Governor Whitmer and the Far-Right
The plot to kidnap Governor Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan should surprise none. We are living in the depths of white grievance politics. While President Donald Trump has made this worse with his tweets, he is a direct consequence of it. He also is practicing the same grievance politics. Partly it’s economics, but mostly it’s racism. We live in a rapidly changing society where Whites will no longer be the majority. The power dynamics are changing. For whites, in particular, those left behind bt globalization, this is a scary moment. They feel their lives, and their futures are threatened. This is where a lot of the militias and their grievances come from.
These may have started with the passage of the North American Free Trade Agreement and the collapse of industry in the Midwest. It is not a coincidence that the rage across the plains became significant under the Bill Clinton administration. This fire culminated with the attack on the Federal Murrah building by Bill Nichols and Timothy McVay. Both men were once members of the Michigan Militia. The foundation date is 1994. Meaning, they were founded as the second Clinton term started. The attack in Oklahoma City was in 1995. Nichols and McVey did not think the militia was going in the right way. It was a lot of bark and a little bite. Decades later the Wolverines, the group that planned this attack, broke away from Michigan as well.