Quick Takes (v53): Liberate Michigan!

Quick Takes

Well, well, well....

It would seem that when the president called for the liberation of Michigan, some folks may have taken him seriously.

Now, I'll say it right up front that there may be no connection at all between the men arrested today and the president's LIBERATE MICHIGAN! tweet, which was sent on April 17, 2020.  

As we learned back then, 

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has faced opposition from Republicans and business groups that argue she went too far in her April 9th extended and expanded stay-at-home 0rder. A Wednesday protest about the order in Michigan brought thousands to Lansing.

When she was asked then whether the president's tweet might encourage more protests, Whitmer hoped it wouldn't, and "she also noted that people are feeling anxious about the pandemic and its economic fallout. And, she said.

The most important thing that anyone with a platform can do is to try and use that platform to tell people, 'We're going to get through this."

Well, we all have seen lots of examples of the president using his platforms - Twitter, Instagram, the White House briefing room, and the hosts of his favorite shows on the Fox network - in a way that's completely inconsistent with what his own Coronavirus Task Force says people should be doing, and in some cases completely inconsistent with common sense, so it's probably not surprising that he would tweet something as inflammatory as he did. 

And while it wasn't just Michigan he wanted to see liberated - Minnesota and North Carolina were similarly blessed with tweets - Whitmer's been a particular thorn in his side.  

According to today's announcement,

The court filing alleges the conspirators twice conducted surveillance at Whitmer's personal vacation home in northern Michigan and discussed kidnapping her to a "secure location" in Wisconsin to stand "trial" for treason prior to the Nov. 3 election.

"Several members talked about murdering 'tyrants' or 'taking' a sitting governor," an FBI agent wrote in the affidavit. "The group decided they needed to increase their numbers and encouraged each other to talk to their neighbors and spread their message."

The collected federal and state law enforcement officers spoke of "elaborate plans" to kidnap Whitmer and overthrow the government, and referred to the "rather unprecedented" nature of the case - and, I'd suggest, the rather unprecedented state of affairs in the country today. 

...it does send a very vivid reminder that while we may be in a period of discourse, possibly even divisiveness and fighting across the nation, law enforcement stands united.

That's how it look from the perspective of Col. Joe Gasper of the Michigan State Police - and that united front "is the result of months of work" leading to both search warrants and arrest warrants in Michigan and in other states. If convicted of the charges, the men face the potential of life in prison.

Again, at least at this point, I haven't see anything concrete tying these folks to the president's ridiculous rhetoric, and it would be silly to make such a connection without evidence. But it would be foolish to ignore the potential for such a connection, especially since, according to this Reuters report (and many others over the past weeks and months) 

Internal U.S. security memos in recent months have warned that violent domestic extremists could pose a threat to election-related targets, a concern exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic, political tensions, civil unrest and foreign disinformation campaigns. 

FBI Director Christopher Wray said during congressional hearings in September that his agency was conducting investigations into violent domestic extremists, including white supremacists and anti-fascist groups. Wray said the largest “chunk” of investigations were into white supremacist groups.

Which, as we've seen, have been generally ignored by the president, his AG and others in his administration, in favor of promoting antifa and Black Lives Matter as the greatest threats to our domestic tranquility.

It's a sorry state of affairs, indeed. And it will probably get worse before the election, and after, regardless of who wins.