Failed plot sheds light on danger of rhetoric
On June 11, 2001, I stood in a tight, gray-walled roomat a federal penitentiary in TerreHaute, Indiana, andwatched through a windowas Oklahoma City bomber TimothyMcVeigh, expressionless and strapped to a gurney in the execution chamber, took his final breaths.
Despitemy misgivings about the death penalty, itwas hard for me to see it as anything but justice for the horrific act he committed, killing 168 people, including 19 children, in the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building.
Covering that execution and the anti-governmentmovement that propelledMcVeigh from a man with unhinged views on America to a mass-murdering terrorist left me with one key belief: You don’t feed these beasts.
Federal lawenforcement, in thewake of the Oklahoma City bombing, clamped down on the anti-government groups that fancy themselves “militias.” But themovement still ebbs and flows, and aswe sawThursday with the announcement of charges against six men who plotted to kidnap MichiganGov. Gretchen Whitmer, it’s on the rise.
That’s because anti-government sentiment is being fed, often by right-wing squawkers making money hocking fear, but also by the very person in charge of our government.
The Whitmer kidnapping plot stemmed from restrictions she put in place to protect Michigan residents fromthe coronavirus. When armed protesters showed up at the statehouse to threaten her and other lawmakers over the COVID-19 lockdown, President Donald Trump egged them on, at one point tweeting: “LIBERATE MICHIGAN!”
He also described protesters armed to the teeth in a state government building as “very good people” andwent out of hisway
You don’t feed these beasts. You don’t give them oxygen. You don’t toss around words like “tyranny” or “liberate” or do anything to validate their warped views of America.
to showsupport and sympathy for them, something he does only for protesters who support him.
The problem is, those armed protesters and the men charged with plotting to kidnap the governor, along with seven other men charged separately Thursday under Michigan’s anti-terrorism lawwith plotting to target police officers, are fellowtravelers. They’re Americans who view any governmental action they disagree with as tyranny.
Michigan Attorney General DanaNessel issued this statement regarding the charges against seven men associated with a group called the“Wolverine Watchmen”:
“The individuals in custody are suspected to have attempted to identify the home addresses of lawenforcement officers in order to target them, made threats of violence intended to instigate a civilwar, 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.
“There has been a disturbing increase in anti-government rhetoric and the re-emergence of groups that embrace extremist ideologies. 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.”
Whitmer spoke at a Thursday
news conference and put it simply: “When our leaders speak, theirwords matter.”
It’s easy to write off people who dress up in camouflage clothing and join anti-government groups with tough-guy names like theWolverineWatchmen as cosplaying conspiracy theorists. Butwe do that at our own peril.
The men who plotted to harm Whitmer met in July and “discussed attacking aMichigan State Police facility” and “shooting up the Governor’s vacation home,” according to court documents.
They apparently planned to take Whitmer to a location in Wisconsin, where shewould stand “trial.”
It’s all outrageous, and it’s deeply anti-American. In recent weeks, the FBI has reported rising anti-government sentiment on the right and emphasized the seriousness of the threat posed by domestic terrorists associated with white supremacistmovements.
You don’t feed these beasts. You don’t give them oxygen. You don’t toss aroundwords like
“tyranny” or “liberate” or do anything to validate theirwarped views of America.
The men who threatened the governorwere caught before they could harm Whitmer, aswere the men plotting attacks on lawenforcement. That’s lawand order — brave investigators using sources within anti-government groups to halt plans before they can happen.
But it’s not always enough. Before the Oklahoma City bombing, federal investigators knew the federal buildingwas a target, and theywere on top of some groups they thought posed a threat.
ThenMcVeigh came along and showed Americans the horror one man flying under the radar can inflict.
People likeMcVeigh and the men charged in Michigan can pop up anywhere. They feed on distrust in government institutions.
We can’t have leaders tossing them redmeat.
We simply can’t feed these beasts.