At least three of the six people arrested last week by the FBI in an alleged plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer are anti-Trump radicals related to the Antifa-anarchist movement, but the Democratic leader blamed the president in a fundraising email.
Under the subject “We’ve seen the disastrous effects of Trump’s hateful rhetoric,” the email states Trump “launched attacks against Gretchen Whitmer, deriding her as ‘that woman’ and calling for the ‘liberation’ of Michigan.”
“Radical right-wing groups responded by storming the State Capitol building and demanded a recall,” the email says.
But Powerline blogger John Hindraker points out that the protests against Whitmer’s shutdown orders were entirely peaceful, and the orders themselves were later ruled unconstitutional by the Michigan Supreme Court.
That is in contrast to the rioting, looting and arson in recent months by Antifa, “for which no Democrat takes responsibility and which hardly any Democrats have even criticized.”
The email then states Trump “told the Proud Boys to ‘stand back and stand by,” and “right-wing militant groups in Michigan heard him loud and clear.”
Hindraker explains why that claim is “deeply dishonest.”
“Whitmer refers to the first presidential debate, when liberal moderator Chris Wallace asked President Trump to tell the Proud Boys (who have no connection whatsoever to the administration) to ‘stand down.’ After a couple of exchanges, Trump tried to comply with Wallace’s request but didn’t remember the right preposition. The idea that he was somehow trying to incite the Proud Boys to violence is a ridiculous lie,” Hindraker said.
“As is Whitmer’s statement that those arrested by the FBI are members of ‘right-wing militia groups.’ In fact, they are mostly, if not all, left-wingers and anti-Trump anarchists.”
Hindraker said Whitmer and her handlers “know that what they are saying about Trump’s comments in the first debate and about the leftists who allegedly conspired to kidnap Whitmer are lies, but they don’t care.”
“They assume that the press will cover for them, and that the vast majority of those who receive their fundraising appeal will not know that it is based entirely on lies.”
Last Thursday, the FBI raided a house in Hartland, Michigan and arrested Adam Fox, Barry Croft, Ty Garbin, Kaleb Franks, Daniel Harris and Brandon Caserta. In addition, the state of Michigan charged seven people on a variety of firearm and terror charges.
Caserta, in a YouTube video with an anarchist flag in the background, called Trump “a tyrant.”
“Trump is not your friend dude,” he said.
“It amazes me that people believe that when he’s shown over and over and over again that he’s a tyrant,” he continued.
“Every single person that works for government is your enemy, dude.”
The anarchists who have been responsible for much of the violence in the protests ignited by the death of George Floyd on Memorial Day have aligned themselves over the decades with the Marxist left. They are united in the aim of tearing down the American political system and free enterprise but differ in their vision for the society that would replace it.
Anarchists, who divide into various streams, generally seek a stateless society with no hierarchy based on voluntary associations.
Whitmer, in televised remarks Thursday, said she “knew this job would be hard, but I’ll be honest, I never could’ve imagined anything like this,” CNN reported.
See Brandon Caserta denounce Trump:
https://youtu.be/TemgIU_9vp8
See Brandon Caserta call the Declaration of Independence an “anarchist document” and denounce the Constitution:
https://youtu.be/2hjRjjBX9ls
See Brandon Caserta insist police “are not here to protect you.”
https://youtu.be/VJSf-nO8A5s
