Whatever you think of the infighting and ugliness within the Republican Party, which should be more than evident to anyone paying attention to the day-to-day affairs of modern politics, it is far worse than anything you could imagine. Trust me, I’m smack dab in the thick of the maelstrom, serving in the volunteer role of the 11th Congressional District Committee Chairman in the suburban metropolis surrounding Detroit, Michigan.
District Chairman is an unpaid position of little glamor. It involves going to a lot of events, taking a lot of calls, sending a lot of emails, answering a lot of questions about the banal and often-confusing political process, and getting the blame for the terrible acts of the Republican Party that you in actuality have very little power to influence. But there are small victories, such as replacing members of the board of canvassers who certified election fraud in November 2020 with pro-Trump patriots who vow to hold up proceedings if any shenanigans occur under their watch. This was one of the measures that earned me some negative hit pieces from the fake news in recent months, which I wear a badge of honor.
The other time I was attacked was due to my reporting on poll workers being trained to disenfranchise poll challengers on election day using COVID-19 as an excuse. I along with the activist team at Rescue Michigan released the audio from the poll workers, and it resulted in a crucial legal judgment being agreed upon before the election (that ultimately was ignored at the absentee ballot processing center in Detroit on election night anyway). For exposing this, state attorney general Dana Nessel sent my publisher at Big League Politics a cease-and-desist letter implying my writing was a criminal act. Exposing and opposing election fraud are considered acts of election fraud in the Wolverine State, weird as it may seem. This is part of the history of the 2020 presidential election that the fake news is desperate to obscure from public knowledge.
The depths of the insanity are difficult to fathom. The fight against the Democrats is caustic and infuriating enough, but oftentimes, you are bogged down with so much infighting among your own ranks so much that you can hardly focus on the Left. The muddied waters have made the situation incredibly difficult to navigate. You haven’t arrived in Michigan Republican politics these days until you have been called a RINO. The tea party firebrands of yesteryear are considered the new establishment of today, and the newcomers – radicalized by the stolen election and subsequent crackdown on civil liberties following Jan. 6 – are demanding immediate gratification and are on the war path against anyone who does not give it to them.
If you do not believe that decertifying the election will restore Trump into the White House, you’re a traitor. If you question that a full forensic audit is viable considering the political reality of the legislature and the laws on the books, you must be in on the steal. If you doubt the latest QAnon-style dispatch from this week’s soothsayer du jour selling hopium in cryptic Telegram posts, you’re a heretic and liable to get crucified by the mob. It can get rather tedious, and sadly, decent right-thinking people are alienated and driven from the fold because of the toxic and frequently embarrassing atmosphere caused by this non-stop mania. It has become exceedingly difficult to separate the wheat from the chaff, especially to those lacking the experience to understand the context of the monumental political reformation that is underway right now.
Nevertheless, the multitude of mistakes and the circular firing squad have not slowed down the momentum. The Trump uprising may not have taken hold across the country, but in the rust belt, it is a movement with supreme gravitas among the common people. The dream isn’t dead here. People are still ready to fight against the odds, through the setbacks, regardless of the circus that has developed around the movement. Recent encouraging developments have shown that the grassroots may finally be out of the morass. The battle lines are finally being laid on the table: It is Trump and his primary surrogates in Michigan, Matt and Meshawn Maddock as well as their allies, against the old guard establishment, the entrenched money that finds Trump’s rise appalling and believes their money and prestige can quash the petty rabble. There are many players in this soap opera, with the events going back years serving as prologue for the present cataclysm, and it is a microcosm for the greater struggle within Republican politics taking place nationwide.
State representative Matt Maddock is one of the few lawmakers able to get elected in Michigan, renowned for its corrupt legislature, and actually stand strong for his values against the pressures facing him. He is currently running for Speaker of the House as well as re-election. His voting record is consistently judged as being among the most conservative lawmakers in the state house by all metrics. In a right-side up world, Maddock would be considered a beloved superstar widely celebrated among us peers. His fellow representatives would shower him with plaudits and strive to live up to his metric. They would be singing his praises relentlessly and using his example to show voters that the Republican Party can uphold its promises to voters on the campaign trail. However, in Michigan GOP, the exact opposite situation is unfolding in predictable fashion. Maddock was recently booted from the House GOP caucus. Vague accusations have been levied by House Leadership, led by moderate current Speaker Rep. Jason Wentworth, about the sharing of privileged caucus business to the public, with no specific instances of this nefarious activity ever given, as well as accusations that Maddock is running candidates against entrenched incumbents.
These excuses do not hold up to scrutiny as these standards have not been applied to individuals in the past, in fact, past challengers of incumbents have been rewarded by the Party. Former state representative Lee Chatfield primaried and defeated establishment-favorite Frank Foster in 2014, and he would be given the speakership, a position of authority he held as he looked the other way on election fraud in 2020. Current state representative Matt Hall primaried and defeated David Maturen in 2018, and he is now the heir apparent to be the House Speaker. Both Chatfield and Hall posed as grassroots conservative champions opposing liberal-leaning representatives to slither into office. If offering challenges to sitting GOP members was considered a terrible heresy, this would have negatively impacted the careers of Chatfield and Hall and stalled their pursuit of power. However, the doors were opened wide for Chatfield and Hall once they played ball with special interests and their credibility in challenging incumbents could be weaponized by the establishment to help muscle their agenda through.
When Hall had the ability as Chairman of the House Oversight Committee to draw attention to the voter fraud issue at an opportune time when the election hung in the balance, Hall deliberately scheduled his hearing featuring New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and vote fraud whistleblowers who signed sworn affidavits attesting to witnessing criminal acts on election night in the late hours of the evening, after lawmakers had left town and legislative business had adjourned for the day. It also created unnecessary time constraints that allowed key testimony to be suppressed. The handful of whistleblowers who had time to speak spent most of their time having to deal with harassment from Democrat fraud deniers and Republicans who echoed their talking points, as Hall played dumb in order to string along his constituents along. Hall orchestrated this insulting dog-and-pony show in order to keep his constituents’ hopes alive that an actual vote fraud investigation might occur while the establishment could run out the clock and inevitably oust Trump. His plan worked brilliantly.
Hall claimed after Giuliani’s hearing that “our committee is attempting to get to the bottom of all of it to deliver people answers they deserve” as a ploy to satiate the concerns of the heated Republican base, but no real answers were ever provided. There was never any serious follow-up about the testimony of the vote fraud whistleblowers. After the sham committee hearing concluded with little fanfare other than negative headlines that ignored the most pertinent testimony, Hall worked with other Republican legislative leaders to bury the issue completely. When Republican electors bravely put up their alternative slate to oppose fraud, which is now in and of itself being treated as a proof of fraud by the reality-inverting Jan. 6 commission, Hall was not there to greet them. Michigan Capitol Police took orders from Republican leadership to keep the alternate electors out, using non-specific claims of violence as an excuse to disenfranchise these courageous individuals. Both Rep. Matt Maddock and his wife were there that day putting their necks on the line to oppose election fraud when it mattered the most, on that day and in Washington D.C. during the lead-up to Jan. 6. This is why Trump seeks their counsel, and considers the duo his trusted confidants, because few have stood with Trump stronger than the Maddocks.
Fraud suppressors and lawmakers who work to discredit whistleblowers are rewarded by entrenched Republican House and Senate leadership. Rep. Steven Johnson, the Republican who hectored whistleblowers at Hall’s sham committee and mocked opponents of voter fraud, was bestowed with the committee chairmanship on the House Oversight Committee, supplanting Hall, in the most recent legislative session where he keeps key election fraud evidence under lock and key, forcing all lawmakers to sign an NDA in order to even take a glance at these facts that are verboten to the public. Rep. Beau LaFave, who laughed at vote fraud whistleblowers as they gave testimony following the 2020 presidential election, expected to be coronated as the Michigan Republican Party’s Secretary of State nominee and now repeats Democrat talking points against Trump supporters after he was forcefully and emphatically rejected by rank-and-file conservatives last month.
Based on the infamous example of former speaker Lee Chatfield, Maddock could have had a clear road to the House Speakership by simply selling out. Chatfield went from a tea party favorite who won a long-shot primary against a powerful incumbent, the son of a preacher with small-town Christian family who would surely be a rebuke of politics-as-usual, into one of the most gut-wrenching examples of the corrupting tendencies of government power to date. Chatfield would be swallowed up by his own illicit impulses, becoming exactly what his constituents elected him to oppose, gaining a taste for dark money-funded strippers and debauchery before being consumed by a scandal where he was accused of sexually victimizing his step sister over the course of many years. The establishment absolutely loves controlled opposition like Chatfield and Hall who can string along constituents and make their rebellion ineffective by giving them just enough to keep them satiated while really doing the bidding of the morally reprehensible special interests who run the show. Maddock will not play this game, which has resulted in his sanction, and because of their fidelity, he and his influential wife have shaken the Michigan Republican establishment to its very core, which is evident from the results of the recent state convention proceedings.
Maddock’s wife, Meshawn, is co-chair of the Michigan Republican Party (MRP), serving next to long-time GOP financier Ron Weiser, a billionaire who has been a mainstay as a power broker in the MRP for a generation. She co-founded the Michigan Conservative Coalition before Trump ever came down the escalator and changed history, which later morphed into the Michigan Trump Republicans and thrust her clique into the limelight. Weiser is a rare GOP money man who stuck around and continued to raise funds for Trump’s ambitions, not holding Trump’s brash style against him after he ruthlessly crushed the field of contenders in the 2016 Republican presidential primary. Weiser’s alliance with Maddock, symbolizing the union of the donor class and the conservative grassroots in the GOP with Trump as its clear figurehead, has caused anguish within the power structure of the Michigan GOP, who see Weiser’s support of Maddock as unfathomable. These fractures became full-blown ruptures after the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol riot, when Secretary of Education Betsy Devos, considered royalty to the MRP, was the first to throw Trump and his movement under the bus. This is the genesis of the bitter public hostility that has dogged the MRP for over two years and strained the Weiser-Maddock alliance amidst pushback from every angle.
These aggrieved parties from the disjointed MRP elite have been hard at work sowing the seeds of discord, playing off fissures within the conservative grassroots and ripping off the scabs from the wounds caused from the intense infighting of years prior. Former Michigan Republican Party Chair Laura Cox, whose husband, former Attorney General Mike Cox cheers on Democrat attacks against Maddock from his personal Twitter account, stirred up the grassroots Republican activist base by drawing attention to a $200,000 payment made by Weiser to former Secretary of State candidate Stan Grot, who then bowed out of the race, paving the way for Weiser’s preferred candidate Mary Trader Lang to be on the general election ballot in 2018. Although the payout had no discernible impact on the election results, the pay-to-play implications of the backroom agreement has caused a constant echo of scorn among a loud and prominent faction within the grassroots, with the ensuing blowback harming the credibility of Co-Chair Maddock, who has been frequently accused of selling her access to Trump without evidence by candidates and operatives unable to secure Trump’s endorsement that have proven to be good as gold in many recent elections.
Even with all of the hiccups and obstacles, Mr. and Mrs. Maddock have continued diligently on their path toward creating their imperfect but admirable vision of a Trump-guided ‘America First’ Republican Party in Michigan. At the MRP state convention on Apr. 23 in Grand Rapids, the fruits of their hard work became visible to all. Co-Chair Maddock, who has kept her powder dry for much of her tumultuous term, publicly endorsed Trump-endorsed Attorney General candidate Matthew DePerno as momentum began to culminate behind DePerno in the later stages of his campaign. A very self-aware Maddock dawned a shirt that said “coordinator of the entire sh*t show” at a recent Trump rally in the populist stronghold of Macomb County where virtually every grassroots activist of note made it into the VIP section, with many of them posing for photo ops with the President, a tongue-in-cheek reference to the often frustrating and grueling nature of leading the movement. But the hard work is clearly paying off, and the signs were evident in the weeks leading up to the state convention bloodbath. Weiser even called former House Speaker Tom Leonard, the presumptive favorite to win the position at the beginning of the campaign, to tell him to bow out in order to avoid embarrassment. Leonard refused, and, as Weiser warned, he was ultimately defeated by Trump-favorite DePerno.
One day after DePerno and his equivalent running for Secretary of State, teacher and podcast host Kristina Karamo, were duly elected by the state party delegates at convention, a handful of state committee members attempted to overturn the results. They whipped votes in a mad frenzy before the state central committee meeting could be held via conference call the next day, which is typically a unanimous approval of the proceedings the day before that is considered a foregone conclusion. All state committee members – myself included – were on the phone throughout the afternoon, instead of enjoying the first sunny and pleasant day of the year (it would be snowing three days later, true to form for springtime in Michigan), in an attempt to secure the convention results that happened the day before. The vote had been audited by a hand-count committee, causing results to be delayed, which the bitter establishment clingers attempted to seize upon in order to cast doubt upon the legitimacy of the convention results. The rancor of the political fight, which saw a literal booklet of negative mailers sent to convention delegates from every direction, had reached a fever pitch.
The establishment faction first attempted to decertify the state committee vote, which was not considered germane under the bylaws, and then moved on to attempting to reject or delay the approval of convention reports as a way to cast doubt on the results heading into the next MRP state convention in August, where a two-thirds majority of delegates could essentially invalidate the April nominating convention. The interlopers ultimately lost by a 63-24 vote, but not before rival state committee members were able to exchange tense emails that made clear how the party dynamics had shifted. The old guard establishment forces, used to selling “party unity” as a jab to the grassroots losers after ramrodding their hand-picked pawns through convention, were no longer trumpeting their all-too-familiar refrain of post-convention unity. Being on the receiving end of the schlonging was not what they bargained for when they signed up for what they felt would be a never-ending cakewalk of schmoozing at country club backdrops and collecting consultant paychecks. Their way of life is coming to an abrupt end.
A far more formidable coup attempt is being waged by the stubborn influence peddlers who, unlike Wesier, refuse to change with the times and accept the fate of the party. Many of the former RINOs have been legitimately converted to Trump, seeing him as the strong leader they have not enjoyed since Reagan. Other pragmatists in the party fold see the writing on the wall, will pick their spots, and feel Trump, despite his mercurial and self-destructive tendencies, delivered an effective record of conservative governance and admirably took the fight to Democrats in a way that no traditional politician could dream. They may not be completely comfortable with Trump and his hordes, but they do not want to be gored by the charging stampede. Others are more stubborn – addicted to the trough that has indulged them with crony largesse, or having a cult-like allegiance to the more formal and respectful politics of yore when the likes of John McCain would lose to the Left with dignity. They are readying a Pickett’s charge of their own and have a national figurehead at their disposal, one who they feel is uniquely positioned to steal Trump’s thunder and pull the wool over the eyes of his supporters.
The vast economic power at the disposal of these forces gives them hope that they can still pull victory from the jaws of defeat. The Michigan Opportunity Alliance (MOA) is their wanna-be Cthulhu, a tentacled beast forming and expanding to upend the turning tide within the Michigan GOP. Their initial shadow meeting took place on April 29 in the high-end Detroit suburb of Birmingham to scheme their comprehensive opposition strategy against America First candidates in this cycle. Attendees included the aforementioned AG candidate-that-wasn’t Tom Leonard, former RNC Operative and longtime GOP establishment apparatchik Matt Mason, former John McCain and Rick Snyder finance director Sarah Prues, and former Michigan Republican Party chair Bobby Schostak. Schostak is listed as one of the primary front men of the MOA along with Doug DeVos, the youngest son of Amway magnate Dick DeVos Sr. and brother-in-law of Betsy. The formation of the MOA gives a unique insight in how the Uniparty flexes its muscle, now that they are desperate and no longer able to operate effectively in the cloak-and-dagger obscurity that they prefer.
The MOA held first large meeting on May 17, where they wooed the entrenched GOP donor class in an attempt to convince them why they should make 6 and 7-figure donations to the purposes of undermining the will of the overwhelming majority of their constituents. According to their introductory email to donors, the MOA described their meeting as a “gathering like-minded supporters to coalesce around electing conservative candidates who will bring those conservative sensibilities to Lansing.” Somehow, I suspect facts about Matt Maddock’s strong conservative voting record were omitted from the presentation. The MOA plans to “take full advantage of this environment and ensure that the leaders we support are thoughtful and focused on governing,” ie. the pragmatism and compromise preferred by the corporate elite who are so well-served by the legislature. This coalition consists of 50 of the wealthiest individuals throughout the state of Michigan, and they are being enlisted to exert their influence and buy upcoming elections, an agenda that will certainly be spun as “protecting democracy” or some such agitprop by friendly media sources.
In fact, the spin machine has already begun to cycle on behalf of the MOA. A Detroit News op/ed from columnist Nolan Finley, an old guard booster of rapidly-waning relevance who could be labeled as the George Will of Michigan, laid out the talking points to rationalize and justify the plotting. Finley wrote that the MOA “alliance mobilized this spring in part to organize and fundraise on behalf of 10 to 15 Republican legislative candidates, many of them incumbents, who are being targeted to further the political ambitions of Matt and Meshawn Maddock.” These noble plutocrats are organizing to thwart a “sleazy” endeavor by the Maddocks to break the noble “tradition of party officials remaining neutral in partisan primaries.” The MOA’s conniving activities “represent the first real hope of returning the Michigan Republican Party to the mainstream of American politics,” ie. the center that does not rock the boat too much for the oligarchs.
It is a well-known fact that Republican officials “remain neutral” in races while the machinery behind the scenes turns every lever and twists every arm so that the candidates beholden to the establishment are selected for choice political positions. Then, they receive all the right endorsements, the infusion of dark money, and whatever other support is needed to make them virtually untouchable. This system was indomitable, crushing virtually everything in its path. The establishment had it down to a science, with only the occasional gadfly getting through, and they would be bullied and isolated so they could accomplish next to nothing. This is the nature of the swamp, and Trump’s unexpected and inexplicable rise as national hero and inspiration to millions of Americans is what gives rabble rousers like the Maddocks and their allies a real chance to do the impossible. This is why the MOA is going for broke because this may be the last chance to prevent the great realignment from taking hold where they are out in the lurch for good. They have a notable cheerleader on their side who is gung ho to ensure that the MOA’s final crusade is successful.
The MOA featured former Vice President Mike Pence as the keynote of their first event. Pence is the figurehead of this donor-led movement, to counter Trump as the figurehead of the Maddock-led insurgency that is gaining traction in Michigan. Pence is using his experience in the Trump administration to make the case that the chief executive he dutifully served under must be stopped by any means necessary. Pence’s appearance is meant to sooth the fears of anguished donors and lubricate the multitude of Super PACs, 501c3s and c4s, and other money-laundering organizations that will surely emanate from the MOA’s efforts. This will ideally orchestrate an avalanche of cash that will crush the Trump movement in Michigan if the DeVos-led cabal gets their way. There are murmurs that DePerno might be thrown off the ballot, perhaps after getting disbarred in retaliation for pushing election fraud lawsuits and fundraising off of them, which his opponents have painted as possible misappropriation or embezzlement. Several top Republican contenders have already been tossed from the ballot for specious reasons, setting a dangerous precedent. Those smears against DePerno will not likely be the end of the accusations that emerge against Trump-endorsed candidates and candidates waving the Trump banner throughout Michigan.
What’s left of the Republican establishment, with support fleeting and momentum evaporating, has to more frequently resort to blatant dirty tricks in order to hang onto fleeting control. Some of them have sadly been successful. Rep. Madison Cawthorn of North Carolina is was hit by a blitzkrieg of attacks after exposing the cocaine-fueled perversion of the Washington D.C. elite, costing him victory in a tightly-contested primary race. Nebraska gubernatorial candidate Charles Herbster was subjected to the tedious #metoo gamut that once dogged Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, stifling his Trump-backed candidacy in a big victory for the establishment. U.S. Senate frontrunner Eric Greitens of Missouri has been hit with baseless child abuse smears orchestrated by Karl Rove and his associates as the means to torpedo his candidacy. Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida has been targeted with an open-ended federal investigation designed to destroy his character, including extortion attempts against his family. U.S. Senate candidate J.D. Vance of Ohio received similar flak as the populist outsider gained traction in his race, with those attacks being unsuccessful in stopping Vance’s primary victory earlier this month.
The MOA will be far from the only state-centric Hydra entity trotting out Pence as their ace in the hole considering his proximity to Trump and his ability to espouse Trump’s ideals without the chaos and bombast of his former head-of-ticket. But among a prominent majority of Republican activists, Pence is considered the Benedict Arnold of the era. Pence is widely perceived among the base as presiding over election fraud, denying his lawful authority to impede the process of certifying the vote on Jan. 6. Trump supporters believe that every avenue needed to be pursued, every remedy needed to be exhausted, no matter how improbable or unprecedented to prevent the election fraud. Pence refused to deliver, and that is a cardinal sin among millions of rabid Trump supporters (myself included). After that day, Pence has undergone a messy public split with Trump and is now firmly aligned with the reviled Mitch McConnell faction of the Party. He is treated tepidly at best by the base during public appearances and mercilessly at worst, such as when he was booed until he left the stage at the Faith and Family Conference in 2021. The MOA and similar organizations may not realize that Pence serving as the figurehead of their organization illustrate this attempted coup rather than obscure the nature of their operation. They are only adding fuel to the fears and suspicion among conservatives that high treason is afoot against MAGA.
Why the MOA will ultimately fail is because their organizers fantasize that all they must do is put down a Maddock conspiracy before normalcy can return. That is a pipe dream, one that the entrenched political class has convinced themselves in order to justify their salaries. The reality is there is a Maddock, or a potential Maddock, in every community, waiting in the wings and ready to do whatever is necessary to take their country back. They have been activated or will soon be activated to heed the call and summon the best of what is inside of them to lead. The Trump movement is only just starting to gain its bearings and realize its potential. Attorney General candidate Matthew Deperno and Secretary of State candidate Kristina Karamo were laughed off at first, for obvious reasons. Having no political experience, no name recognition, seemingly no way to fundraise, and ideals that can be labeled by the mainstream as fringe or conspiratorial, these were the types of candidates who would have typically garnered 5 to 10 percent of the vote during normal state conventions. But these times are far from normal.
The Michigan Republican establishment actually had the audacity to double down on the legitimacy of the election results in 2020, believing that this would be the way to head off the Trump uprising. They released a biased hit piece report last year demonizing DePerno, calling for Democrat Attorney General Dana Nessel and Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson to investigate and punish DePerno (and potentially other vote fraud whistleblowers as well) for fighting the legitimacy of the presidential election in the courts. This was supposed to delegitimize DePerno and damage his viability as an attorney general candidate, but it only added to the Trump-like aura around his candidacy. The Republicans who signed their names on the report — Sens. Ed McBroom, Lana Theis and John Bizon — slapped their own constituents in the face, and come hell or high water, the commoners who had been disrespected egregiously were going to push DePerno across the finish line if for no other reason just to shove it down their arrogant throats.
And so they did. Trump’s endorsement of DePerno mattered far more than years of political experience, the ability to woo the donor class, the willingness to play the game, and repeating the stale refrain of talking points preferred by out-of-touch party aficionados that would have produced a winning convention candidate in the past. The MOA, through their stubborn refusal to admit the new political reality, is only doubling down on the failed strategy that propelled DePerno and Karamo to victory. This also goes for the Michigan Republican House leadership who threw Maddock out of caucus. They are only making the institutional conspiracy abundantly clear to Republicans, demonstrating what the battle lines are to the general public, and forcing RINOs out of the shadows to show where they stand publicly. The vehemently unpopular establishment won for years because they were able to masquerade as conservative Republicans on the campaign trail, and then shape shift when the public went back to sleep. They no longer are able to do so, forced to go on the record with their villainous misdeeds on full display heading into the midterm primaries.
The truth that the MOA cannot admit is that upstart America First candidates are rising to the occasion because they have been called to serve, not by the Maddocks but rather by the moment that is at hand. The rebellion in the air is palpable. As Americans have always done, the best will rise through their own volition to face insurmountable odds. It has been like this since the days of the Founding Fathers. Patriots are heeding the call, after deep introspection and prayer, to get on the front lines for freedom, eschewing the social pressure and intimidation to fight and win. An epidemic of courage is sweeping the nation. Grassroots activists are recruiting state house and senate candidates throughout the state. The fact that some of these candidates would support Maddock for speaker should come as no surprise. Additionally, the shakeup caused by redrawn maps, exacerbated through extreme pro-Democrat gerrymandering by the supposedly independent redistricting counsel, has caused districts to bleed into each other, and several upstart pro-Trump candidates once running for open seats are now instead running against incumbents. It is a perfect storm forming against the GOP establishment, one that is much deserved and will usher in destiny.
Michigan is ground zero of the war occurring within the GOP, and the success of the grassroots has forced behind-the-scenes machinations into the forefront of the mainstream political scene. While those of us in the grassroots can take it as a feather in the cap that we have pushed this corruption out of the shadows, we cannot rest on our laurels. Success will ultimately depend on the masses who do not care about the inner workings of political minutia. The MOA and their partners will seduce voters with false claims, glossy fliers, TV ads with high production values, deceptive talking points, and time-tested tricks that have worked time and again on voters. Success ultimately depends on boots on the ground. Will Trump supporters pound the pavement to relay the urgency of this struggle in every neighborhood, community and precinct? Will they work as hard for Trump-backed and Trump-aligned candidates as they did for the president himself? A recent string of electoral victories indicate that Michigan conservatives should be optimistic about the answers to these crucial questions. These crucial questions will ultimately determine the trajectory of the GOP, not only in Michigan but also throughout the country. If the voters reject the establishment’s all-hands-on-deck attempt to take the GOP back to the Mitt Romney era, there will be nothing standing in the way of Trump’s redemption in 2024. Nothing will be able to stop a full national renewal. So goes Michigan, so goes the nation.
