When she should have used the moment to bring people of good faith alongside her to denounce the men who plotted to kidnap or kill her, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer instead chose to poison the public discourse with pernicious political lies. She should apologize to President Trump for blaming him for inspiring the plot against her.
On Thursday, when word of the indictments was released, Whitmer took to the TV cameras to react to the plot. Reporters were naturally anxious to hear what she thought of the plot and the reasons behind it. What they got was spew that was as noxious as it was objectively false.
Whitmer used the moment to intentionally sully President Trump’s reputation by claiming the president “fomented” the plot against her for “refus[ing] to condemn white supremacist and hate groups.”
[O]ur head of state has spent the last seven months denying science, ignoring his own health experts, stoking distrust, fomenting anger, and giving comfort to those who spread fear and hatred and division. Just last week, the president of the United States stood before the American people and refused to condemn white supremacist and hate groups like these two Michigan militia groups. “Stand back and stand by,” he told them – stand back and stand by. Hate groups heard the president’s words not as a rebuke, but as a rallying cry, as a call to action. When our leaders speak, their words matter. They carry weight. When our leaders meet with and encourage or fraternize with domestic terrorists they legitimize their action and they are complicit. When they stoke and contribute to hate speech, they are complicit.
The rest of the country was watching and heard the cheap “racist” libel against President Trump again.
It turned out, the men involved weren’t inspired by Trump. At least one of them loathed the president. They were angered by the “tyrant” governor’s coronavirus shut down orders.
As I reported at PJ Media on Thursday:
Some of the members surveilled Whitmer’s home on several occasions, and in recordings, the ringleader, Adam Fox, complained about the governor. The complaint was included in the indictment against the men.
“She f*cking goddamn loves the power she has right now” and that “she has no checks and balances at all. She has uncontrolled power right now.” CROFT stated, “All good things must come to an end.” FOX also remarked “I can see several states takin’ their fuckin’ tyrants. Everybody takes their tyrants.” The group also discussed how many people should be involved in the kidnapping operation.
They also attempted to buy $4,000 worth of explosives that they discussed using to blow up a bridge near her home to create a diversion and eliminate an egress point. They also discussed getting a high-powered taser to use in the kidnap operation.
Indeed, at least three of the men brought up on the federal charges for conspiring to storm the vacation of home of Gov. Whitmer and either kill or kidnap her, were anarchists of the sort who brought you the chaos and destruction of cities, such as Portland, Kenosha and Seattle. As I reported at PJ Media on Saturday, one of them was a supporter of Black Lives Matter, Inc.™ and attended at least one protest.
What now, governor?
The Detroit Free Press, the newspaper of record in Michigan, issued a response of sorts to the news by arguing that the term “militia” “has become a loaded word.”
[T]he use of “militia” to describe the men accused Thursday in an alleged plot against Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer seems out of date. It’s interesting that the FBI used the word “militia” in documents supporting the arrest of the plotters. I don’t think any of us should underestimate the threat some of these groups represent to our democracy.
Apparently, left-wingers can’t be called “militias” or something.
Trump can take care of himself, but the rest of us are left picking up the pieces of this perniciousness when we’re gaslighted incessantly by Democratic mayors such as Ted Wheeler of Portland and Jenny Durkan of Seattle who blame antifa and BLM riots on “white supremacists,” which they infer are right-wing. As I said here on Saturday, maybe they really do think antifa and BLM are white supremacist organizations. At least in Portland, most of the rioters from those groups are white.
Conservative Ben Shapiro observed, “If Trump is somehow responsible for the Whitmer terror attempt, then Bernie is responsible for the Congressional baseball shooting, and Obama is responsible for the Dallas police massacre. This is a stupid and dangerous game.”
President Trump has denounced white supremacism in all of its forms at least 19 times, as The Media Research Center showed in a video. He’s done so twice to Fox News’ Chris Wallace in presidential debates four years apart. It’s about time Wallace watched it. And it’s time that Gretchen Whitmer apologizes for her sickening libel.
