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Grateful to have Lee Chatfield here to remind us who the real victim is: Lee Chatfield https://twitter.com/LeeChatfield/status/1314943645213249538
Lee is gaslighting: these were right-wing extremists motivated by animosity for the governor whipped up by Republican politicians and operatives. Let’s review:
Republicans started slamming the governor over the pandemic barely a week after the first positive test in MI. https://twitter.com/tori_sachs/status/1241090963570921472
Almost immediately they started going after the governor over cases & deaths in nursing homes. It wasn’t true: Michigan ranks 18th in nursing home fatality rate, behind Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama, and South Carolina. But in the fever swamps, Whitmer and Cuomo are murderers.
The very first rally at the Capitol was 4/15. It was marked by attendees brandishing long guns and waving Confederate & militia flags. They were greeted by Chatfield waving a flag out his office window then tweeting a video welcoming them for good measure. https://www.michiganadvance.com/2020/04/15/whitmer-stay-home-order-protest-turns-into-trump-celebration-with-confederate-flags-and-guns/
The 4/15 rally was attended by the man with a naked Barbie doll on a noose - who was praised by Meshawn Maddock, a Trump campaign official whose husband is a state Rep https://twitter.com/saminglot/status/1261415325385371648
This rally was also marked by Proud Boys blockading a Level 1 trauma center - they also spent time hanging out with GOP Congressional candidate Mike Detmer https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/politics/2020/04/23/republican-candidate-detmer-defends-comments-proud-boys/5169875002/ https://twitter.com/jpughmi/status/1250470439442419717
We now know that one of the terrorists, Eric Molitor from Cadillac, considered Detmer and the Trump unity bridge guy to be friends or at least allies.
The next rally was 4/30. This one was marked by even more over the top violent directed at the governor, both from the crowd: https://twitter.com/craigdmauger/status/1255864000891494400
And on the floor of the Senate: https://twitter.com/JPughMI/status/1314278893436665865
During this speech, armed men looked on from the gallery, at least three of whom were arrested this week: https://twitter.com/senpolehanki/status/1255899318210314241
Two and a half weeks later, Shirkey again gave a speech attended by one of the accused terrorists. He literally called on them “to stand up and test that assertion of authority by the government. We need you now more than ever.” https://twitter.com/PolarBarrett/status/1314376526331346945
A couple days later later, an odd right-wing fixation started on the governor taking vacations up north. She wasn’t, but they kept repeating the location of her cottage. A right-wing radio host had the place under surveillance:
“Trucker” Randy has been close with the Chatfields for years: https://twitter.com/jonathanoosting/status/909878029916221444
A couple weeks later, another right-wing pro-gun, anti-Whitmer rally, attended by a murderous terrorist in the middle of a plot to kidnap and murder the governor. https://twitter.com/chadlivengood/status/1314673677078794241
The same day, another Republican calling the governor a dictator https://twitter.com/chadlivengood/status/1314674608994484224
This continued through the rest of the summer. Constant right-wing grievances against the governor cast in life and death, apocalyptic terms. Lies that she was vacationing instead of visiting flood victims, lies that she was killing seniors, lies that she closed churches.
Hey everyone Lee is term-limited but you can give him a great retirement gift by helping flip the Michigan House: https://secure.actblue.com/donate/michigan-house-democratic-fund-2
