Flash forward to today, when the FBI announced that six far-right lunatics had been charged with the attempted kidnapping of Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (MI), a target of Trump's ire all year for her actions to curb the virus:
"Six men motivated by anti-government views were charged with plotting with a militia group to kidnap Gov. Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan, hoping to carry out the kidnapping before the presidential election, the F.B.I. said on Thursday.
The six men had talked about taking Ms. Whitmer, a Democrat, hostage since at least the summer, according to a criminal complaint filed in federal court and unsealed on Thursday. They met over the summer for firearms training and combat drills and tried to make explosives; they also gathered several times to discuss the mission, including in the basement of a shop in Michigan that was accessible only through a 'trap door' under a rug, the F.B.I. said.
The men had surveilled Ms. Whitmer’s vacation home in August and September, and they indicated that they wanted to take her hostage before the election in November, Richard J. Trask II, an F.B.I. special agent, said in the criminal complaint. In July, one of the men said the group should take Ms. Whitmer hostage and move her to a 'secure location' in Wisconsin for a 'trial,' Mr. Trask said."
Trump's sick, violent rhetoric has emboldened these types of vigilantes, whether in Kenosha, WI or Lansing, MI, to take up arms and impose their crackpot view on the majority, all in service to his warped and seditious view that he must remain in power at all costs.
BONUS: An additional seven lunatics were picked up on state charges of trying to instigate a "civil war" by attacking the Michigan State Capitol. They are tied to the right-wing militia group Wolverine Watchmen.
3 comments:
How is "take Ms. Whitmer hostage and move her to a 'secure location' in Wisconsin for a 'trial,'" any different than arresting someone and placing them in a jail to await a trial?
Ed -- Well, vigilantes operating outside the law v. arrest by duly appointed law enforcement and the legal process, and domestic terrorism v. upholding the law, come to mind. Also, the charging document indicates that they already had a "verdict" in mind for the Governor, i.e., execution.
Ed- As Hackwackers notes, the difference is whether government is taking the action, or whether people re doing this on their own. Are you saying that if the government can arrest and try people for violating the laws, drug gangs should also have the right to "arrest", "try", and "convict" anyone violating that gang's rules?
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