A Republic, If You Can Keep It
Analysis and commentary on Michigan politics from former Democratic Party chair Mark Brewer and former Republican Party executive director Jeff Timmer.
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Up Yours and FU???? (Guest: Senator Sam Singh)
On our radar this week… Donald Trump’s reaction to a heckler at his Detroit Economic Club speech was symbolic of his administration: flipping the bird to all of us as he simultaneously destroys the economy, government services and NATO. The irony: his target, who was suspended by Ford, has received more than 800-thousand dollars through two Go Fund Me appeals launched by friends. Listing Trump’s weekly rundown of outrages could easily fill out the podcast, so we’ll go with the most outrageous. His week of destruction and dementia include: Openly threatening to use the U.S. military to steal Greenland over the objections of Greenlanders, Denmark and our angry allies in NATO. Taking on another political critic with former Fox News screamer Jeanine Piro, now U.S. Attorney for D.C., investigating Michigan Senator Elissa Slotkin for the crime of quoting federal law, a followup to the Pete Hegseth assault on Senator Mark Kelly. Also under investigation by Trump’s retribution machine: Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, who made it clear it’s nothing more than another Trump retribution charade. Trump gave a 60-minute speech to Detroit area business leaders, a speech long on fantasy and lies. We learned that those increases in grocery and housing prices are apparently going down, much to the surprise of anyone buying groceries or trying to find a home. The fact checkers may be facing PTSD. And his administration is using a right-wing video as the excuse to cut off food benefits to millions … but only in blue states. In Michigan: New polling shows the races for Governor and U.S. Senator are both statistically tied. State Democrats are working to make sure voters know it’s Michigan Republicans who are responsible for skyrocketing health insurance premiums. The new state legislative session faces multiple challenges: housing shortages, never-ending potholes, continuing calls for more openness … and an ongoing battle between Republican House Speaker Matt Hall and a state Senate controlled, at least for now, by Democrats…pending the outcome of an upcoming special election. Caught in the middle of all of this is Senate Majority Floor Leader Sam Singh. Singh is the son of Indian immigrants. His political career dates back 30 years when, at age 24, he was elected to East Lansing City Council and later served as the city’s mayor. He is a past president of the Michigan Nonprofit Association and Public Policy Associates. In 2012 he was elected to the first of 3 terms in the state, serving as Democratic floor leader in his final term. Singh moved to the state Senate two years ago and was elected to the #2 leadership slot as Majority Floor Leader. He’s a graduate of Michigan State University. We’re now on YouTube every week! Click here to subscribe. A Republic, If You Can Keep It is sponsored by Nick Anderson – Pen Strokes
The Minneapolis Coverup Begins (Guest: 4th District Congressional Candidate Sean McCann)
We’re now on YouTube every week! Click here to subscribe. On our radar this week… There is a lot on our radar along with Santa’s sleigh… It was inevitable from the day Donald Trump sent his masked, unqualified, undertrained stormtroopers into American cities. An American citizen was summarily executed; Trump, Vance, and Kristi Noem immediately called the shooting justified self-defense and branded the dead American mother a domestic terrorist. But, we have clear unrefutable evidence we have all seen with our own eyes … which proves everything they have said in the aftermath are lies. It. Was. Murder. And now – Kash Patel has decided he, and he alone, will investigate. Trump is in full land acquisition mode, launching an invasion of Venezuela and making it clear he’s looking hard at Cuba, Columbia and Greenland … although his minions say he wants to buy Greenland. And he admits we could be in Venezuela for years. He apparently learned nothing from the George W. Bush’s Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan…or the Vietnam War he avoided with those dreaded bone spurs. Trump adds the title of pirate to his resume with the seizure of a 50-million barrels of oil … saying he, and he alone, will illegally and unconstitutionally control the billions raised by selling his booty. Trump says it out loud: if Democrats flip the U.S. House, he expects to be impeached for a third time. Could this be an effort to motivate the MAGA vote? In Michigan, Attorney General Dana Nessel has ruled House Speaker Matt Hall’s unilateral cancellation of more than a half-billion dollars from the state budget is unconstitutional … probably setting up a major court battle. State Democrats have rolled out the first blasts aimed at independent gubernatorial candidate Mike Duggan with polls showing Duggan’s Independent candidacy could help elect a Republican as Governor. West Michigan has been trending more Democratic over the last decade. The transition culminated with the 2022 election of Hillary Scholten to a congressional seat once held by Gerald Ford in a district that had only just two years of Democratic representation in Michigan’s history. In 2026, Democrats see the opportunity to flip another longtime Republican district by defeating 8-term Republican congressman Bill Huizenga. They’re counting on state Senator Sean McCann of Kalamazoo to do that. McCann’s political career began 26 years ago as a member of the Kalamazoo City Committee, followed by election to the Michigan House of Representatives in 2011, and moving to the state Senate 8 years later. He’s now completing his 2nd term in the Senate. McCann is a graduate of Western Michigan University with a degree in political science. A Republic, If You Can Keep It is sponsored by Courtesy Clay Jones – claytoonz.com
2025: Seemed like a Decade (Guest: Politico’s Adam Wren)
We’re now on YouTube every week! Click here to subscribe. On our radar this week… There is a lot on our radar along with Santa’s sleigh… The Justice Department is dipping into the National Black Toner Cartridge Strategic Reserve as it redacts tens-of-thousands of pages of the Epstein files. Even so, the scandal continues to grow in a way not seen since the days of Monica Lewinsky. Larry Nassar, the disgraced onetime MSU sports doctor, is now a part of the scandal. A note allegedly from Epstein celebrates their shared perverted interest in vulnerable teenage girls. The FBI says the letter is a fake – and we know that Kash Patel would never tell a lie. The newly released files also show Trump was an Epstein Frequent Flyer … after saying for months he never flew on Lolita Airlines. Attorneys General are increasingly in the political bullseye. Democrats in the U.S. House may be joined by some Republicans to impeach Pam Bondi over the Epstein files debacle, even as Bondi continues to fail in efforts to indict New York AG Leticia James. In Michigan, state House Republicans are mulling over an attempt to impeach Attorney General Dana Nessel, something that would be totally symbolic but make MAGA Republicans feel good. The MAGA movement may need to get some couples therapy after an unhinged verbal brawl at the Turning Point USA weekend conference. We’ll be joined later in the podcast by Politico senior Adam Wren who’s been covering Turning Point’s efforts to be a major political force. The next key political battle in Michigan: a special election for the state Senate. The primary for replacing now-Congresswoman Kristen McDonald Rivet is set for February 3 … a swing district that will determine control of the state Senate for 2026. We’ll take a look at the candidates on both sides. CBS News has gone from The Gold Standard for broadcast news to the toilet with Trump-favorable censorship of 60 Minutes. Murrow, Cronkite, Severeid, et. al. are spinning in their graves, and the very much alive Katie Couric calls it a “disgrace.” First it was the Donald Trump Institute for Peace, then the Kennedy Center, Trump Saving Accounts, Trump $1 coins. Now Donald Trump has decided an entire class of battleships will bear his name…and he’ll play a role in designing them because, he says, “I’m a very aesthetic person.” Is the world’s first gold-plated Navy fleet in our future? And will he continue his years-long business of licensing use of his name on other people’s projects? Trump has raised the possibility of awarding himself a $1-billion settlement of the lawsuit he’s filed against the government he runs…in effect, judge, jury and beneficiary. Why stop at a billion? Why not a trillion or gazillion? Of course he’ll say tariffs will cover the check. We’re joined this week by Adam Wren, a national political correspondent for POLITICO, based in the Midwest. He is a contributor to POLITICO Magazine, Playbook and West Wing Playbook, focusing on Donald Trump’s remaking of the federal government and the Democratic response to his return to power ahead of what could be a wide-open 2028 presidential contest. Wren previously served as a national politics features correspondent at Business Insider. He has also written for The New York Times and Washington Post. Originally from Ohio, Adam graduated from Indiana Wesleyan University and has a master’s from Northwestern University’s prestigious Medill School of Journalism. You can find Adam online X/Twitter and Instagram. A Republic, If You Can Keep It is sponsored by Nick Anderson substack
Blame It on Biden (Guest: Representative Debbie Dingell)
On our radar this week… Dozing Donald woke up from his nap long enough to shout out an 18-minute campaign speech, laden with lies and blaming everything on Joe Biden. It was the centerpiece of a truly horrific week politically for Trump and Republicans. The ACA tax credits are going, going and nearly gone … and with them, Republican prospects for the 2026 midterm elections. Adding to the political challenges to the GOP: Donald Trump’s massively offensive responses to two mass shootings, and the horrific murders of Rob and Michele Reiner. The chorus of one-time MAGA acolytes breaking with Trump is growing louder … and his shouted 19-minute televised falsehood-laden campaign speech didn’t help, a speech Jimmy Kimmel labeled “a liar-side chat”. Also this week: The Michigan Legislature has concluded the 2025 session and setting an unenviable record in the process: not counting the years when the Legislature only met in even-number years, it was the least productive legislative session in history. The record up until this year was 1842 when the Gov. John S. Barry signed 90 public acts. The 2025 session of the 103rd Legislature is estimated to pass around 70. The unprecedented slashing of the state’s budget by House Speaker Matt Hall is drawing bipartisan backlash … and creating pain for Republicans across the state. Two top aides to former state House Speaker Lee Chatfield are sentenced for corruption, agreeing to testify against Chatfield … and also accusing Chatfield of raping one of them. Another special election, and another Democratic over-performance. Democrat Gary Clemons scored a landslide victory in a special election for the Kentucky Senate on Tuesday night, demolishing Republican Calvin Leach by a 72-25 margin. That’s a full 20 points better than Kamala Harris’ margin in 2024 and 18-points better than Joe BIden in 2020. We now know both more and less about pythons in Peru – thanks to a 10-minute rambling, fictitious fantasy by America’s Poster Child for “weaving.” His hate-filled response to the murders of Rob and Michele Reiner drew condemnation from all sides … including some of the most influential voices in MAGA world. In Trump-the-Man-Child News: His gilded “Presidential Wall of Fame” has been transformed into a tacky Wall of Insults … guaranteeing it will be gone when he leaves office. Trump’s hand-picked Kennedy Center board has decided to rename the cultural center the Donald J. Trump-John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts (even though Trump is allegedly still alive), giving him top billing over JFK. The Kennedy Center is named by federal law, which prohibits renaming the building without congressional approval. The price for Trump’s ballroom has doubled from the original estimate, with the master contractor saying it’s now going to require $400-million in billionaire largesse to finish. Looks like Trump is transforming the White House into a theme park. We’re joined by Congresswoman Debbie Dingell, the senior member of the state’s Democratic delegation in Congress. The Dingell legacy, dating back to her father-in-law John Dingell Senior’s first term in 1933, is the nation’s healthcare program. Debbie Dingell was first elected to the House in 2015. She succeeded her late husband, John Dingell Jr, who was the longest-serving member of Congress in U.S. history. Her husband had succeeded his father who was first elected in 1932. There’s been a Dingell in the U.S. House non-stop for 92 years. A hallmark of their service has been a proposal for a national health insurance system, first introduced by John Sr. in 1933 and re-introduced since at every Congress by the father and then the son. A Republic, If You Can Keep It is sponsored by Nick Anderson:Pen Strokes
Raging Dementia …
Clay Jones/claytoonz.com On our radar this week… Tomorrow … You’re only a day away! President Donald Trump took his show back on the road this week in a desperate attempt to rekindle his “rally magic” and tell voters not to believe their eyes, ears, brains, wallets, or increasingly harder to fill refrigerators. Starting in Pennsylvania, he vows to campaign early and often across the country in competitive seats for the U.S. House and Senate. Democrats should offer to pay for the rallies. As our (least) Favorite President emerges from his Mar-A-Lago cocoon to deny economic reality, with his economic team claiming everything gets better … eventually: Prices will come down, he’ll have a healthcare plan you’ll love, urban crime will end, the Kennedy Center will have a rebirth as the Trump Center for the Arts and medical science will come up with a cure for cankles. Trump and his economic team sound like “Annie”! Also this week… Democrats have scored two more major election wins, most significantly electing the first Democratic Mayor of Miami in 20 years … and it was a landslide. And the Dems flipped a Trump +12 legislative seat in Georgia. In Lansing, it’s been a year since the Legislature passed 9 laws that are still unconstitutionally sitting in the House of Representatives and signed into effect by Governor Whitmer. I’ve been the lawyer leading the so-far successful lawsuit to free the hostages as Speaker Matt Hall is and the GOP now look to the Michigan Supreme Court as they continue to ignore the constitution and keep stalling. There’s a new name in the Democratic party campaign for Secretary of State, with Lottery Director and former congressional candidate Suzanna Shkreli joining the field which already includes Ingham County Clerk Barb Byrum, former Senator Adam Hollier, and Deputy Secretary of State Aghogho Edevbie. ACA premium tax credits are officially dead. Premiums will skyrocket for millions at the same time as major retailers raise prices to cover the costs of Trump’s tariffs … while the President is proposing $12-billion in tariff subsidies for farmers. A Republic, If You Can Keep It is sponsored by Jeff Margulies/Washington Post
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