Per the NY Times. A Republican group dedicated to opposing former President Donald J. Trump is planning to spend $50 million to stop him through a series of homemade testimonial videos of voters who backed him in past elections but say they can no longer support him in 2024.
The group, Republican Voters Against Trump, first emerged in the 2020 campaign and made a return appearance for the 2022 midterm elections. It is run by Sarah Longwell, a leading figure in Never-Trump politics whose focus groups and polling are a staple of center-right podcasts and have made her a go-to figure for political reporters aiming to decipher the motivations behind Trump support.
… Ms. Longwell’s group focuses solely on attacking Mr. Trump through the voices of his former backers. The Republican Voters Against Trump website features 100 videos, from one to three minutes long, of Republicans speaking to a computer or mobile-phone camera about why they voted for Mr. Trump in 2016 or 2020 and will not do so in 2024.
The personal testimonial style, Ms. Longwell said, has proved far more successful in her focus groups at cleaving Trump voters away from him than traditional attack advertising that contrasts Mr. Trump with Mr. Biden.
I wish them well. Our democracy is at stake.
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More on the rescue of Mitch Albom and his associates from Haiti. Per the Detroit Free Press, Mitch Albom was among a group of 10 people, eight from Michigan, rescued Tuesday from Port-au-Prince, Haiti, where lawlessness has created havoc in the country, shutting down its international airport.
The longtime Free Press columnist communicated with the newspaper late Tuesday afternoon, confirming that he has left the country and is on the way home.
“Well, we‘re pretty grimy and exhausted, but after two days of coordinated efforts, a group of us from the Have Faith Haiti Orphanage, including my wife and myself, were evacuated in the middle of the night from a site in Haiti (not our orphanage),” Albom said in a statement Tuesday night.
The rescue effort was arranged by, in part, U.S. Rep. Lisa McClain, R-Bruce Township, who connected with Albom via phone over the weekend after one of McClain’s constituents called her “extremely distraught” about the fact that Albom and nine others were stranded in Haiti.
“It was a helicopter effort and was pretty crazy. I want to thank Cory Mills and Lisa McClain, who were instrumental in making this happen as an independent effort. We were lucky to get out,” Albom said.
Earlier this month, Albom went to Haiti to visit the Have Faith Haiti Mission and Orphanage that he has run since months after a devastating 2010 earthquake ravaged the country’s infrastructure and killed at least 100,000. Early in Albom’s visit, the Haitian government declared a state of emergency after there were two mass prison breaks in a county that already has large-scale safety and security problems.
The link below provides an interview with Albom while he was in the air returning to safety.
A special Orchid of the Day to House of Representative members Cory Mills, Florida Republican and Lisa McClain, Michigan Republican for making this happen.
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In response to my post on Monday about how AG Nessel refused the FOIA request of Gongwer News Service for communications between two leaders of the failed prosecution of the Flint Water Crisis, I received the following comment from a long-time subscriber of my blog who spent his entire career in the newspaper business. It is my Quote of the Day.
Michigan refuses to obey the open meetings act that 48 states adhere to. What do the Democratic and Republican parties have to hide? Discussions of the General Assembly, Governor and other state government offices are “out of bounds” for the public. Michigan Press Association every year gets some legislators on board, but nothing happens. Without the public knowing the inner discussions of Michigan government, the people are living in a third world country.
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Michigan’s men’s basketball season will most likely mercifully end tonight as they play Penn State in the first round of the B1G tournament. The team which started the season 3-0 and looked like a possible surprise in the B1G, bottomed out quickly. The result is the most losses in a season for a Michigan men’s team.
Juwan Howard’s job is clearly in jeopardy. After a successful first three years, they have failed to make the NCAA tournament the last two years. This year there will be no post season tournament of any kind. The program is going backwards. It is like how the football team was in 2020 when they finished 2-4 and cancelled their match against OSU.
U of M Athletic Director, Warde Manual stuck by coach Harbaugh following the season, but he significantly reduced Harbaugh’s base pay and added performance incentives. The strategy worked. Whether Manual applies this same strategy to Howard is anyone’s guess.
I just want the basketball program to become a team that regularly competes for the B1G title and makes a good run in the NCAA tournament every year. There is no reason that should not be happening on a consistent basis. We will find out more later this week.
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This is my last blog this week. Leah and I will be going to the Fisher Theater to see To Kill a Mockingbird so we will be traveling on Thursday and Friday.
Feel free to share my blog. To receive it in an email, please see the subscribe button below the Video of the Day.
Quote of the Day: See the above story.
Orchid of the Day: Representatives Lisa McClain and Cory Mills. See the above story on their role in the rescue of Mitch Albom and others in Haiti.
Onion of the Day: The Detroit Redwings. Two weeks ago, they were sitting in the catbird seat as far as making the playoffs for the first time in seven years. After a 6-game losing streak, the playoffs are once again in jeopardy.
Question of the Day: Will the Red Wings make the playoffs in spite of their 6-game losing streak?
Video of the Day: “We are the World” as you have never seen or heard before. Enjoy. Thank you, Dan Jeffrey, for sharing this with me.