Man allegedly behind Michigan governor kidnap plot is an anti-Trump anarchist

Brandon Caserta was among 13 militia members thwarted by the feds on Thursday who were alleged to be part of the kidnapping scheme. Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel stated that the defendants, seven of which were linked to the extremist group Wolverine Watchmen, planned to kidnap Whitmer and storm the state Capitol to incite a second American civil war. The suspects were arrested and charged under Michigan’s Anti-Terrorism Act.

“Trump is not your friend, dude,” Caserta said in a vlog with an anarchist flag backdrop. “It amazes me that people actually believe that when he’s shown over and over and over again that he’s a tyrant. Every single person that works for government is your enemy, dude.”

Caserta’s admitted anti-government views surface amid Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden blaming Trump for inspiring the scheme by failing to denounce white supremacy during the presidential debate last week.

The Democratic challenger spoke from his campaign in Arizona, conflating Trump's tweet in April that called to "Liberate Michigan" from Whitmer's COVID-19 restrictions.

"You saw what the head of the FBI said a couple of days ago. He said the greatest terrorist threat in America is from white supremacists," Biden said on camera. "Why can't the president just say, stop, stop, stop, stop, and we will pursue you if you don't."

"He's giving oxygen to the bigotry and hate we see on the march in our country — and we have to stop it," Biden wrote in a tweet late Thursday night.

Other Democratic leaders have moved to implicate Trump in a desperate effort to score political points ahead of the general election. Washington Rep. Pramila Jayapal, co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, told her followers to "Connect. The. Dots." The congresswoman even attributed the fatal shootings of Black Lives Matter rioters in Kenosha to the president's vilification of protesters.

"The president's words have meaning. Inciting violence leads to more violence. Stoking racism leads to racists murdering people. What follows after a fearmonger calls to liberate states is not surprising or random or an accident—it's incited, intentional, and deeply dangerous," Jayapal tweeted.

The Washington Post's national security correspondent Greg Miller also propagated the left-pedaled conspiracy.

Whitmer herself accused Trump of having “stood before the American people and refused to condemn white supremacists and hate groups” with his Proud Boys remark. “‘Stand back and stand by,’ he told them,” the governor mimicked.

“‘Stand back and stand by.’ Hate groups heard the president’s words not as a rebuke but as a rallying cry, as a call to action," Whitmer alleged in a responding press conference.