As President Trump beamed at the audience, rally attendees chanted, “Lock her up! Lock her up! Lock her up!” Trump leaned toward the microphone and added, “Lock ‘em all up.”
No, this rally did not take place in 2016, and they were not referring to Hillary Clinton. This rally took place on Oct. 17, 2020, and they were calling for the arrest of Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. The chant was merely the culmination of several months of insincere rhetoric from the Michigan GOP toward Whitmer. While the Michigan GOP called her executive orders related to the COVID-19 crisis illegal, they showed little urgency or concern toward the pandemic despite controlling both chambers of the legislature. In the meantime, several protests and even a kidnapping plot against Whitmer roiled Lansing. The events of the past few months reveal a consistent pattern of bad faith against Michigan’s governor and raise the question: why Whitmer?
The story begins on the evening of March 10, when Whitmer announced the first two confirmed COVID-19 cases in Michigan. That same night, Whitmer declared a state of emergency, thus activating the emergency powers of the executive in preparation for the impending public health crisis. In the following days, Whitmer would increase the stringency of her public health orders, culminating in a stay-at-home order on March 23 for all non-essential workers.
Roughly six weeks later, on May 6, the Republican-controlled Michigan Legislature filed suit against Whitmer, alleging that she did not have the legal authority to enact her pandemic-related executive orders.
In the meantime, Republican Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey assembled a bipartisan task force in a show of good faith, consisting of three Democrats and three Republicans, with the goal of putting together recommendations for reopening the economy with the consultation of medical experts. Yet, while Shirkey praised the task force he assembled as “amazing” and asserted that “this cannot be partisan,” a week later, he led Senate Republicans in releasing their own reopening plan, written by members of the Senate GOP caucus with no input from Democrats.
By proposing the Senate GOP’s own reopening plan, Shirkey undermined the work of his own bipartisan task force. While the juxtaposition of Shirkey’s “this cannot be partisan” comment with his announcement of the GOP’s plan mere days later is stunningly ironic, it also reveals a desire to appear conciliatory and bipartisan while still trying to score political points.
In their criticisms of Whitmer’s pandemic response, Michigan GOP leaders continued to downplay the pandemic and ignore the recommendations of public health experts. Shirkey declared himself as “a big believer that there’s an element of herd immunity that needs to take place” and said that Michiganders needed to “[learn] to live with this virus.” Following his statement, public health experts warned that reaching herd immunity in Michigan would require 6.5 million more infections and 30,000 more deaths in the state.
Additionally, Republican state representative Jim Lower took to Twitter to claim, “it’s become clear to me that the only way forward is a completly return to normal. All this non-sense about wear masks is intended to mask the fact that nothing the Government can do will stop the spread.” Yet, a research team at Imperial College London and Oxford University concluded that Whitmer’s stay-at-home orders likely saved tens of thousands of lives. While Michigan Republicans were labeling Whitmer a “dictator” and flouting advice from health experts, Whitmer had successfully implemented a pandemic response and safeguarded public health in the process.
Beyond that, the sheer indifference of Michigan GOP leaders to the suffering caused by the COVID-19 pandemic is staggering. Four days after the Michigan Supreme Court overturned Whitmer’s executive orders as unconstitutional, Shirkey was asked about his stance on extending unemployment benefits now that Whitmer’s extension had been nullified. He replied, “I don’t know yet … I haven’t given it much thought because I just kind of rolled my eyes when it was done under an executive order, and I haven’t paid that much close attention to it.” He then added, “But now, I believe we legitimately should.” For the Senate Majority Leader, not “[paying] that much close attention” to unemployment benefits in the middle of an economic crisis and record unemployment seems like a rather major oversight.
Given this context, it is hard to believe that the Michigan GOP’s criticisms of Whitmer are in good faith. Shirkey was slamming the governor’s pandemic response while admitting “I haven’t given [unemployment insurance] much thought” and calling for measures that would lead to tens of thousands of excess deaths. The hypocrisy regarding the task force indicates that Republicans were not looking to improve on Whitmer’s strategy, but to gain a political advantage by stirring up opposition to a governor of the opposing party.
It worked. While broadly popular with Michiganders as a whole, Whitmer’s actions were met with backlash that received widespread coverage by both Michigan and national media. Right-wing protesters gathered on the steps of the Michigan Capitol to demand an end to public health restrictions in mid-April, late April, mid-May, and later in the year as well. Some protesters carried nooses with effigies hung from them; others brandished signs that included phrases such as “Tyrants Get The Rope.” Still others carried signs that compared Whitmer to Adolf Hitler and alleged that living in Michigan under her stay-at-home order was similar to living in Nazi Germany.
On one occasion, armed protesters barged inside the Michigan Capitol building, chanting “let us in” and looking down at state senators from the Senate gallery while carrying large guns. Two of the men in the gallery would later be apprehended by FBI agents for their involvement in a kidnapping plot targeting Whitmer.
Opposition to Whitmer was also egged on by Trump, whose rally in Muskegon featured chants of “lock her up” (to which he replied, “lock ‘em all up”), and who has referred to Whitmer as a “dictator” on national TV.
Whitmer has said that every time the president invokes her name and taunts her on social media or in a speech, a wave of threats and attacks is leveled at her and her family. This vitriol aimed at the governor is not something we should take for granted. Whitmer has been the target of an extraordinary amount of bad faith criticism, and we should ask ourselves why.
Perhaps it is because Whitmer is a woman in a prominent position of power who has had to make hard decisions to keep her constituents safe. Or perhaps it is because she is the governor of a swing state which cast its electoral votes for Trump in 2016 but has slipped out of reach since then. Regardless, Whitmer’s predicament showcases the dangers of bad faith politics and violent rhetoric. It’s a warning which our democracy should keep in mind.
Image by Jason Gillman is licensed under the Pixabay License.