Ford School Towsley Foundation Policymaker in Residence Javed Ali said the political violence at the U.S. Capitol on January 6 followed a tumultuous and politically-polarizing year in Michigan. He told Bridge the chaos was driven in many ways by the president and his supporters, who threw gasoline on the fire with false allegations of a “rigged” election, and was quoted in MLive that misinformation and conspiracies “took starring roles” in Michigan politics in 2020.
2020 saw armed civilians stormed the state Capitol to protest COVID-19 restrictions in the spring and militia members were charged in October with plotting to kidnap Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.
“The more those kind of messages continue to get hammered into the consciousness of the people who have these grievances already, the more that raises the risk to election [and public] officials.”
Trump’s call to supporters Wednesday to march to the Capitol and “show strength,” was a dog whistle to take action, according to Ali.
You can read the article in Bridge here.
You can read the MLIve article here.
