Pastor Blames Governor Gretchen Whitmer For The Terror Plot To Kidnap Her

Pastor Rick Wiles attacked Governor Gretchen Whitmer on his Tru News show, suggesting that the plot to kidnap her is her fault. He described the men behind the plot at “middle-class, law-abiding, tax-paying citizens,” and asked the governor to consider what, in her behavior, would have caused them to plot against her.

Opening with a boast about the Michigan Supreme Court overturning Whitmer’s attempt to use emergency powers to act during the pandemic, then asked if she had ever considered what she’s doing “that drives middle class, law-abiding tax-paying citizens to think about kidnapping you?”

Right-wing conspiracy theorist Rick Wiles blames Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer for the militia plot to kidnap her: "What are you doing that drives middle class, law-abiding, tax-paying citizens to think about kidnapping you?" pic.twitter.com/ZdHE150og5

— Right Wing Watch (@RightWingWatch) October 9, 2020

What are you doing? Are your policies so extreme, so radical, that you’re pushing people over the line to say, “We have to get that woman out of the governor’s office?”

According to USA Today, the terror plot was hatched by a militia group calling themselves the Wolverine Watchmen. They planned to take her to Wisconsin, and put her on “trial,” alleging that she had committed treason — but the plot is only one part of a much larger plan to start a civil war, and it’s emblematic of the divide that has swept the entire nation during the Trump presidency.

Of course, even if the plot was entirely about Governor Whitmer and opposition to her policies, it wouldn’t excuse blaming her because extremists decided that a terror plot was a better way to address it than voting, protesting, or working with legislators. However, a few things should be clear: once someone engages in a terror plot, they’re no longer “law-abiding.” Also, the attitude that Rick Wiles promotes in this clip –that Whitemer’s policies are extreme and “push people over the line,” is exactly what the men arrested and charged espoused — they argued that she was a “tyrant,” and used that characterization to recruit new members for their militia group.