[Genuine Realist]

Hundreds of thousands of frustrated Michigan citizens have not engaged in a plot to kidnap or kill the governor.  Her actions as governor are no more relevant to the plot than the actions of Ronald Reagan were to John Hinckley Jr.'s assassination attempt.  Attempts to tie them together, as Trump did, are not just inappropriate, they are dangerous.  They suggest that violence is a reasonable outcome to policy disagreements or even of governmental overreach.

If the criticism of Witmer were in the context of a recall ballot or a legislative attempt to impeach her, then I have no issue.  But context matters, and this is not just poor taste on the part of the President, and tying the two together is blaming the victim by suggesting that her actions as governor led to the plot.  That's what I mean about blaming the victim.

BC

For the third time, I'm not trying to justify Trump's tweets. Not only are they untimely, but - as often happens - they reverse the polarity, so that Whitmer suddenly gets the benefit of undifferentiated approval of her conduct in office.

But in the same way that conduct is irrelevant to the criminality at issue, the criminality does not beat on the larger issues of Whitmer's administration. In fact, there is even a vague gullt by association aspect to the matter. Because a group of sociopathic crackpots are infuriated by the policies, it is complied that all of the opposition  consists of sociopathic crackpots. But that isn't so.

[Genuine Realist]

Hundreds of thousands of frustrated Michigan citizens have not engaged in a plot to kidnap or kill the governor.  Her actions as governor are no more relevant to the plot than the actions of Ronald Reagan were to John Hinckley Jr.'s assassination attempt.  Attempts to tie them together, as Trump did, are not just inappropriate, they are dangerous.  They suggest that violence is a reasonable outcome to policy disagreements or even of governmental overreach.

If the criticism of Witmer were in the context of a recall ballot or a legislative attempt to impeach her, then I have no issue.  But context matters, and this is not just poor taste on the part of the President, and tying the two together is blaming the victim by suggesting that her actions as governor led to the plot.  That's what I mean about blaming the victim.

BC

For the third time, I'm not trying to justify Trump's tweets. Not only are they untimely, but - as often happens - they reverse the polarity, so that Whitmer suddenly gets the benefit of undifferentiated approval of her conduct in office.

But in the same way that conduct is irrelevant to the criminality at issue, the criminality does not beat on the larger issues of Whitmer's administration. In fact, there is even a vague gullt by association aspect to the matter. Because a group of sociopathic crackpots are infuriated by the policies, it is complied that all of the opposition  consists of sociopathic crackpots. But that isn't so.