Here in Michigan we have an upcoming election for Governor. Our long-time Democratic Gov Gretchen Whitmer is no longer eligible to run due to term limits.
Now, some Michigan businessman who I had never heard of before has been absolutely inundating the airwaves with ‘Perry Johnson for Governor’ commercials-- he’ll often have two commercials bookending a single commercial break. I cannot hit ‘mute’ fast enough when one comes on. And these commercials are chock-full of MAGA talking points:
He says he’ll go through the state budget line by line “like trump did with DOGE” to save money. Yeah, since DOGE worked out so well in Washington…
Because he’ll save all that government waste money he will eliminate the state sales tax and save every Michigander ‘$4747 a year’. Gosh, I wonder where he got that number with the twin 47s from…?
He’ll stop ‘them’ from giving sex changes to minors.
He calls one of his likely primary opponents, Rep. John James, who himself has name-checked trump in past campaigns, a ‘two-time loser’.
I recently saw another ad for someone else who is also running for the Repub nom for Michigan Governor, who also name-checks trump, spits out MAGA talking points, and has the slogan “let’s take back our state”. I’ve only seen his commercial once, so I don’t remember his name, and I don’t want to do a search for who he is. If and when I see the commercial again I’ll post his name. Apparently he doesn’t have as much ad money to spend as Johnson.
I just don’t get the rabid MAGA trumpism-- yes, the rural areas of Michigan get very trumpy, and Michigan went for trump in 2024, but overall Michigan usually leans blue. And with trump’s approval ratings at an all-time low, and all signs pointing to a big blue wave in November, I would think that Repub politicians would be downplaying association with the trump admin.
I’m guessing that they all have to try to out-trumpify each other to have a chance to win the Repub primary, then whoever gets the Repub nom will pivot for the general Goobernatorial election, downplay their MAGA and trump creds, and hope that on-the-fence voters don’t remember their primary campaign.
Have you been seeing many early campaign ads in your areas, and if so, what are they like-- are the Repub ones as disturbingly over-the-top trumpy as the ones I’m seeing?
The MAGA is strong in Texas. When I was down there I noticed a number of billboards where a Republican candidate would identify himself as a “strong MAGA Conservative”.
Here in my native New York, identifying yourself as a MAGA is not seen as a selling point. We have politicians who are MAGA but they generally stay quiet about it, outside of MAGA events.
I’ve referred to this in a Pit thread, but Kentucky is doing the same thing. Andy Barr, Thomas Massie, Ed Gallrein, and others are trying to ride the Trump train to victory. There have been commercials calling Barr “Amnesty Andy,” saying that he’s supported giving amnesty to undocumented immigrants, with him refuting the allegations.
Massie’s a particularly interesting case. The guy who’s been so instrumental in the Epstein revelations has to tread a line to still get Trump supporters to vote for him. He has ads that start out with, “Look…I support Donald Trump nearly every time.”
The big thing with all these campaigns is the money for campaigns and advertising in state X is no longer coming from in-state donors talking about state X issues.
instead the money is coming from national or (illegal) international sources. And is about filling state legislatures and state governorships with MAGA compliant (read Fascist, not necessarily trump loyalist) stooges. Said another way, the fascist project is much more than just trump-loyalty and trump’s personal grift / graft / aggrandizement.
The fascists are very much planning for the post-trump era. Whether he leaves office by natural death, impeachment, or a “normal” government turnover in 2028.
Likewise for commercials urging “no” votes on Virginia’s redistricting amendment aimed at countering Trump wanting other states to redistrict in favor of Republicans (paraphrasing): “Richmond liberals”, “ignored a court order”, “sanctuary cities putting criminals back on the streets”, etc.
I consider Perry Johnson to be very dangerous. He says he’s going to audit the state government. Guess what, Sherlock? The state already audits its expenses. In my 40 years of working for the state of Michigan, I went through a series of audits. GASB 34 requires such things, yet this knucklehead acts like he discovered gravity and the ill-informed hoi polloi are going to swallow it whole. He says this will be a step toward eliminating state income tax. As if he could discover enough waste to do that and keep essential state services going. If he is elected, we are in deep shit. Fortunately, he looks like a serial killer and his creepy appearance may be enough to keep him from winning. His opponent in the primaries is John James, the great black hope of the GOP who has lost several statewide elections in the past. He’s also worthless, but worthless within normal parameters. While a James governorship would be bad, a Johnson win would be apocalyptic.
Ugh, that makes sense and if true, that’s scary. I was wondering how he could afford so much ad coverage-- either he’s blowing through a lot of his own money or he’s got some deep-pocket backers. National, or worse yet, illegal international MAGA donors might explain that.
100% agree to everything you said here. The really scary thing is, with former Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan running for Governor as an independent, he could draw enough votes away from the Dem candidate (likely current Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson) to ensure the Repub candidate gets in office.
It’s an ongoing right wing delusion. They are compelled to vote for white men. So they project this on to other people and believe that liberals are compelled to vote for blacks or women. And they come up with a trick that they think is clever. They’ll nominate a black right winger or a female right winger. And the liberals will be forced to vote for this candidate because they have to vote for blacks and women! It’s brilliant!
And every time they try this, they re-discover three things:
Just because a plan seems brilliant to right wingers doesn’t mean it’s actually smart.
Liberals don’t feel compelled to vote because of race or gender. Liberals vote for liberal candidates.
Right wingers are compelled to vote because of race or gender. They won’t show up to vote for a Republican candidate who is black or female.
So if John James has a future in politics, it’ll be a cabinet position he gets appointed to by a white man who won the election.
We live in the DC metro so we always get a very specific type of political ad where it’s aimed at the staffers of DC politicians. Unlike regular political ads they are very specific and aimed at people who are clearly working on specific legislation most people have never heard, like “the widget manufacturers of America say don’t include the collateral quasi reciprocal clause in HR1234”
As with all online ads they have turned Maga of late But they have taken a particularly dark turn. They always now have to begin with a 10 second hagiography of Donald Trump, explaining what an incredible job he’s done fulfilling his promises and an (utterly bullshit) explanation of how great the policies are he’s enacted. Before pointing out this one minor tweak congress needs to make to finish the amazing job DJT has done for the American people. It seriously reminds me of a courtier petitioning some absolute monarch in the medieval period. You have to begin with obsequious praise of the monarch before proceeding with whatever political agenda you are trying to promote.
Good Lord, he looks like he should be selling Ronco battery powered can openers on TV ads.
Regarding redistricting, the purpose is to get more districts that will vote for your party, but what is the alleged reason? I think just deviding the state or county geometrically would work, and consider statistics would equalize districts that appear to be unfair due to racial or financial differences.
But they have taken a particularly dark turn. They always now have to begin with a 10 second hagiography of Donald Trump, explaining what an incredible job he’s done fulfilling his promises and an (utterly bullshit) explanation of how great the policies are he’s enacted. Before pointing out this one minor tweak congress needs to make to finish the amazing job DJT has done for the American people. It seriously reminds me of a courtier petitioning some absolute monarch in the medieval period. You have to begin with obsequious praise of the monarch before proceeding with whatever political agenda you are trying to promote.