Prophets of (White) Rage

Are Governor Whitmer's would-be kidnappers victims of FBI entrapment? And so what if they are?

From left: Barry Croft Jr., Daniel Harris, Adam Fox, Brandon Caserta

As we post this, the prosecution has rested in the trial of four men accused of plotting to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer. The issue of entrapment came up early in the case, and it will be interesting to see how useful this argument is for the defense. 

The FBI has had an active sideline in manufacturing terror cases for its entire history, so people were right to be skeptical when this story came to light on October 7, 2020. These were far-right militia activists, members of the Boogaloo Boys movement, an obscure militia called the Wolverine Watchmen militia, and their associates. 

Despite the very real possibility of FBI hijinks, things don’t look good for the men on trial. They went out of their way to train, accumulate weapons, and even took multiple trips to Whitmer’s vacation home. They weren’t merely fantasizing about committing a crime or thinking out loud. The plan might have been doomed to fail, but the planning itself was very real.

For more on the kidnapping plot, read A Tale of Two Militias on Failed State Update.

The federal investigation began in early 2020 when the FBI heard through an informant that right-wing militia activists in Michigan were calling for violence in response to the COVID-19 lockdown. While most militias claim to train for strictly defensive purposes, this group wished to ignite the second Civil War — or, at the very least, keep Trump in the White House. And according to the FBI, they conspired to kidnap Governor Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat who became a political lightning rod after passing public health measures in the early days of the pandemic.

“We wanted to cause as much a disruption as possible to prevent Joe Biden from getting into office,” Ty Garbin, who is now 26, testified in court. 

Opening arguments began on March 9. Early in the trial, jurors heard from FBI Special Agent Mark Schweers, who went undercover with the militia. Schweers testified that when he met with Adam Fox, one of the ringleaders, Fox discussed what he’d like to do if he ever got his hands on the governor: “We want her flex-cuffed on a table while we all pose and get our pictures taken like we just made the biggest drug bust in ... history.”

Fox also fantasized about taking over the Michigan State Capitol, which somehow (through a sort of twisted logic) would lead to the re-establishment of the United States as a “constitutional republic.” Of course, the United States already is a constitutional republic and has been since March 4, 1789, but here Fox was reiterating a right-wing talking point. And those talking points can be surprisingly resilient, even when they come up against actual facts.

This is article was made available to paying Failed State Update subscribers in advance of publication. Non-subscribers, keep reading at the website.