed for re-election on 17 March.

She has blamed Donald Trump for fomenting anger over coronavirus restrictions and refusing to condemn rightwing extremists like those charged in the case. Whitmer has said the former president was complicit in the attack on the US Capitol on 6 January 2021.