JEFF KOWALSKY / AFP
Shortly after news broke that the Federal Bureau of Investigations had uncovered a plot to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer (D) and violently overthrow the state government, the blue-checked province of journalism Twitter quickly recalled a mid-April tweet from President Donald Trump — and noted that the two do not seem unrelated.
At least six men are involved and were arrested on Wednesday night after the FBI and the Michigan State Police raided 24-year-old Ty Garbin’s home in Hartland for several hours. “Several members talked about murdering ‘tyrants’ or ‘taking’ a sitting governor,” an FBI agent wrote in an affidavit. “The group decided they needed to increase their numbers and encouraged each other to talk to their neighbors and spread their message.”
During the piqued political confrontation that came with the earliest days of a lockdown designed to abate the spread of the potentially deadly Covid-19 contagion, there were armed protests at the state capital in Lansing, Michigan. President Trump spurred on what appeared to be his base of supporters, by tweeting “LIBERATE MICHIGAN” on
Many on Twitter seem willing to make a connection between the president’s tweet, and the alleged attempt of domestic terrorism. To wit:
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