This is what happens when @SenMikeShirkey and @LeeChatfield's supporters go off the Q Anon rails, and start calling the governor literally Hitler, without any pushback from them at all. This is squarely on them. They know how militia adjacent their supporters are.
Anyone who listened to me on @PlanForThatPod 3 weeks ago could have seen this coming. Republican consultants and politicians sanitize militia messaging for cooperative recruitment for both parties. This is the end result. It's predictable.
Entire podcast:
Here is the story in the Detroit News, of course, they failed to hold the Republicans who absolutely could have stopped this if they wanted to accountable.
.@sjdemas and @MichiganAdvance have been covering this threat specifically since May. It made international news then, and Shirkey and Chatfield were happy that it seemed to go away publicly. But they knew it didn't go away with their supporters. They continued doing nothing.
When I say their supporters are militia adjacent, I mean @SenMikeShirkey and @LeeChatfield are the type to end up in bracelets for having a loaded gun in an airport. These guys are off the rails wacky. They know their base.
This is far too little, and far too late. Again, Mike and Lee had the ability to stop this months ago, and chose politics. They chose politics.
Mike and Lee have been busy complaining that the governor, who they wouldn't mind seeing kidnapped or killed, won't speak with them exactly on their terms. These two are as bad as the would be kidnappers. I said what I said.
Never forget, the militias started violently organizing around opposing coronavirus protections we now know are essential to keeping us safe. This was before the murder of George Floyd.
I'm serious, they were mad that they couldn't go golfing or use motorboats for a few weeks.
Other Republicans in Michigan have some explaining to do as well. @RepHuizenga, told @TheAtlantic The militia adjacent anti coronavirus protection protests that led to this kidnapping attempt were organic grassroots. 😬
The largest city in Ottawa County, which is a big part of his district, elected a Democrat last year for the first time in my life. Give them someone better than Bill, please. It's Betsy DeVos' hometown.
Bill decided he wanted us to tell him that we're not buying his BS.
And last to give lip service is Republican speaker of the House Lee Chatfield, Captain Airport Gun. Lee was told by the state police last spring, that they could provide protection for legislators when armed protesters were going to be at the capitol...
Not only did those militia protesters storm the capitol building, Lee didn't even tell the Democratic legislators they had state police protection available. He only told the Republicans. He could not care less if Democrats are shot by terrorists.
Former lieutenant governor Brian Calley is shocked, which is an incredible admission of lack of political awareness on his part. And I mean that literally. It's incredible. I don't believe him for a second.
"Stochastic terrorism is the use of mass communications to stir up random lone wolves to carry out violent or terrorist acts that are statistically predictable but individually unpredictable."
The Right Wing is going to try to say that these guys were just some sort of generic anarchists & weren't inspired by their divisive and frankly terrifying rhetoric. That's crap. All of this was predictable. They went after the Democratic governor they've consistently demonized.
So, let's bring it back full circle to the Q Anon conspiracy theory nonsense.
How do you think @billhuizenga voted on the resolution condemning their terrorist adjacent election interference?
Poorly. He voted poorly. See:
Two of the men arrested today were at that protest last spring at the capitol where terrorists brok in with guns and intimidated the legislature.
@LeeChatfield had the State Police protect Republicans, but not Democrats. It's almost too sick to believe, but it happened.
How do I know Shirkey, Chatfield, and @RepHuizenga could have prevented all of this?
🗣️📢If you know me IRL or through #a2council, you know I make videos to help unelect bad local politicians. Cupertino, CA has been taken over by some of the worst NIMBYs in the country. This election may determine the final fate of segregation in the US.
You haven't seen new videos from me in the last few weeks because I have doubled down on researching current Cupertino Mayor "build a wall" Scharf and his sidekick Kitty "Q Anon, but for Apple Engineers" Moore. They are both seeking seats on council.
Kitty Moore gets a weird nickname because she's so obsessed with watching her property value increase, she makes flippant claims about Apple employees who would rent new housing bringing prostitutes to the suburbs. She says the things even Trump won't say.
Governor Whitmer's team is paying attention to the cutting-edge science and up to the minute data that is telling us, especially at colleges, super spreader events are to blame for most COVID-19 infections.
Let's see how long before Tori posts some blue lives matter nonsense while ignoring the fact that coronavirus has killed more cops than anything else this year in America. 🤔
Also, Chad writes for @crainsdetroit. This is one of the right-wing adjacent legitimate news outlets that participates in militia and white supremacist sanitation, so the dog whistles filter through, and the unseemly bits are left down a trail of breadcrumbs.
After designing, building & running the most successful petition program ever in MI, the majority white board of the antigerrymandering campaign layered me under a white strategist with ties to the state Dem Party for GOTV. After we handed in 440k signatures.
I still built the strategy they followed that allowed them to scale to the biggest campaign in 2018. Bigger than @GovWhitmer. I trained their volunteer leadership to run the programs I built. They could not fail. None of that mattered.
My good friend from college, who brought me to the campaign and was executive director, had no real experience going to bat for anyone, and certainly not for me adequately with the board. It literally did not matter what I accomplished for them.
Nothing to see here, just #Denver City Council Member Amanda Sawyer using an official government Facebook account to spread far right, racist propaganda to further Trump's message about suburbs being in peril.
It gets worse! Because of course it gets worse! The video features failed mayoral candidate & gentrification posterwoman Jamie Giellis, who lost after a slew of racist social media posts she made previously were unearthed, & she embarrassed herself on @brothajeff's podcast.
You can see Giellis get caught not knowing what NAACP stands for in the video above. Here is one of her racist tweets. The screen grab was taken just before she deleted this old account.