They planned the kidnapping of the governor of Michigan – VG

Six people were arrested by the FBI on Thursday for conspiring to kidnap Democratic Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. Seven others are charged with conspiring to assassinate the police and the state legislature in Michigan, where they wanted to take hostages and create a civil war, police said.

The plan is to have Whitmer forcibly removed from his own vacation home before the November 3 US presidential election.

Andrew Birge in the indictment describes the defendants as “violent extremists.” Several of them belong to the Wolverine Watchmen militia and the much talked about “boogaloo” movement.

Wolverine Watchmen is a new addition to the many small militia cells in the United States.

– They are radical anti-government forces and they are a small group. They use social networks like Facebook to get around. There’s been a lot of activity on the pages lately, says researcher Cathrine Thorleifsson of the Extremism Research Center at the University of Oslo.

Wolverine is a reference to the movie of the same name, which should say something about how they see themselves in the world, sociology professor Amy Cooter tells the Washington Post. Michigan is also known as “The Wolverine State”.

Conspiracy theorists

Among those arrested is Pete Musico (42), who co-founded Wolverine Watchmen with Joseph Morrison (26). According to the American website The Daily Beast, they have lived together for a while.

Thorleifsson has followed on Musico’s social networks. On Facebook, he shouldn’t have liked it much more than Christian groups. But on YouTube he has been more active:

– There, Musico had long tirades against gun control, taxes and the deep state. Here, too, he had a lengthy tirade last year against an interview with Gretchen in which he went against her policy against car ownership.

Furthermore, he is said to have supported the “white genocide” theory on the social platform Gab, popular with white supremacists. This is a deliberate genocide of white people. Musico has also liked the Proud Boys, a group mentioned during the first presidential debate between Trump and Biden.

On Gab is one of his favorite accounts, Joe Biggs, one of those behind the far-right group Proud Boys.

According to Thorleifsson, one of Whitmer’s triggers is that he represents everything they are against:

– He’s a democrat and a woman. This group, like several other groups, has an aversion to liberal and progressive elites.

According to the researcher, there are around 900 hate groups in the United States, including several militias. Groups like Wolverine Watchmen, Boogaloo, and Proud Boys can sometimes have members with overlapping affiliations.

National security concerned

In common with many of these groups is that they conspire against groups and individuals that are part of their enemy image. The militias go against dissidents they see as “radical leftists.”

In Michigan, there has been militia activity for about ten years.

Lately, the online recruitment period has intensified, especially in Charlottesville, according to Thorleifsson. A lot of this is happening on Facebook. When they are banned, they find new names and invite more people to closed groups.

– Two days ago one National Security report (US Department of Intelligence), which said the biggest security threat comes from small groups or individual, white supremacist activists.

Whitmer herself believes that the kidnapping plans have a connection to the rhetoric of US President Donald Trump, whom she accused of encouraging extremist groups like the “sick and depraved men” who persecuted her.

Whitmer was elected governor of Michigan in 2018, and this summer she was considered a potential vice presidential candidate for Joe Biden.

“Every time the White House identifies or attacks me, we see an increase in rhetoric online, violent rhetoric,” he told CNN.

Trump Strikes Back

The president of the United States reacts strongly to Whitmer’s accusations Friday night.

– My Justice Department and federal police officers announced today that they have prevented a dangerous plot against the Governor of Michigan. Instead of thanking you call me a white supremacist writes President Donald Trump on Twitter.

In another message, she writes that the governor “has done a terribly bad job” and that during the corona pandemic she closed the state to everyone except her husband’s boat activities. Whitmer’s husband is said to have said he was married to the governor when he was told that it was not possible for a local marina to put his boat in the water before Memorial Weekend in May.

Trump also writes that he distances himself from extreme violence.

– I do not tolerate any form of extreme violence. Standing up for all Americans, including those who oppose and attack me, is something I will always do as President. Governor Whitmer – open your state, open schools and open churches!

Thorleifsson says the group has no direct link to Donald Trump, but that all groups are now outraged that Trump did not immediately distance himself from white supremacist groups during the presidential candidate debate last week.

– All groups are now incited in a US entering the most polarized election campaign in history.