Plotting to kidnap a state governor is not the way to rectify an injustice – real or perceived – in America today and so one could be forgiven for expecting the trial in Grand Rapids, MI of four men who allegedly did just that would be a slam dunk. The men, accused of planning to snatch Democrat Governor Gretchen Whitmer from her home in 2020, were not found guilty, though, after successfully arguing they were set up by federal agents. For proper context, two of them were acquitted on all charges and a mistrial was declared for the other two after the jury failed to reach verdicts. The latter two men, Adam Fox and Barry Croft Jr., face a retrial and remain in custody.
Predictably, the left-wing establishment media jumped on this trial to advance a narrative, created during the presidency of Donald Trump, that dangerous and violent right-wing extremism presented a growing threat to democracy in the US. Six men were originally charged in the Whitmer plot, though two of them pleaded guilty before the trial.
The Department of Justice certainly took a black eye here, after orchestrating a sting operation to catch the men. The defense managed to portray that FBI op as entrapment, arguing, as one prominent Washington newspaper put it, that "undercover agents were responsible for the ‘radicalization’ of men with no history of violence.” Lawyers for the accused suggested their clients were essentially talked into the plan by federal agents but that it was unlikely they would have attempted the deed. One of the four, Marine Corps veteran Daniel Harris, stated during the trial that he had “absolutely not” agreed to kidnap the governor.
According to the defendants’ testimonies, they were particularly angry about COVID-related restrictions imposed at the height of the pandemic. After the verdict was announced, Whitmer’s chief of staff, JoAnne Huls, said in a statement, “Today, Michiganders and Americans – especially our children – are living through the normalization of political violence.” The statement continued:
“The plot to kidnap and kill a governor may seem like an anomaly. But we must be honest about what it really is: the result of violent, divisive rhetoric that is all too common across our country. There must be accountability and consequences for those who commit heinous crimes. Without accountability, extremists will be emboldened."
Though Huls kept her statement artfully generic, it is in no way unreasonable to assume who she was referring to when she spoke of “violent, divisive rhetoric” and “extremists.” Her boss didn’t utter a word of condemnation in 2020 of the left-wing activist mobs that rampaged across several American cities, burning and looting as they went, as well as perpetrating no small number of physical assaults – some of which proved fatal. To be fair, Whitmer never encouraged or directly justified the violence, but neither did she show even a hint of the outrage she feels for violence committed or allegedly committed by right-wing activists.
The irony of demanding “consequences for those who commit heinous crimes” is almost painful. While no one on either side should be inciting acts of violence, the radical left, to whom Whitmer is sympathetic, has been responsible for almost all the political violence perpetrated in this country over the past four or more years. Add to that the involvement of federal agents in what initially appeared to be the most sinister plot by right-wing “extremists” in, perhaps, decades, and a picture emerges of a distinctly one-sided view of criminal justice. Until balance is restored to the way justice is delivered, America will not recover from the wounds that have been inflicted upon it by extremists, whether they be on the right or the left.
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