Democrats are doing everything they can to tie the alleged plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer to President Trump’s rhetoric around anti-lockdown protesters.
On Thursday, the FBI announced it had arrested 13 members of the Wolverine Watchmen, an anti-government extremist group based out of eastern Michigan.
“The group talked about creating a society that followed the U.S. Bill of Rights and where they could be self-sufficient,” the FBI wrote in its affidavit. “They discussed different ways of achieving this goal from peaceful endeavors to violent actions. At one point, several members talked about state governments they believed were violating the U.S. Constitution, including the government of Michigan and Governor Gretchen Whitmer.”
A key motivating factor behind the plot, according to law enforcement officials, was Whitmer and other Democrats’ tough lockdown policies, which anti-government activists say are a violation of the Constitution and citizens’ individual rights. Democrats have long defended their actions as in the interest of public health and squarely within their implied powers.
But those lockdowns have turned into a partisan issue that has raised outcries far beyond militia groups in Michigan. A number of Republicans, including the president, have attacked Democratic lawmakers and governors for their response to the coronavirus pandemic calling the lockdowns ineffective and needlessly damaging to the economy.
Grassroots protests against the lockdowns came to a head at the Michigan State Capitol in May, where armed members of the public occupied the building and demanded an end to mask mandates and an opening of the state’s businesses.
Those individuals were encouraged by Trump, who said they were “very good people” and called for Michigan to be “liberated.”
“The Governor of Michigan should give a little, and put out the fire. These are very good people, but they are angry,” Trump tweeted on May 1. “They want their lives back again, safely! See them, talk to them, make a deal.”
Those remarks were then repeatedly hammered by both Whitmer and Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, who accused the president of encouraging violent extremists.
“We know every time that this White House identifies me or takes a shot at me, we see an increase in rhetoric online, violent rhetoric, and so there’s always a connection, and certainly it’s something that we’ve been watching. But this took it to a whole new level,” Whitmer said in a Thursday press conference.
Shortly after, Biden released his own statement condemning the “emboldened domestic terrorists.”
“When protesters with Swastikas and Confederate flags, nooses, and assault rifles descended on Michigan’s capitol echoing the President’s own refrain to ‘lock her up,’ President Trump called them ‘very good people,'” Biden wrote. “He was heard, just as he was heard by neo-Nazis in Charlottesville three years ago, and again last week, when he told the extremist Proud Boys to ‘stand back and stand by.'”
Nowhere better than the Midwest demonstrates Trump’s reelection woes, where voters consistently tell pollsters they trust Biden more than him to handle the coronavirus pandemic. At the time of the protests, a majority of Michigan voters approved of Whitmer’s lockdown policies, and a poll released by the Detroit News on Tuesday found Whitmer’s approval rating above water at 51%.
That dynamic creates an opening for the Biden campaign, which has repeatedly painted Trump’s handling of the coronavirus as incompetent and his condemnation of extremists insufficient.
Trump, meanwhile, attempted to balance distancing himself from the militia members while also encouraging his supporters to protest peacefully against Whitmer’s policies.
“I do not tolerate ANY extreme violence. Defending ALL Americans, even those who oppose and attack me, is what I will always do as your President,” Trump tweeted Thursday evening. “Governor Whitmer — open up your state, open up your schools, and open up your churches!”
