Militia in Michigan? Just another Thursday...

A group of armed terrorists, known as the Wolverine Watchmen, planned to detonate bombs, set fire to police cars, kidnap a state official, and overthrow the government of one of the 50 states in these United States! 

The plot of a movie, you ask! No! Let me guess: they belong to Antifa? Wrong! They’re Trump-supporting right-wing militiamen!

The FBI said its investigators had thwarted a plot by an extremist group to kidnap and potentially assassinate Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer (D) at her vacation home before the November 3 election. (Check out weblinked NPR story below.) Six men have been charged. “Snatch and grab, man. Grab the f******* Governor. Just grab the b****," the ringleader Adam Fox allegedly told his men. (Pardon my French!)

According to the Anti-Defamation League, this militia group belongs to the 2019 anti-government “Boogaloo” Movement which is advocating for a second Civil War and wants to eliminate liberal politicians and law enforcement. Hate group trackers warn that Boogaloo has moved from the fringes to the mainstream of the Internet and is surging on social media. 

Nice work by the FBI which correctly reported that the greatest threat to America is right wing militias - not Islamic terrorism, not Black Lives Matter, not Antifa! 

Dumb and Dumber?

If the implications weren’t so deadly, the Michigan plot would remind you of the 1990s Jim Carrey-Jeff Daniels film, Dumb and Dumber, about two idiot BFFs. Their dialogue would go something like this: “Hey, bro, let’s just grab a Confederate flag, crash the front door of the Michigan Capitol, find Gretchen WhatsHerName, and make the President proud! Look, Mr. Trump, we gone and done it!"

Note that the would be kidnappers were objecting (among other things) to the closing of gyms to stop the spread of the virus! 

The far-right portrayed those who didn't adhere to the coronavirus guidelines as patriots, and those who did as standing against personal liberty. Trump has often embraced violent far-right groups who oppose the racial justice movement and pandemic lockdowns. “Liberate Michigan!” he tweeted in April.

At a July 28 Congressional hearing (see YouTube weblink below), when he was questioned by Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), Attorney General Bill Barr said he was unaware of a well publicized threat at the time to lynch, shoot, and behead Gov. Whitmer!

One’s Inalienable Right to - Bench Press?

It is the height of AK-47 defense fantasies in America when grown men think they can overthrow the government!

They also think it is “tyranny” when you can’t go to the gym and bench press with manly dude pals because of some too-big-for-her-boots liberal Governor!

Is that all it takes (the inability to bench press) in this age of Covid - to turn to a life of super crime? 

Add this important fact: the U.S. Supreme Court says that the Second Amendment guarantees the right to have any kind of military equipment that citizens feel like buying!

Liberate Michigan!

What was the kidnappers’ big plan? After they “liberated Michigan,” what then? Install their own governor? Carve out another state? 

If they were not white, they would for sure have been shot dead! No arrests!

What will the Prez do? Proclaim them as “patriots?" Say they’re just exercising their Second Amendment rights? Disparage and then investigate the FBI agents who investigated them? Argue that Michigan's safety and that of the Governor’s are state concerns, not federal concerns, and therefore not part of his watch? 

The kidnappers were also plotting to kill police officers and, yet, the police unions and Trump continue to support militias. Unlike the Proud Boys (of recent presidential debate infamy), this lot could not “stand by and stand back” any longer!

What is also significant is that Michigan is being closely watched in this election cycle. Hilary Clinton lost the state in 2016 but, by all accounts, Biden has an edge this year.

Sneak Preview?

This feels like a sneak preview of what might happen if Trump loses the election. He and Fox News bear much of the blame for prying open the lid to the worst instincts of militias. The latter may have emerged from the slimy end of the gene pool - but will they crawl back under a rock when all this is over or will their threats continue through a potential Biden Administration? 

Let’s not forget that the Oklahoma City bombing - the deadliest act of domestic terrorism in U.S. history - happened during the Clinton Administration when the economy was going gangbusters! Unlike now, when the economy is in a post-Covid slump, the 90s were a relatively prosperous time in America! 

If people can’t pay their rents or feed their families, will that make them more prone to violence?  

Worse to Come?

The Michigan militia may be out of control but they represent a persistent thread of anti-government sentiment and a strange obsession with firearms that is as old as the Republic itself - and uniquely American!

The worst may be yet to come! 

Analysts have warned for months about uprisings fueled by clashes between Antifa, BLM, Trumpers, and plain old looters! This, on top of a second wave of Covid+Flu and a likely collapse of the stock market, might push the U.S. into a catastrophic free fall perhaps not seen since the Civil War!

Trump's words on Twitter: "very fine people” (about Charlottesville), “Liberate Michigan!" and "stand back, stand by” (to the Proud Boys), are clear signals (or dog whistles) to radical groups who listen to ultra conservative radio shock jocks Alex Jones, Rush Limbaugh, and the rest of the right-wing noise machine.

This did not happen overnight! It took two decades of spewed hatred! The icing on the militia cake has been these past four years of evident encouragement by Trump and the inability of spineless Senate Republicans to restrain him!

“Our commander in chief has become a radicalizer in chief,” said Frank Figliuzzi, a former assistant director for counterintelligence on MSNBC. “His refusal to denounce these groups is aiding and abetting domestic terrorism.”

Barbara McQuade, who served as U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan, added that Trump is “stoking division with his dog whistles to hate groups.”

How Will Trump React?

Let’s hazard a wild guess that Trump will start off by remaining silent, and then - after pressure - first denounce the kidnappers and then praise them as "real Americans,” swiftly followed by a false claim that "Democrats are coming for your guns,” followed by more drivel!

I wonder if he will consider issuing a "presidential pardon" to the culprits in Michigan!

Nearly midnight, and Trump continues to attack the Michigan Governor on Twitter! Not a word of concern for her!

Like I said, just another Thursday in the Trump Administration...

Ludi Joseph

Washington, D.C.

October 8, 2020

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer

https://www.npr.org/2020/10/08/921655143/militia-members-plotted-to-abduct-michigan-gov-whitmer-fbi-says

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ssv2bsa8oME