And speaking of Michigan and disruption of government, it’s probably worth pointing out that after armed protesters mobbed the state capitol building last year, the Republicans who controlled the legislature would not pass a law banning firearms in the building.

They did, however, end the legislative session early, apparently worried about their own safety. They went home and took pot shots at the governor for her sensible covid-19 policies, stirring up animosity against her for political gain, and ramping up violent feeling against her — which culminated in the kidnapping plot you mention.

Leveraging violence and threats from violent extremists seems to be a new norm in American politics. Michigan is supposed to be a boring state. Nothing much is ever supposed to happen here. Michigan people are quite deservedly reputed to be personally very nice. Michiganders take pride in how nice they are.

Yet here we are, armed protesters threatening our legislators, mobs screaming their lungs out because somebody’s asking them to wear a mask, and even a sheriff of one of our counties going on the record to say that the kidnapping plot against the governor was probably just a legal exercise of citizens' rights.

And it all absolutely boils down to a failure of leadership in the state Republican Party. They’re encouraging this, because they find it useful.