Six men charged in alleged plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer

If 2020 couldn't get anymore batshit crazy.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/six-men-charged-alleged-plot-kidnap-michigan-gov-gretchen-whitmer-n1242622

Six men are under arrest for "conspiring to kidnap" Michigan's Democratic governor, Gretchen Whitmer, from her vacation home before the November election, federal authorities said Thursday.

The arrests grew out of an FBI investigation begun in March into militia groups' discussing the "violent overthrow" of certain government and law enforcement officials, and each of the men faces up to life in prison if convicted of the federal charges, authorities said.

Michigan State Attorney General Dana Nessel also announced at a news conference with federal officials Thursday an additional, preliminary 19 state felony charges “pursuant to the Michigan anti-terrorism act” against seven individuals, all now in custody, linked to the militia group, "Wolverine Watchmen."

"The individuals in custody are suspected to have attempted to identify the home addresses of law enforcement officers in order to target them, made threats of violence intended to instigate a civil war, and engaged in planning and training for an operation to attack the capitol building of Michigan and to kidnap government officials, including the governor of Michigan," Nessel said in a news release.

“There has been a disturbing increase in anti-government rhetoric and the re-emergence of groups that embrace extremist ideologies,” Nessel said. “These groups often seek to recruit new members by seizing on a moment of civil unrest and using it to advance their agenda of self-reliance and armed resistance. This is more than just political disagreement or passionate advocacy, some of these groups’ mission is simply to create chaos and inflict harm upon others.”

Interesting story. Glad law enforcement caught these wannabe revolutionaries.

But what is the political angle we're discussing here?

Saw this, glad it was prevented.

when the last time you seen a plot to grav a govneraer

@firedrakes:

I'm not sure I remember this ever happening before.

But my point still stands. The TC did not indicate what political aspect of this we are discussing. This is, after all, the Political Gamers forum.

In a cycle during which the president and vice president refuse to commit to a peaceful transfer of power, the political aspect of a militia group attempting to kidnap a governor seems clear.

They ain't the only ones refusing to accept the outcome of the election. Not surprising as they still haven't accepted the outcome of the last one.

Sooo....this is Trump and Pence's fault?

This is going to be another Orange Man Bad thread??

Probably. Even though the courts have already ruled Whitmer abused her powers as governor.

Have Biden and Harris refused to accept the outcome of the election? If so, I missed it.

No, it's a "GOP is bad" thread. Unfortunately, it's rotten from the head down.

Be that as it may, it still doesn't justify political violence. We need to get back to a place in this country where we have political opponents, not political enemies.

Well, now that you have defined the substance of the discussion, I'm sure you will get a lot of participation from the usual posters around here.

YOUR SIDE SUCKS !!! NO !! YOUR SIDE SUCKS MORE !!!

I'm outta here

What's your objection? The assertion that the president won't commit to the election results? The assertion that the vice president won't commit to the election results? The fact that this group attempted to kidnap a Democratic governor? Or the assertion that this group is aligned to the GOP politically?

@comeonman: The right wing is becoming unhinged.

i'm sure they weren't biden supporters....

is that why you were questioning the obvious political nature of the thread? rather it go away?

I seem to remember Trump tweeting, "Liberate Michigan!" in direct reference to Whitner this spring.

Homegrown militia groups have always been the US' greatest threat and will continue to be so. Could you imagine if 'Antifa' was caught trying to kidnap a GOP governor after Biden called publicly for liberation of that state?

This is a GOP problem, plain and simple.

@ezekiel43: Or you could not try to kidnap a government official. Just a thought.

Yep, the instigator in office has told white supremacist groups to stand back and stand by, so yah its the Tallest oompa loompa fault.

Tell us more about how that justifies an attempted kidnapping.

I look forward to the inevitable: this is fake, democrats hired actors to play these roles, the FBI is trying to subvert Trump, they wanna take away our guns, and this was all hatched by Pelosi and a cabal of witches at Dominos pizza.

@eoten: So you are justifying kidnapping because you politically disagree with someone? Good lord man!

And it was a politically motivated ruling, she did nothing wrong. This is another example of conservatives ruling from the bench.

Still retarded. United States' hard-on for punishment is laughable.

@ezekiel43: No it’s not.

One of them said they did it because the emergency health safety measures they said were like being in prison. Guess he'll know how wrong he was about that when he spends the rest of his life in an actual prison.

@HoolaHoopMan: ‘Could you imagine if 'Antifa' was caught trying to kidnap a GOP governor after Biden called publicly for liberation of that state?‘

No, but Harris is on record encouraging the daily riots to continue up until and after the election they won’t win.

This is one of the ones arrested. He doesn't sound like the Trump supporter the media is trying to paint him as. More media dishonesty.

YAAAAAAAWWWWWNNNNN, some nice deflection there boi.

I know, right? Trump still talking about Obama like he is going to steal his presidency (he can't) and whining about Hilary like she beat him (she didn't).

Only Trump and his disciples can win the most powerful country and then play at being the victim like they lost.

Yeah the incoming tweet storm should be good for a few laughs.

Looking forward to people justifying it. We already have @eoten saying "well she did abuse her power" like that makes it OK :P

@eoten: Sounds like anti police rhetoric. Now which side is anti authority, burning down police stations, pro defunding the police, and chants ACAB? Hmm, I wonder...

Trump's response:

Kidnapping bad imo.

Yeah, that's a tough one. It's hard to say who has been pushing months of anti-cop rhetoric. His other videos he talks about the declaration of independence as if he's planning to get people together to create their own autonomous zone.

Cuts out full response, very misleading!

@uninspiredcup: Okay? He still practically encouraged it! Hell, he practically said "LIBERATE MICHIGAN!" and "stand back and stand by". HE! ENCOURAGED! THIS! PIECE! OF! TERRORISM!

a MEN

Quite the call to liberate Michigan once again!

@uninspiredcup: Thank him? He didn’t do anything other than encourage it! Then he attacks her and lies about defending all Americans. Is that why he wanted to sue SNL over a damn joke? This guy is a lying clown.

@nintendoboy16: Why’d you cut out the tweet though?

Burning down whole cities Huh? That’s a lie, those protests are in a rather condensed area.

Notice everyone on here ignored the videos of one of the individuals sounding like another Antifa/CHAZ whacko? They're likely just run of the mill anarchists. Trying to tie them to any party, when they openly hate the idea of government entirely, or to left/right wing is disingenuous.

Doesn't matter! It's him not giving two craps about what happened even if I did show the other tweets, showing no empathy for his Democratic rivals. He didn't when Ruth Bader Ginsburg died (Eight Days after she died, he nominated Amy Coney Barett when Obama nominated Merrick Garland in A MONTH after Scalia died), and he didn't when John Lewis died either. Rather, he only pretended to care when it benefitted him (especially in the case of John Lewis when *checks notes* BARACK OBAMA was at his funeral).

I love how Trump basically blamed the attempt on the governor like he sympathised with the terrorists and their reasoning. He's the kind of person who would blame the woman for being raped because she dressed provocatively. I also love how he states he defends all Americans when almost every 2nd tweet is him attacking someone who doesn't kiss his ass.

Like the peaceful transfer in 2016. When the3 out going administration was part of a plot to nullify the election which has lasted four years.

@JimB: Wut?

It's a JimB alternativ fact.

@nintendoboy16: It does matter though. Purposely omitting details shows you pushing a false narrative that simply isn’t true. You basically CNN’d yourself.

As for RBG, here’s his reaction upon first hearing of her passing...

https://youtu.be/knlJWu815C0

No politics, no games - just pure compassion and respect. As for his nomination, well that’s his job - one of his biggest.

If you want us to listen to your grievances about his job, you should start by telling the WHOLE story, not just snippets you edit to push your bias narrative. In other words, stop embodying fake news because regardless of what you’ve heard about Trump supporters, we’re not stupid.

Wish both sides would turn down the rhetoric some. Every week the apocalypse it's coming. It's nazis vs communists. It's China Joe vs Putin's puppet Trump. It's mass murder through Covid vs mass murder of unborn children.

The leaders know this is all a bunch of nonsense, but some of the ordinary folks do not. And so they do crazy stuff.

Just cool down a little America!

It's not an alternative fact that the Obama administration knew about, and was part of Clinton's plot to fake a scandal to springboard a 3 year long investigation in search of a crime based on the bogus accusations. There are intelligence reports on it right now. Texts, notes, letters from then CIA director to Obama. Read some of the reports on the investigations into it before you accuse anybody of using alternative facts.