David Neiwert for Daily Kos
Daily Kos Staff
Thursday April 16, 2020
People take part in a protest at the Michigan State Capitol in Lansing, Michigan, on April 15. The group is upset with Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's expanded stay-at-home order to contain the spread of the coronavirus.
A huge phalanx of cars, reportedly numbering in the thousands, flooded the streets of downtown Lansing, Michigan, on Wednesday, driven by people—mostly conservative Republicans, but featuring a healthy contingent of gun-wielding far-right extremists—protesting Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s lockdown orders for the Great Lakes State, issued last week amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Called “Operation Gridlock,” the protest—organized primarily by the Michigan Conservative Coalition, a group with connections both to far-right extremists and to Education Secretary Betsy DeVos—successfully shut down all traffic in and around Lansing. That included traffic to and from Sparrow Hospital, the city’s main coronavirus treatment center, as well as in and out of the Capitol building, whose entrance at one point was blocked by a truck bearing a large sign for the Michigan Proud Boys.
Most of the vehicles were pickup trucks, many of them adorned with signs and flags. Ordinary American flags, yellow “Don’t Tread On Me” Gadsden flags, and deep blue Trump flags dominated the scene. A couple of Confederate flags—including one modified to feature an AR-15 silhouette—were also in the crowd. The Michigan Militia also was present.
The majority of protesters remained in their cars. However, about 150 of them parked and got out to carry protest signs, along with guns, up the steps of the state Capitol building. According to some reports, those protesters generally maintained social distancing rules, but not all of them. At least one group of protesters that gathered on the steps for a video was clustered fairly closely.
"I think every single person here is probably going to get coronavirus, we're all within six feet of each other," protester Nick Somber told WILX-FM.
Proud Boys stopped at a green light to block traffic in front of Sparrow Hospital pic.twitter.com/tIGBcSESPe— Joshua Pugh (@JPughMI) April 15, 2020
Multiple photos posted on social media showed an ambulance stuck in the middle of the gridlocked traffic around the hospital. Another photo showed a pickup with a large “Michigan Proud Boys” banner blocking the entrance. Yet another photo showed a doctor out in the middle of the stopped traffic, pleading with drivers to clear a path for the ambulance.
The Michigan Nurses Association issued a statement pleading for consideration:
While everyone has a right to gather and express their opinions, today's protest sends exactly the opposite message that nurses and healthcare professionals are trying to get across: we are begging people, please stay home. The protest was irresponsible, impeding ambulances and traffic to Sparrow Hospital, where frontline healthcare workers are risking their lives taking care of patients suffering from COVID-19. Lives are being saved because of the stay-home order. We ask everyone to protect themselves, their families and us by doing what's best for the greater good.
The protest’s organizers later claimed that the hospital entrance had not been blocked.
The Michigan Proud Boys also put in an appearance with Republican congressional candidate Mike Detmer of Howell, who posted a selfie of himself with a cluster of protesters, and the large truck with the Michigan Proud Boys sign in the back. One Proud Boy wearing a mask near the rear of the group flashed a white-nationalist “OK” sign. Detmer later claimed he had been photobombed and removed the shot from his Facebook page.
Michigan has been hit particularly hard by the novel coronavirus, with more than 27,000 cases confirmed in the state and at least 1,700 deaths. A Johns Hopkins University tracker indicated that in Wayne County, home to Detroit, 820 people have died—more than any county in the U.S. outside of New York state.
There have been protests elsewhere. On Easter Sunday, “Patriot” movement figure Ammon Bundy organized a protest gathering in Emmett, Idaho. On Monday, about 100 protesters urging Ohio Republican Gov. Mike DeWine to reopen the state gathered outside the statehouse in Columbus. And in Raleigh, North Carolina, more than 100 protesters gathered to demonstrate against Democratic North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper's stay-at-home order.
The Michigan Conservative Coalition has a history of dalliances with extremists—epitomized, perhaps, by its Facebook post featuring a cartoon attacking the lockdown orders as a nefarious social control scheme drawn by a noted neo-Nazi artist. Its Facebook page has regularly featured white nationalist “Pepe the Frog” and Islamophobic memes, and the group recently hosted provocateur Michelle Malkin, who herself has become closely aligned with the right’s white nationalist contingent.
It also claimed that “Operation Gridlock” was co-hosted by the Michigan Freedom Fund, an organization overseen by the DeVos family. When Gov. Whitmer pointed out the connection last week, Betsy DeVos responded that she wasn’t affiliated with the event.
Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel penned a defense of Whitmer’s lockdown orders on Facebook.
“These people may even choose to take it out on the Governor later,” she wrote. “Her numbers in the polls might diminish. She may not even win a second term. But if people all around our state do not have their lives cut short and instead go on to rebuild their future in the aftermath of this terrible time, then Governor Whitmer will have done her job. Even if the people she has saved and the lives she’s touched don’t recognize it or appreciate it. And that’s what leadership looks like.”
PROLOGUE
Did Michigan governor go 'too far' with stay-home order? Protesters plan in-vehicle rally
Kara Berg, Lansing State Journal, USA TODAY•April 14, 2020
Governor: Michigan can't yet get back to work
LANSING, Mich. – Critics of Michigan's expanded stay-home order are planning an in-vehicle protest to tell the governor they believe she has gone too far.
The Michigan Conservative Coalition and Michigan Freedom Fund asked for protesters to surround the state Capitol in their vehicles at noon Wednesday to display flags and signs, make noise and be disruptive about Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's "erratic, unilateral orders that threaten Michiganders' economic existence," according to a news release. They warned protesters to come ready for a potentially major traffic jam.
The protest would come several days after Whitmer extended her order through April 30 and took the requirements of staying home a step further, banning crossing the street to visit with neighbors or driving to see friends, among other things.
Is it the decision of the president? Who decides when and how America reopens from its coronavirus shutdown?
“Michigan has the third-highest number of COVID-19 cases in the country, and we’re still on the upswing," Whitmer said last week. "We must continue to do everything we can to slow the spread and protect our families. Data shows that most Michiganders are doing their part by staying home and staying safe. That’s good, but we must keep it up."
The extension was expected, and tracks with President Donald Trump's extension with federal social distancing guidelines and actions in other Midwest states.
During a press conference Monday, Whitmer said the Michigan Freedom Fund is funded in-part by the family of U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, something she called "inappropriate."
Nick Wasmiller, a spokesperson for the DeVos family, said the family has not spent any money on the protest, nor has it offered prior support to organizers.
"The DeVos family, however, understands the frustration of fellow Michiganders as elements of the governor’s top-down approach appear to go beyond public safety," Wasmiller said in the statement. "Michigan deserves competent governance, not baseless attacks.”
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer speaks during a live update on Thursday, April 9, 2020.
Whitmer's new order has been blasted for its inconsistencies, as it allows the sale of lottery tickets at stores larger than 50,000 square feet, but not paint or gardening tools, and lets non-Michigan residents travel to their cottages in the northern part of the state, but not Michigan residents.
“Michigan’s typical small business owners obey laws, but they may not notice the progressive agenda being pushed by our radical leftist Governor Whitmer,” Rosanne Ponkowski, president of the Michigan Conservative Coalition, said in a news release. “Governor Whitmer will put you out of business before allowing mere citizens to be responsible for their own behavior. That is madness.”
More than 13,000 people said they were interested in the protest on Facebook as of Monday morning, and 2,800 had RSVP'd.
The Michigan Conservative Coalition's sentiments are echoed by many people in the Facebook group "Michiganders Against Excessive Quarantine," which as of Monday, its fifth day in existence, had nearly 270,000 members.
Kristi Greulich See, of Plymouth, west of Detroit, said she agreed with Whitmer that the first three weeks of the stay-home order were needed to allow government and medical officials to learn about the virus and plan a proper response.
But now it seems excessive, she said. Her understanding of the science behind the stay-home order was that self-isolating and social distancing would slow the spread of the virus so hospitals weren't flooded with cases, not to eradicate the virus.
"This is going to be coming in waves for awhile, it isn't going away," Greulich See said. "We could lock ourselves in the house and crash the economy for a year, and it won't be any different."
Dr. Joneigh Khaldun, Michigan's chief medical executive, however, has warned against loosening restrictions.
"If we loosen up too soon, more people will die, and hospitals will become overwhelmed," Khaldun said at a Thursday news conference with Whitmer.
Survey says: Americans say the economy is getting worse in much larger numbers than weeks ago
Lonnie Scott, executive director of Progress Michigan, said groups like the Michigan Conservative Coalition and Michigan Freedom Fund have one goal: to attack Whitmer any way they can.
"While hundreds of Michiganders die every day because of COVID-19 and essential workers are doing their best to keep our communities healthy and functioning, these selfish and out-of-touch fringe groups are throwing a temper tantrum at the expense of public safety and health," Scott said in a news release.
Several legislators, including U.S. Rep. Justin Amash, I-Mich., joined the critics in opposing Whitmer's order. He asked her to "immediately reassess" in a series of tweets Saturday.
"As a federal official, I do my best to stay out of state politics," tweeted Amash. "But I have a constitutional duty to ensure states don’t trample on the rights of the people. @GovWhitmer’s latest order goes too far and will erode confidence in her leadership. She should immediately reassess it."
Follow reporter Kara Berg on Twitter @karaberg95.
This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: Coronavirus: Michigan groups to protest Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's order
The protest’s organizers later claimed that the hospital entrance had not been blocked.
The Michigan Proud Boys also put in an appearance with Republican congressional candidate Mike Detmer of Howell, who posted a selfie of himself with a cluster of protesters, and the large truck with the Michigan Proud Boys sign in the back. One Proud Boy wearing a mask near the rear of the group flashed a white-nationalist “OK” sign. Detmer later claimed he had been photobombed and removed the shot from his Facebook page.
Michigan has been hit particularly hard by the novel coronavirus, with more than 27,000 cases confirmed in the state and at least 1,700 deaths. A Johns Hopkins University tracker indicated that in Wayne County, home to Detroit, 820 people have died—more than any county in the U.S. outside of New York state.
There have been protests elsewhere. On Easter Sunday, “Patriot” movement figure Ammon Bundy organized a protest gathering in Emmett, Idaho. On Monday, about 100 protesters urging Ohio Republican Gov. Mike DeWine to reopen the state gathered outside the statehouse in Columbus. And in Raleigh, North Carolina, more than 100 protesters gathered to demonstrate against Democratic North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper's stay-at-home order.
The Michigan Conservative Coalition has a history of dalliances with extremists—epitomized, perhaps, by its Facebook post featuring a cartoon attacking the lockdown orders as a nefarious social control scheme drawn by a noted neo-Nazi artist. Its Facebook page has regularly featured white nationalist “Pepe the Frog” and Islamophobic memes, and the group recently hosted provocateur Michelle Malkin, who herself has become closely aligned with the right’s white nationalist contingent.
It also claimed that “Operation Gridlock” was co-hosted by the Michigan Freedom Fund, an organization overseen by the DeVos family. When Gov. Whitmer pointed out the connection last week, Betsy DeVos responded that she wasn’t affiliated with the event.
Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel penned a defense of Whitmer’s lockdown orders on Facebook.
“These people may even choose to take it out on the Governor later,” she wrote. “Her numbers in the polls might diminish. She may not even win a second term. But if people all around our state do not have their lives cut short and instead go on to rebuild their future in the aftermath of this terrible time, then Governor Whitmer will have done her job. Even if the people she has saved and the lives she’s touched don’t recognize it or appreciate it. And that’s what leadership looks like.”
PROLOGUE
Did Michigan governor go 'too far' with stay-home order? Protesters plan in-vehicle rally
Kara Berg, Lansing State Journal, USA TODAY•April 14, 2020
Governor: Michigan can't yet get back to work
LANSING, Mich. – Critics of Michigan's expanded stay-home order are planning an in-vehicle protest to tell the governor they believe she has gone too far.
The Michigan Conservative Coalition and Michigan Freedom Fund asked for protesters to surround the state Capitol in their vehicles at noon Wednesday to display flags and signs, make noise and be disruptive about Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's "erratic, unilateral orders that threaten Michiganders' economic existence," according to a news release. They warned protesters to come ready for a potentially major traffic jam.
The protest would come several days after Whitmer extended her order through April 30 and took the requirements of staying home a step further, banning crossing the street to visit with neighbors or driving to see friends, among other things.
Is it the decision of the president? Who decides when and how America reopens from its coronavirus shutdown?
“Michigan has the third-highest number of COVID-19 cases in the country, and we’re still on the upswing," Whitmer said last week. "We must continue to do everything we can to slow the spread and protect our families. Data shows that most Michiganders are doing their part by staying home and staying safe. That’s good, but we must keep it up."
The extension was expected, and tracks with President Donald Trump's extension with federal social distancing guidelines and actions in other Midwest states.
During a press conference Monday, Whitmer said the Michigan Freedom Fund is funded in-part by the family of U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, something she called "inappropriate."
Nick Wasmiller, a spokesperson for the DeVos family, said the family has not spent any money on the protest, nor has it offered prior support to organizers.
"The DeVos family, however, understands the frustration of fellow Michiganders as elements of the governor’s top-down approach appear to go beyond public safety," Wasmiller said in the statement. "Michigan deserves competent governance, not baseless attacks.”
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer speaks during a live update on Thursday, April 9, 2020.
Whitmer's new order has been blasted for its inconsistencies, as it allows the sale of lottery tickets at stores larger than 50,000 square feet, but not paint or gardening tools, and lets non-Michigan residents travel to their cottages in the northern part of the state, but not Michigan residents.
“Michigan’s typical small business owners obey laws, but they may not notice the progressive agenda being pushed by our radical leftist Governor Whitmer,” Rosanne Ponkowski, president of the Michigan Conservative Coalition, said in a news release. “Governor Whitmer will put you out of business before allowing mere citizens to be responsible for their own behavior. That is madness.”
More than 13,000 people said they were interested in the protest on Facebook as of Monday morning, and 2,800 had RSVP'd.
The Michigan Conservative Coalition's sentiments are echoed by many people in the Facebook group "Michiganders Against Excessive Quarantine," which as of Monday, its fifth day in existence, had nearly 270,000 members.
Kristi Greulich See, of Plymouth, west of Detroit, said she agreed with Whitmer that the first three weeks of the stay-home order were needed to allow government and medical officials to learn about the virus and plan a proper response.
But now it seems excessive, she said. Her understanding of the science behind the stay-home order was that self-isolating and social distancing would slow the spread of the virus so hospitals weren't flooded with cases, not to eradicate the virus.
"This is going to be coming in waves for awhile, it isn't going away," Greulich See said. "We could lock ourselves in the house and crash the economy for a year, and it won't be any different."
Dr. Joneigh Khaldun, Michigan's chief medical executive, however, has warned against loosening restrictions.
"If we loosen up too soon, more people will die, and hospitals will become overwhelmed," Khaldun said at a Thursday news conference with Whitmer.
Survey says: Americans say the economy is getting worse in much larger numbers than weeks ago
Lonnie Scott, executive director of Progress Michigan, said groups like the Michigan Conservative Coalition and Michigan Freedom Fund have one goal: to attack Whitmer any way they can.
"While hundreds of Michiganders die every day because of COVID-19 and essential workers are doing their best to keep our communities healthy and functioning, these selfish and out-of-touch fringe groups are throwing a temper tantrum at the expense of public safety and health," Scott said in a news release.
Several legislators, including U.S. Rep. Justin Amash, I-Mich., joined the critics in opposing Whitmer's order. He asked her to "immediately reassess" in a series of tweets Saturday.
"As a federal official, I do my best to stay out of state politics," tweeted Amash. "But I have a constitutional duty to ensure states don’t trample on the rights of the people. @GovWhitmer’s latest order goes too far and will erode confidence in her leadership. She should immediately reassess it."
Follow reporter Kara Berg on Twitter @karaberg95.
This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: Coronavirus: Michigan groups to protest Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's order
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