From the beginning of his Presidency, Donald Trump has shown no interest in combating Right-wing terrorism.

“The President always wants to pick a side, and he wants to pick the side that supports him,” said Miles Taylor, a former Homeland Security official in Trump’s administration. “But Donald Trump has created, in my opinion, the favorable conditions that have allowed these domestic terrorist groups to rise.

“The White House wanted to cover its eyes and wanted to cover its ears when it heard about domestic terrorism because they didn’t want to pay attention to the Right-wing extremists that they saw as a potential base of support.

“As a consequence, the President’s rhetoric has served as a loaded gun for those groups who have since taken his words as sort of permission to do what they’re doing.”

In April, thousands of Right-wingers gathered at the Michigan State Capitol in Lansing to protest Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer’s executive orders shutting down most of the state. Many of them wore MAGA hats, waved Trump flags and/or brandished AK-47s and other semiautomatic weapons.

Trump-inspired Michigan protest

Some chanted “Lock her up!”-–echoing Trump’s call for the imprisonment of his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton during the 2016 Presidential campaign.

The protest was organized by the Michigan Conservative Coalition, a group founded by a pro-Trump state representative and his wife, Meshawn Maddock, who is on the advisory board for an official Trump campaign group called “Women for Trump” and is also the co-founder of Michigan Trump Republicans.

Another group that promoted the event, the Michigan Freedom Fund, is run by Greg McNeilly, a longtime political adviser to the DeVos family, who are prolific Republican donors and have funded conservative causes across the state for decades.

McNeilly was campaign manager for Dick DeVos, the husband of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, during his failed bid for governor in 2006.

Asked about the protesters, Trump said: “They’re suffering. They want to get back.” He dismissed the health risks of ignoring state orders and potentially exposing themselves to the virus.

“I think they’re listening. I think they listen to me,” he said. “They seem to be protesters that like me and respect this opinion, and my opinion’s the same as just about all of the governors. Nobody wants to stay shut.”

One such protester was Melissa Ackison, the conservative Ohio state Senate candidate.

“It enrages something inside of you,” said Ackison of the stay-at-home orders issued by her own governor, Republican Mike DeWine. She has “no fear whatsoever” of contracting the virus, dismissing it as hype.

“As patriots, we put President Trump in office for a reason,” she said. “If he’s not able to give a convincing enough argument to these governors that they need to open up, then he needs to do something to take action.”

In short: This “states’ rights” maven would be fine if Trump forced governors to bring the states back on line.

Melissa Ackison

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) urged Americans to wear masks and keep at least six feet from their fellows. And most of the nation’s governors issued stay-at-home orders that banned large gatherings—including visits to parks and beaches.

Yet President Donald Trump openly encouraged defiance of those orders. On April 17 he issued a series of tweets to his supporters:

“LIBERATE MINNESOTA!”

“LIBERATE MICHIGAN!”

“LIBERATE VIRGINIA, and save your great 2nd Amendment. It is under siege!”

All these states have Democratic governors—and had been targeted for Right-wing protests. Large numbers of men and women stood closely together, with most of them not wearing masks. They claimed their “freedoms” were being infringed upon.

Donald Trump

On May 1, Trump tweeted in support of the Michigan demonstrators. Just as German Fuhrer Adolf Hitler blamed his opponents for the violence he stoked, so did Trump. Aiming his tweet at Whitmer, he wrote: “These are very good people, but they are angry. They want their lives back again, safely!  See them, talk to them, make a deal.”

In May, the protests at the Capitol continued, featuring signs with swastikas, Confederate flags and demonstrators who advocated for violence against Whitmer.

Also in May, a man was charged with threatening to kill Governor Whitmer and Attorney General Dana Nessel.

Referring to government-ordered closures and social distancing measures, Homeland Security analysts recently warned: “Anti-government groups and anti-authority extremists could be motivated to conduct attacks in response to perceived infringement of liberties and government overreach.”

Polling places or voter registration events were “likely flash points for potential violence,” warned the analysts, adding that Right-wing extremists “have heightened their attention” to the election.

Election administrators throughout the United States are taking steps to prepare, with some directing staff to undergo training sessions on extremist group tactics and even preparing poll workers for the possibility of someone showing up armed.

Anticipating the worst, Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson announced on October 16 that residents will not be allowed to open-carry firearms “in a polling place, in any hallway used by voters to enter or exit, or within 100 feet of any entrance to a building in which a polling place is located.”

On October 8, 13 Right-wing men were charged with plotting to kidnap Michigan Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer.

At a press conference where the arrests were announced, Whitmer said: “Just last week, the president of the United States stood before the American people and refused to condemn white supremacists and hate groups like these two Michigan militia groups.

“When our leaders speak, their words matter. They carry weight. When our leaders meet with, encourage or fraternize with domestic terrorists, they legitimize their actions. And they are complicit.”

Gretchen Whitmer

Trump campaign senior adviser Jason Miller attacked Whitmer for calling out the President.

“But why Governor Whitmer would go and start attacking President Trump, this is just—people can see right through it. They can see that Governor Whitmer is a complete phony and it is just disgusting that she would take a moment of unity to attack the President.”

In a CNN interview on October 8, Whitmer said: “You know, the fact that after a plot to kidnap and to kill me, this is what they come out with. They start attacking me, as opposed to what good, decent people would do, [which] is to check in and say, ‘Are you OK?’”

Democratic Presidential candidate Joe Biden telephoned her immediately after the announcement of the failed plot.

“I think that tells you everything that’s at stake in this election,” Whitmer said. “It tells you everything you need to know about the character of the two people on this ballot that we have to choose from in a few weeks.” 

 Joe Biden

Later on October 8—the date of the FBI arrests—Trump again attacked Whitmer in a series of tweets.

He falsely claimed she had called him a “White Supremacist” in her remarks earlier that day. And he whined that she did not thank him for saving her.

“Governor Whitmer of Michigan has done a terrible job,” tweeted Trump. “She locked down her state for everyone, except her husband’s boating activities.”

In another tweet, he demanded: “Open up your state, open up your schools, and open up your churches!”

Whitmer responded: “We know every time that this White House identifies me or takes a shot at me, we see an increase in rhetoric online, violent rhetoric, and so there’s always a connection and certainly it’s something that we’ve been watching. But this took it to a whole new level.

“I have raised this very issue with this White House and asked them to bring the heat down. I have asked leaders, Republican leaders in the state—let’s bring the heat down.”

Washington Governor Jay Inslee squarely blamed Trump as responsible for the latest threat to Whitmer: “It is very unfortunate that she has been troubled not just directly by these threats, but a constant barrage of, frankly, incendiary criticism from the president, and I think that’s been very unfortunate.” 

“This shocking development is the most disturbing of the increasingly violent threats being made against Democratic governors by some of the most extreme and violent fringes of the Right,” said New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy.

“Unless and until President Trump openly denounces such Right-wing extremism, groups like the Michigan Militia will continue to act as if they hold a permission slip from him to openly engage in such terrorist plots.”

On October 18, at a Trump campaign rally in Muskegon, Michigan, the crowd chanted “Lock her up!” against Whitmer.  Trump smiled, chuckled and said, “Lock them all up.”

“It’s incredibly disturbing that the president of the United States, 10 days after a plot to kidnap, put me on trial and execute me—10 days after that was uncovered—the President is at it again and inspiring and incentivizing and inciting this kind of domestic terrorism,” Whitmer said on NBC’s Meet the Press.

Not only has Trump refused to show any compassion for Whitmer, he has shown a total indifference to prosecuting her would-be kidnappers—or in combating Right-wing terrorism.

He blames rising crime rates on Black Lives Matter protesters and blacks who have looted and burned stores during nationwide protests against police brutality. And he claims that only he can save America from a civil war ignited by such protesters.

“Anarchy has recently beset some of our states and cities. My administration will not allow federal tax dollars to fund cities that allow themselves to deteriorate into lawless zones,” Trump claimed on September 2.

Donald Trump

But he has shown no interest in combating Right-wing terrorism, despite warnings from the FBI, Congress and groups such as the Anti-Defamation League that track extremism. White House officials have tried to suppress use of the phrase “domestic terrorism” altogether.

Trump defended a caravan of his supporters who drove into Portland, Oregon, and fired paintball guns at Black Lives Matter protesters, calling them “peaceful protesters” and claiming they were using paintballs as “a defensive mechanism.”

And he has defended Kyle Rittenhouse, a 17-year-old accused of fatally shooting two people during another Black Lives Matters protest: “He was trying to get away from them, I guess, it looks like. I guess he was in very big trouble. He probably would have been killed.”

The FBI learned of the plot to kidnap Democratic Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer in early 2020 through a social media group of individuals, according to a federal criminal complaint.

Needing reinforcements, one of the conspirators, Adam Fox, contacted a Michigan-based militia group.

”…Fox said he needed ‘200 men’ to storm the Capitol building in Lansing and take hostages, including Whitmer, said the criminal complaint.

Fox said they would kidnap and try Whitmer for “treason” before the November 2020 elections.

The verdict could only have been death.

On June 20, the conspirators met at Fox’s business in Grand Rapids. To ensure security, they entered the basement through a trap door hidden under a rug on the main floor. Attendees turned over their cell phones, which were brought upstairs to “prevent any monitoring.

Yet monitored they were—by an FBI informant among them.

The attendees discussed plans for assaulting the Michigan State Capitol, countering law enforcement first responders, and using ‘Molotov cocktails’ to destroy police vehicles.

They planned to meet again during the first weekend of July and conduct firearms and tactical training.

In a video Fox live-streamed to a private Facebook group, he complained about the judicial system and the state of Michigan controlling the opening of gyms.

Fox referred to Whitmer as “this tyrant bitch. I don’t know, boys, we gotta do something. You guys link with me on our other location system, give me some ideas of what we can do.”

The FBI monitored the kidnapping plot throughout the summer as the target narrowed to the governor’s personal vacation home.

During one meeting, Fox said: “Snatch and grab, man. Grab the fuckin’ Governor. Just grab the bitch. Because at that point, we do that, dude—it’s over.” 

“Have one person go to her house. Knock on the door and when she answers it just cap [shoot] her,” one of the men said in an encrypted group chat.

Right-wing suspects in Whitmer kidnapping plot

The group spoke of a “baker” and a “cake,” which FBI agents interpreted as code words referring to explosive devices.

“I just wanna make the world glow, dude,” the affidavit quoted Adan Fox as saying in a profanity-laced tirade. “We’re gonna topple it all, dude”

The plotters surveilled Whitmer’s vacation home on two occasions in late August and September. Barry Croft and Fox discussed detonating explosive devices to divert police from the vacation home area.

In early October, Fox told others in the group that he had bought a taser for use in the kidnapping plot.

Fox, Ty Garbin, Daniel Harris and Kaleb Franks planned to meet on October 6 to pay for explosives and swap tactical gear.

But the FBI moved in first.

At least seven FBI field offices around the country took part, owing to the complexity of the operation and the likelihood the suspects could be armed and dangerous.

Agents were dispatched to execute search or arrests warrants at approximately a dozen sites. Arrest details included SWAT agents, technical exploitation personnel and evidence technicians.

Immediately after the FBI learned of the threat to Whitmer, its agents alerted her security detail. As a result, security around the governor was greatly tightened. The FBI continued to update the governor’s security detail on the investigation’s progress.

At a press conference on October 8, Whitmer stated:

“When I put my hand on the Bible and took the oath of office 22 months ago, I knew this job would be hard. But I’ll be honest, I never could have imagined anything like this.”

Gretchen Whitmer

A week earlier, on September 29, President Donald Trump had faced off with his Democratic challenger, former Vice President Joe Biden, in the first of three scheduled Presidential debates.

When Trump refused to condemn white supremacists, moderator Chris Wallace challenged him to do so.

“What do you want me to call them?” asked Trump. “Give me a name.”

Biden suggested the Proud Boys, a violent Right-wing group.

Trump’s response: “Proud Boys, stand back and stand by. But I’ll tell you what, I’ll tell you what, somebody’s got to do something about Antifa and the Left, because this is not a Right-wing problem.”

Now, referencing Trump’s shout-out to the Proud Boys, Whitmer condemned the President’s action:

“Just last week, the president of the United States stood before the American people and refused to condemn white supremacists and hate groups like these two Michigan militia groups.

“When our leaders speak, their words matter. They carry weight. When our leaders meet with, encourage or fraternize with domestic terrorists, they legitimize their actions. And they are complicit.”

But Trump campaign senior adviser Jason Miller attacked Whitmer for calling out the President.

“We’re all united standing against anyone who would conspire to cause such hatred and violence. And there is no place for that in American society in any way, shape, or form,” he said on Fox News.

“But why Gov. Whitmer would go and start attacking President Trump, this is just—people can see right through it. They can see that Governor Whitmer is a complete phony and it is just disgusting that she would take a moment of unity to attack the President.”