Dangerous Potential for Escalation

The United States has become a country in which people aim to solve their problems using violence. This is not solely the fault of Trump, but he is fanning the flames that are causing the problem.

One can speculate whether a group of guys who called themselves the “Wolverine Watchmen” really would have been capable of kidnapping the governor of one of America’s states. In the eyes of the judicial system at least, this unit was so dangerous and the proof so incriminating that arrests could be made and charges pressed.

However, this does not solve much. The problem goes even deeper. First, a significant number of people in the U.S. are both heavily armed and of the opinion that their fellow citizens on the other side of the political divide are enemies — and that the only way social conflict can be resolved is through violence. The potential for escalation is high.

Second, the current president is inciting this aggressive, paranoid world view. In the spring, Donald Trump encouraged the right-wing militia in Michigan — to which the “Wolverine Watchmen” also belong — when they stormed the parliament in protest of the restrictions that had been put on public life due to the coronavirus pandemic. He dedicated the tweet “Liberate Michigan!” to them on Twitter, as if elected Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer were the leader of an occupying force.

That Trump is now complaining about a lack of gratitude is typical. After all, it was his own federal police force, the FBI, that thwarted the planned terror attack. However, this changes nothing about the fact that the president associated with people whom one could absolutely call domestic terrorists.