Where Trumpism leads

Back in April, when midwest US states were going into lockdown in an effort to limit the spread of the pandemic, US President Donald Trump, and tweeted calls for their "liberation". Militia armed with assault rifles subsequently stormed the state legislature in a "protest". And now we've seen where Trump's tweets ultimately lead: to full-on terrorism:

Six people have been been charged with a plot to kidnap the Michigan governor, Gretchen Whitmer, that involves links to a rightwing militia group, the Federal Bureau of Investigation announced.

Additionally another seven people were charged with plotting to target law enforcement and attack the state capitol building. The state attorney general, Dana Nessel, announced additional charges under Michigan’s anti-terrorism law. Seven men, all in custody, are linked to the militia group Wolverine Watchmen.

They are suspected of attempting to identify the homes of law enforcement officers to “target them, made threats of violence intended to instigate a civil war”. They also planned and trained for an operation to attack the Michigan capitol building and to kidnap government officials, including the governor, Nessel said.

Whitmer had been specifically targeted by Trump, including just hours before the charges were announced. Which looks an awful lot like incitement. And while I doubt the FBI would be able to make a case stick even if they were willing, the American people have an obvious solution: voting the inciter-in-chief out of office.