A curious tidbit left over from Friday night. If you live in rural Kansas and are a Trump voter, there are some folks who allegedly planned to bomb a mosque who would like to have you on their jury. They think that you, the Trump voter, would be more sympathetic to them:

Three men accused of plotting to bomb a mosque and apartment complex housing Somali refugees asked a federal judge Friday to include prospective jurors from rural western Kansas because they are twice as likely to have voted for President Donald Trump.

A defense motion argues that plans to only summon citizens in the more urban counties closest to the federal courthouse in Wichita is a discriminatory practice that excludes rural and conservative jurors. The trial begins March 19.

Gavin Wright, Patrick Stein and Curtis Allen are charged with conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction and conspiracy against civil rights for allegedly planning to detonate truck bombs in the meatpacking town of Garden City the day after the November 2016 election. Wright also faces a charge of lying to the FBI.

. . . .

“This case is uniquely political because much of the anticipated evidence will center around, and was in reaction to, the 2016 Presidential election,” defense attorneys wrote.

These are militia loony tunes who apparently believed that if Trump won, Obama was going to roll in the tanks and declare martial law.

Being a Trump voter obviously doesn’t make someone a supporter of terrorism, whether it’s terror against Muslims or terror against the populace at large. But there’s no doubt that the folks on trial here would have a better chance with rural Trump-voting Kansans than with urban Hillary-voting ones. That’s not a slur on Trump voters. It’s a fact. Similarly, if the defendants were Antifa/Black Lives Matter folks looking to blow up a police station, their defense attorneys would be looking for the most urban Hillary-voting group possible — and that fact is not a slur on Hillary voters or a suggestion that all Hillary voters are Antifa supporters. Again, it’s just a fact.

Just a little reminder that defense attorneys in criminal trials, like people running for office (oh hi Roy Moore!) often prey on people’s basest emotions and prejudices. Human decisionmaking can be a nasty process, can’t it?

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