As I watched Gretchen Whitmer, governor of Michigan, express her gratitude Thursday afternoon to law enforcement officers for arresting six men plotting to kidnap her and do her bodily harm, I marveled at her composure.
“When I put my hand on the Bible to take the oath of office 22 months ago, I knew this job would be hard, but I’ll be honest, I never could have imagined anything like this.”
And that’s basically all she said about the panic she and her family of five must be experiencing.
Instead, she put the focus on how hate and militia groups are increasingly feeling empowered to terrorize their fellow Americans.
Why Whitmer?
The governor enacted preventative measures last spring to guard against the spread of COVID-19, which the anti-government group called the “Wolverine Watchmen” regards as an undue usurp of power. That Whitmer is a woman is particularly grating to the misogynists.
During legislative hearings on the measure, heavily armed militiamen paraded through the upstairs gallery, intimidating legislators.
At the time, President Donald Trump added his two cents, tweeting “Liberate Michigan!”
On Thursday, Whitmer called the militiamen “sick and depraved.”
THIS IS NOT an isolated event.
In addition to those targeting the governor, another seven men were arrested Wednesday for an elaborate plan to seize the state capitol in Lansing and install their idea of a “self-sufficient government.”
Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel noted the FBI has uncovered myriad militia and white supremacist groups that are planning mass casualties and threats against other government officials across the country.
“It’s not just a Michigan problem. It’s a national problem,” she said. “These people pose a grave threat to American society.”
Nessel said she hopes elected leaders realize their threats “are not empty rhetoric.”
A leader’s words carry a lot of weight, Whitmer said, recalling President Ronald Reagan’s response to hate groups back in 1981.
