Right-wing groups have launched an unusual political campaign in Michigan, uniting major Republican donors — including Betsy DeVos, Donald Trump's former education secretary — with far-right militants in an effort to exploit the state's petition rules and bypass the normal legislative process. If successful, this could lead to the veto-proof enactment of a series of bills that would sharply restrict voting rights, curtail the state's public health powers and direct taxpayer money to private schools.
In mid-March, a far-right group called Stand Up Michigan launched a campaign called Four Signatures for Freedom, seeking to gather at least 100,000 voter signatures for four petitions in support of conservative policies similar to those enacted in several deep-red states. But Stand Up Michigan appears extreme even by current Republican standards: Tammy Clark, the group's executive director, has suggested that the Declaration of Independence allows for the abolition of the federal government, jokingly described herself as a "domestic terrorist" and repeatedly echoed Donald Trump's false claims that the presidential election was stolen. A precursor group to Stand Up Michigan helped organize a protest that drew some of the men later arrested as part of an alleged plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.
