CHICAGO (WLS) -- Since the FBI broke up a heavily armed militia group in 2020, the belief was Governor Gretchen Whitmer had been targeted because of Michigan's strict COVID controls. Key witnesses who were part of the alleged plot now said the target was actually the 2020 presidential election and preventing Joe Biden from taking office.
When the Wolverine Watchmen militiamen amassed an arsenal of assault rifles, explosives and tactical gear in the summer of 2020, they were aiming to kidnap and kill Gov. Whitmer, according to federal prosecutors.
While the four men, now on trial in western Michigan, were furious about the COVID restrictions put in place by Whitmer, co-militiaman and now key government witness, Ty Garbin, said they were actually targeting the presidential election in hopes of causing such social disruption that it would prevent Biden from ever getting into office.
Garbin's testimony confirmed details of the plot that was to spark civil unrest, including blowing up a bridge to the governor's vacation home and then abducting her, while taking no other prisoners.
During Thursday's federal criminal trial, the government's second key witness, Kaleb Franks, said he considered the kidnap and kill plot against Whitmer to be a suicide mission. He said he planned to be killed during the raid and wanted to die. Franks has now cut a deal with prosecutors to testify against his former militia brothers.
The events of recent years, including the January 6, 2021, insurrection at our nation’s Capitol, and the alleged plot to kidnap and potentially execute Governor Gretchen Whitmer, have made it more apparent than ever that right-wing extremism is on the rise in Michigan....
...While these groups have a variety of different core ideologies and are made up of members with differing views, common threads you’ll find weaving them all together include: white supremacy and white nationalism, antisemitism and neo-Nazi ideology, anti-LGBTQ views and misogny, enthusiam around firearms, and conspiracy theories and anti-government views.
In recent years there has been a blurring of boundaries between hate groups, militias, and anti-government groups. Cassie Miller, a senior researcher at the SPLC, has said, “the far-right is not simply a collection of groups, but it’s really a widespread movement.” People who are associated with this right-wing extremist movement have given up on accomplishing their goals through our current democratic system and can see violence as a way to remedy what they believe are threats to our country.
The January 6 insurrection is a prime example of multiple right-wing groups, along with those who have become radicalized but may not have joined a particular group, coming together around conspiracy theories and disinformation and being driven to violence.
While there is usually a decrease in membership of these groups during Republican administrations, researchers saw the opposite under former President Trump, who often played up the conspiracy theories and fears that say white men (who make up the majority of these groups) should be taking action. In recent years militias have stepped into the public eye more and more, attending pandemic protests, countering Black Lives Matter rallies, and being part of “Stop the Steal” rallies. Hampton Stall, a senior researcher at the Armed Conflict and Event Location Data Project said this revitalization of militias coincides with how conservatives are embracing “a politics of expressing disaffection.”
It is undeniable that the Republican Party and right-wing political movements have become drivers of right-wing extremism. The SPLC’s recently released The Year in Hate and Extremism 2021 report reveals that “our democracy is now under threat from a hard-right, anti-democratic movement made up of hate and extremist groups, Trump loyalists, the Republican Party, right-wing think tanks, media organizations, and committed activists with institutional power.”
Michigan’s Right-Wing Extremist Groups
As of 2021, the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) found 18 separate hate groups that exist in Michigan. It’s becoming more difficult to track participation in the groups as social media makes it easier to become radicalized—and for all intents and purposes a part of the movement—without explicitly joining a specific group. It is also difficult to track participation in militias, as the groups rise and fade, and often split into many groups over differences of personality or ideology.
There are an estimated two to three dozen active militia groups in Michigan, which include some crossover with the SPLC’s 18 hate groups. According to experts, Michigan is a “hotbed” for militias and our militias have “always been the kind to which other states’ militias look up to.” While not all militia groups are considered a threat, militias across the country have been involved in violence over the past several decades. Michigan militias have made the national news before, perhaps most notably, when Lapeer native Terry Nichols worked with Timothy McVeigh on the 1995 bombing in Oklahoma City that killed nearly 200 people.
White supremacist propaganda campaigns have greatly increased during the Trump era, and are accompanied by a rise in hate crimes. In Michigan, hate crimes rose 40 percent from 2015 to 2019. A 2021 report from the Anti-Defamation League found a 36 percent increase in incidents of white supremacist propaganda in Michigan as compared to 2019.
The prevalence of conspiracy theories such as QAnon that have spread like wildfire online and gained a cult-like following—including among Republican members of Congress, Michigan Republican lawmakers, and Michigan Republican candidates for office—can be partly credited with the rise in militias. And, of course, we would be remiss not to mention how the right’s continued push of the Big Lie and near-religious reverence for former President Trump have continued to radicalize more and more people into the right-wing extremist movement.
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