Before Michigan’s electors voted to certify President-Elect Joe Biden’s electoral win, the threat of violence resulted in all legislative offices being closed in the state.
Michigan, sadly, is no stranger to (probably) white folks who’ve lost their goddamn mind because reality hasn’t aligned with their expectations. Earlier this year, a group of far-right, um, activists? No, that’s not right.
Protesters? Mmm, nah.
Assholes? Actually. Yeah. Let’s go with that.
Earlier this year, a group of far-right assholes stormed the state Capitol armed with guns because they had to wear masks and couldn’t go to Applebees. Later, a sub-group of those assholes plotted to kidnap the governor because takeout just wasn’t enough.
Now, according to the Washington Post, violent threats have resulted in every legislative office in the state being closed. Amber McCann, a spokesperson for Michigan Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey (R), told the Post that the closures were due not to “anticipated protests” but due to “credible threats of violence.”
Now, there haven’t been any details as to who made the threat or what the threat entailed but come on now. We’re adults here. We can put two and two together. Why would the winning party threaten to derail the process?
Typically, the process of certifying the president-elect is an event that happens in the background. In “normal” times, we usually find out who won shortly after the election and then let the process play out as we look forward to the holidays, the hot new games, and whatever Christmas blockbuster is set to take theaters.
Of course, this is no ordinary year and this has been far from an ordinary presidency. In the wake of his election loss, the sitting president has done what he does best: lie and throw a temper tantrum like a 2-year-old hearing the word “no” for the first time.
He and his ragtag band of sycophants have worked their asses off to undermine faith in the election. They’ve made baseless claims about mail-in voting being apart of some large-scale conspiracy, alleged that so many dead people voted you’d think COVID was the T-Virus, and filed so many frivolous lawsuits that the judges’ rulings could almost constitute as the second Comedy Central Roast of Donald Trump by how hard they dunked on this man.
The sad thing is, it all kind of worked.
Not in overturning the election, but in undermining people’s faith in the process. A sizable number of Republicans don’t believe that the election was safe and secure or that Joe Biden was legitimately elected. The fact that Michigan has had to close down all of its legislative offices and not simply the capitol building, where the vote is being held, goes to show just how strong the Kool-Aid is.
I mean, really let that sit with you for a moment. Folks are willing to commit domestic terrorism for this man:
Michigan’s 16 Democratic electors, which included a middle-school history teacher and a 96-year-old retiree, voted on Monday to confirm Joe Biden as their state’s choice as president.
So shoutout to all the Republican lawmakers who went along with this embarrassing charade. What better way to uphold democracy than by attempting to undermine it completely and placing your peers at risk in the process?