Podcast
A Republic, If You Can Keep It
Hosted by Michigan Citizens for a Better Tomorrow · EN
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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2d ago00:38:03Tap to summarizeOn our political radar this week… In between Oval Office naps, his costly, tacky fixations on the Reflecting Pool on the National mall and his $1-billion NOW TAXPAYER FUNDED ballroom, misogyny toward female reporters, rage posting on Truth Social, his bizarre, constant bragging about his regularly scheduled dementia tests, and stuffing his pockets full of payola from domestic and foreign tycoons and potentates, Donald Trump did Democrats a huge favor – voicing a soon-to-be Democratic campaign commercials in every competitive state and district across the fruited plain proclaiming “I don’t think about Americans’ financial situation, I don’t think about anybody…” © Clay Jones – https://claytoonz.substack.com New polling, paid for by the Greater Detroit Chamber of Commerce, shows the Chamber’s endorsed candidate for Governor with Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson taking the lead. The same poll says it’s a virtual three-way tie for the Democrats’ U.S. Senate nomination. A second poll, paid for by MIRS News, shows Benson’s lead growing to 12 points. The two leading Republican candidates for Governor are engaged in a reprise of the sad GOP song of 4 years ago … problems with nominating petition signatures. But John James and Perry “Quality Guru” Johnson aren’t the only Republicans with unplanned campaign hiccups. First district Congressman Jack Bergman faces a possible ethics violation over extracurricular moneymaking efforts by his congressional staff. And US Senate candidate Mike Rogers has some unseemly ties to child sex predators. In the Macomb County based 10th district, GOP candidate Robert Luljguraj is accused of lying about where he lives on his state paperwork. It all adds up to some interesting times at the State Elections Bureau. In this week’s chapter of Trump’s Perpetual Grifting, it’s looking like the highly promoted but non-existent Trump phone ain’t gonna happen. The 600,000 true believers who put down deposits of $100 seem unlikely to get their money back … but in the meantime, the Huckster Trumps have fleeced $60-million from the rubes. Also new on the Trump Perpetual Grifting beat: – The BBC reports that Trump is selling sponsorships of his oh-so-tacky UFC match at the White House for up to $1.5 million. No word on who gets the money, but it isn’t hard to guess. –The Wall Street Journal revealed that Trump is considering issuing 250 pardons in conjunction with the USA 250 celebration. So far, no pardon prices have been announced. –He’s being sued in Florida for plans to have a for-profit hotel inside his Presidential museum … on land given him by the state that’s worth around $67-million. –Construction of the above-ground portion of his ballroom is underway in direct violation of a court order, and –Preliminary work has begun on his Arch De’ TACO, er Trump … without legally required authorization. Inflation has soared to its highest level in 3 years and shows every sign of climbing higher and higher. Trump’s response, as usual, is to promise that things will get lots better … later. In “about two weeks.” The “good news, bad news”: 81-year-old Rudy Giuliani has recovered from the pneumonia that sent him to the ICU last week, and we’re happy that he’s apparently survived the medical crisis. The bad news: he’s resumed his podcast. A Republic, If You Can Keep It is sponsored in part by
Transcribe →$1,000,000,000 Ballroom
1w ago00:34:31Tap to summarize© Clay Jones – https://claytoonz.substack.com On our political radar this week… The $200-million, privately funded Trump desecration of the White House has morphed into a $1-billion project … with taxpayers picking up the tab. While the White House focused on the ballroom, taking over DC Golf Courses, repainting the reflecting pool, details of the White House UFC fight on July 4, and signage at the newly renamed Donald J. Trump International Airport in West Palm Beach, Michigan Democrats maintained their slim majority in the state Senate with a landslide special election victory in the Saginaw Valley. Chedrick Greene did what Democrats have been doing for a year: outperformed 2024’s numbers by a stunning 20-point margin. In Indiana, Trump’s vengeance … amplified by around $14-million … has purged 5 Republicans from that state’s Senate as penance for daring to defy Trump’s imperial decree: a reminder that Trump’s Republican Party is a cult of servility – or else. The Trump bank account continues to grow, with nepo-grifters Don Jr. and Eric landing a multi-million-dollar contract from Daddy’s Department of Defense. They’ve very quickly become successful entrepreneurs in the military drone business as a supplement to their hawking of worthless meme coins and cashing in on Daddy’s power/name/greed. The Michigan Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the battle over Michigan MAGA House Speaker Matt Hall’s refusal to follow the state constitution when it comes to sending bills passed by the Legislature to the Governor to enact into law has a Supreme Court hearing. The state Senate is the plaintiff and their lead attorney: the honorable Mr. Mark Brewer Esquire. In the race for the Democrats’ U.S. Senate nomination, Haley Stevens picked up two significant endorsements: retired 4-term U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow, and the wife of the man she wants to succeed, Senator Gary Peters (who has said he will not endorse in the primary). All three Democratic Senate candidates are set to participate in a forum on the Pod Save America podcast, scheduled to air May 24. The podcast reaches around 1.5 million listeners … slightly more than this podcast! Republicans are claiming that Jocelyn Benson can’t be trusted to run the November election because her name is on the ballot. One problem with their rhetoric: the elections are run by local clerks and the Board of State Canvassers, not the Secretary of State. Benson doesn’t participate in validating signatures on nominating petitions or certifying the results and has taken the additional step of formally establishing a firewall between her and administration of the election. Not to be outdone in the “ignorance on display sweepstakes”, Trump has called for the impeachment and/or indictment of House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries. Impeaching House members isn’t a thing. It’s one more word salad from the mouth of someone a majority of Americans think is lacking the mental sharpness to do the job. Trump held his first post-Correspondants’ Dinner campaign-style rally … at the friendly turf of The Villages retirement community in central Florida. Speaking to a crowd of supportive retirees, he and his fellow TV celebrity Dr. Phil repeated one of his many lies regarding the horrendous Big Ugly Budget Bill, claiming he had ended taxes on Social Security while standing in front of a backdrop making the same bogus claim. <video – Trump> Spoiler alert: it’s not true. What passed was a three-year, $ 6,000 tax deduction for seniors. It expires at the end of Trump’s term!
Transcribe →Re-Indicted, and It Feels So Good! (guest: Tiffany Muller, End Citizens United)
2w ago00:47:54Tap to summarize© Clay Jones – https://claytoonz.substack.com On our political radar this week… The Trump Retribution Parade continues as his Department of Payback indicts James Comey for posting a picture of sea shells on social media. If that doesn’t work, they could try claiming the 6-foot-8 Comey’s height poses an imminent threat to the safety of the President. New polling from the Detroit Chamber shows “Undecided” remains the leader in Michigan Democrats’ battle for the U.S. Senate nomination. There’s a new controversy in that race, with long-ago Tweets from Mallory McMorrow coming back to haunt her. Among Republicans, John James continues to lead Perry Johnson, Mike Cox, and the rest of the field. The one no-contest race: Jocelyn Benson has a 58-point lead in the race for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination. The US Supreme Court has effectively repealed the last remnants of the Voting Rights Act, setting the stage for a possible new round of partisan gerrymanders. It comes as the last four black Republicans in Congress retire, leaving the GOP with the prospect of no black House members in 2027. The impact goes beyond the U.S. House of Representatives. In Michigan, it effectively eliminates majority-minority as a criterion for Michigan’s Citizens Independent Redistricting Commission when it draws future state legislative district maps – quite possibly before the 2028 elections. The Donald Trump narcissism parade continues to grow. The latest: His snarling mug will now appear on commemorative U.S. passports, although Trump-free passports will continue to be available. And King Charles presented him with the ship’s bell from the World War II submarine HMS Trump. One ominous sign: that ship was sold off and broken up for scrap in August 1971. In response to the war of words over election integrity, Secretary of State Benson has announced that 2.1 million outdated voter registrations have been canceled since 2019 or are in the cancellation process. For the first time ever, this includes over 180,000 dormant registrations of people who haven’t voted in a single election in the last 20 years or longer. Control of the state Senate will be decided Tuesday when voters in Michigan’s 35th Senate District will decide whether Democrat Chedrick Greene or Republican Jason Tunney will represent them for the rest of the year in Lansing. The district includes Bay, Midland and Saginaw counties. The Democrats are heavily favored to win and maintain control of the Senate. The quote of the week comes from The Bulwark’s Tim Miller: We’re in the Fat Elvis era of the Trump presidency. A note on the passing of Senator Don Riegle. First elected to the U.S. House from Flint in 1966, he served 5 terms and then 3 terms in the Senate, where he succeeded the legendary Phil Hart. He was one of the few people ever elected to Congress from both parties, switching from Republican to Democrat in protest of the Vietnam War and the corruption of the Nixon administration. We also lost a friend of this podcast, former Detroit News reporter and later Department of Justice lawyer Jim Mitzelfeld. Jim and his reporting partner Eric Freedman won a Pulitzer Prize for their uncovering of a million-dollar corruption scandal in the state House Fiscal Agency. Jim died of melanoma a day short of his 65th birthday. Joining the conversation this week is President of End Citizens United, Tiffany Muller. Mark and Walt Sorg talked with Tiffany Muller. She simultaneously leads the affiliated groups Let America Vote, and the End Citizens United/Let America Vote Action Fund – organizations dedicated to reversing what many consider one of the worst rulings of the Supreme Court in the last century which opened the floodgates for dark money funding of political campaigns. Since joining ECU, Tiffany has helped grow the group from a start-up to a nationwide organization with more than 4 million members and 1 million grassroots donors.
Transcribe →An Extraordinarily Brilliant Person (Guest: Eli Savit)
3w ago00:35:55Tap to summarize© Clay Jones – https://claytoonz.substack.com On our political radar this week… Donald Trump, possessor of the self-proclaimed “Big Brain,” seems to have fully embraced a bunker mentality: his ever-shifting Iran strategy manages neither to sway Tehran nor steady the global economy, but it does keep everyone guessing. Meanwhile, he’s tied up in court trying to build an actual bunker—allegedly tucked beneath his $400 million gold-plated ballroom—because nothing says “strong leadership” like preparing to retreat in style. Michigan Democrats attracted a record-setting 7,200-plus delegates to their endorsement convention … along with potential presidential candidates Kamala Harris, Corey Booker and Andy Beshear (as well as home field potential candidates Elissa Slotkin and Gretchen Whitmer). Much to the consternation of party leaders, a sizable contingent of young progressives heckled and booed some of the on-stage candidates … a demonstration that brought quick condemnation from state party chair Curtis Hertel on the party’s weekly podcast. Trump’s polling numbers continue to plummet. The latest AP-NORC poll has his approval rating a massive 40 points under water: 30% approval, 70% disapproval. The worst cabinet in generations is getting a huge shakeup with the firing of three of the most incompetent – all of them women. Who’s next? Oh, so many bozos from which to choose. Bar-room buddies Hegseth and/or Patel? Bessent? Brainworm Bobby? Virginia voters narrowly approve a congressional gerrymander that could flip four seats to the benefit of Democrats while Florida struggles to enact what could be the final chapter of the Trump-led gerrymandering quagmire. When it’s all said and done, the GOP plan to reinforce its U.S. House majority may well backfire. Michigan’s top officials agree: the latest Trump-branded election conspiracy tour deserves a hard pass. This comes as federal officials are demanding full access to Wayne County’s 2024 ballots, apparently treating election records like a clearance rack for future grievances. The whole exercise doubles as a rehearsal dinner for the GOP’s next claim that 2024 was “rigged,” a storyline notably unsupported by facts but eagerly workshopped by two-time election loser John James, who is still auditioning his 2020 script blaming Secretary of State Benson—a plotline first piloted by Mike Rogers and apparently too good (or too baseless) to retire. Perry Johnson has taken a page out of the Donald Trump playbook, filing an absolutely absurd lawsuit to get some attention. His target: John James, over a campaign flyer which he claims implies James is already Governor of Michigan. By the way, the latest poll from EPIC-MRA shows that our actual Governor, Gretchen Whitmer, has nearly 100% name identification. The GOP gubernatorial field is down by one. Former state House Speaker Tom Leonard, who was polling in single digits, has dropped out of the race 2 days after filing his nominating petitions. The man who led Trump Airlines into bankruptcy is brokering a deal for the federal government to take partial ownership of the equally prestigious Spirit Airlines … at a cost of a half-billion dollars. Democrats are focusing on gas prices as they challenge Republicans running for reelection to Congress. One target in Michigan: Lansing area Congressman Tom Barrett, who used the price of gas to flip the mid-Michigan district in 2024. He promised back then to get gas prices under control. Meanwhile, a new report from the non-partisan Anderson Economic Group says the ongoing high price of gas is costing a typical family $100 a month. Former Michigan Democratic and Republican party officials are teaming up in an effort to eliminate candidate nominating conventions for top state offices, arguing the practice disenfranchises voters.. The effort is led by former Michigan Democratic Party chair Lon Johnson, and former Republican Executive Director of the Michigan Republican Party Jason Roe. Mark is a former Michigan Democratic Party chair, and Jeff is a former Michigan GOP Executive Director. They offer their perspective on the idea. The battle lines are drawn in Michigan for the November elections as candidates near and far file their petitions, and the state’s Democrats give preliminary approval to their candidates for most statewide offices in an often raucous convention. Joining the podcast this week: the Democrats’ choice for Attorney General, Washtenaw County prosecuting attorney Eli Savit. A native of Ann Arbor, Savit attended Kalamazoo College in western Michigan, where he played four years of college basketball. Following his college graduation, he worked as a public school teacher—teaching both special-education and general-education 8th-grade U.S. history. After graduating from the University of Michigan Law School, Eli worked for two federal judges. He was then selected to clerk on the United States Supreme Court for Justices Sandra Day O’Connor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Prior to his election as Washtenaw County prosecutor in 2020, he served as senior legal counsel for the city of Detroit. As prosecutor, Eli has established dedicated special-victims and domestic violence units, led the successful investigation and prosecution of multiple “cold-case” rape cases, launched multiple successful programs that allow people dealing with behavioral health and substance-use issues to obtain rehabilitative services— while avoiding a criminal conviction, and established Washtenaw County’s first-ever conviction integrity and expungement unit, which remedies wrongful convictions and provides legally eligible residents free assistance in clearing old criminal records. Thank you for your attention to this matter. <a href="https://claytoonz.substack.com" target="_blank...
Transcribe →JD’s Very Bad Week
Apr 1700:35:28Tap to summarizeThe Trump Economy On our political radar this week… J.D. Vance went 0-for-2 on his European trip. Victor Orban, campaigning with Vance at his side, got dumped as President of Hungary…despite ringing endorsements from Donald Trump and his BFF Vladimir Putin. Then Vance led negotiations with Iran over ending Trump’s Middle East War and struck out, calling it quits after all of one day of talks. Facing multiple allegations of sexual improprieties, Eric Swalwell has resigned from Congress and pulled out of the California gubernatorial race while denying the accusations. There was bipartisan condemnation of Swalwell’s behavior but, when asked if the same standard should be applied to pussy-grabbing Donald Trump, Republicans suddenly had a problem answering. Also resigning in disgrace: Texas Republican Tony Gonzalez, like Swalwell facing allegations of sexual misconduct against him. Republicans are worried that a special election to replace him could result in a Democratic flip thanks, in part, to the new GOP gerrymander of the state. The Trump politicizing of the Justice Department continues. Two federal civil rights prosecutors in Detroit who secured convictions against a group of Christian protestors accused of blocking access to abortion clinics were fired as part of a Trump administration crackdown on what it says were politically motivated cases under former President Joe Biden. Donald Trump is redirecting his demented rage at Pope Leo, who had the temerity to note that Jesus wasn’t a fan of war or genocide. All that’s been missing so far: Trump calling the Pope “Low IQ”. And then, there’s that AI image of “Dr. Jesus of Palm Beach” which was quickly deleted from Trump’s Truth Social account. The field is effectively set for Michigan’s U.S. Senate race. On the Democratic side, Haley Stevens, Mallory McMorrow and Abdul El Sayed each submitted their nominating petitions to the Elections Bureau in the last few days. Republican Mike Rogers’ campaign says he has his petitions ready to go and will file shortly. All four candidates are submitting around 30,000 signatures, the maximum allowed under state law. John James has joined with all the Republican candidates for Governor making a campaign promise they can’t keep: repealing the state income tax. The repeal would basically eliminate the entire General Fund budget. Since Michigan has a flat-rate tax, the biggest winners with repeal would be the state’s wealthiest taxpayers. Attorney General Dana Nessel has blasted on one of the many offsets that’s raising your cost of living: utility rates run amuck. She joined with other Democratic and community leaders to deride the state’s Public Service Commission for rolling over on behalf of the state’s two major utilities. Michigan Democrats are holding their candidate endorsement convention this weekend. The events can be seen as a prelude to the 2028 national campaign with potential presidential candidates Kamala Harris, Andy Beshear and Cory Booker all doing some speechifying in the Motor City. The Dems are focusing on growing inflation brought about by Donald Trump’s Mideast War, and his obsession with tariffs. Congresswoman Debbie Dingell led a news conference addressing the most fundamental “kitchen table” issue: the cost of living, noting that tax cuts in the Republicans’ Big Beautiful Bill are more than offset by the cost of groceries, gasoline, electricity and healthcare. It’s a mantra we’ll hear a lot between now and November. Thank you for your attention to this matter. We’re now on YouTube every week! Click here to subscribe. A Republic, If You Can Keep It is sponsored by <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-2960 size-large" src="https://a-republic-if-you-can-keep-it.blubrry.net/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Tacos-500x250.jpeg" alt="" width="500" height="250" srcset="https://a-republic-if-you-can-keep-it.blubrry.net/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Tacos-500x250.jpeg 500w, https://a-republic-if-you-can-keep-it.blubrry.net/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Tacos-300x150.jpeg 300w, https://a-republic-if-you-can-keep-it.blubrry.net/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Tacos-768x384.jpeg 768w, https://a-republic-if-you-can-keep-it.blubrry.net/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Tacos-1536x768.jpeg 1536w, https://a-republic-if-you-can-keep-it.blubrry.net/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Tacos-2048x1024.jpeg 2048w, https://a-republic-if-you-can-keep-it.blubrry.net/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Tacos-800x400.jpeg 800w" sizes="auto, (max-width: ...
Transcribe →Another TACO Tuesday (Guest: Representative Ranjeev Puri)
Apr 1000:54:16Tap to summarizeOn our political radar this week… Pam Bondi joins Meat Loaf, Joan Rivers, Dennis Rodman, Sinbad, Dionne Warwick, Andrew Dice Clay, Omarosa … and Kristi Noem: “You’re fired!” VIDEO: Bye Bye Bondi (A Tribute) Senator Elissa Slotkin – speaking in Iowa – confirms what we’ve been saying for weeks: she’s open to running for President. Two more special elections this week, two more sharp turns to Democrats: –In Wisconsin, liberal candidate Chris Taylor cruised to an easy victory over her conservative opponent in the state Supreme Court race with 60 percent of the vote, expanding the liberal majority on the court to 5-2. – Georgia, Democrat Shawn Harris lost by about 12 percentage points in the race to replace Marjorie Taylor Green, but he shifted the district 25 points to the left. Trump won the district by 37 percentage points in 2024. A national Republican group said Monday it’s dumping $45 million into Michigan’s open U.S. Senate race as an initial investment to help presumptive GOP nominee Mike Rogers flip the seat from Democratic control. The operative word is “initial”, meaning even more millions will flow into Michigan Republican sources. Trump is calling on Congress to give Pete Hegseth a staggering $1.7-trillion dollars over the next year. To fund it, Trump wants to cut virtually every other federal program including a 23% cut for NASA even as four astronauts take a first-ever-for-humans trip to the far side of the moon. One item calling for a major increase: White House repairs and renovations. Trump wants to spend 377-million dollars on fixing up the place, an 860 percent increase. Two more major league grifts from Trump: –The Justice Department has settled for roughly $1.2 million a lawsuit from Michael Flynn, the former national security adviser to President Donald Trump who pleaded guilty during Trump’s first term to lying to the FBI about his conversations with a top Russian diplomat and was later pardoned. Bottom line: if Trump likes you, taxpayers will pay you to lie to the FBI. –Semafor is reporting that Trump has directed the State Department to send $1.25 billion – without any Congressional appropriation or authorization to do so – to Trump’s Board of Peace. The transfer effectively places the money directly in the hands of Trump, the board’s chairman. Trump and the board’s executives control funding for the Board of Peace — and Trump selects the executive board — and the president will continue to do so even after his second term ends in January 2029. In the race for Governor – John James is ducking still another candidate debate, this one set for the end of the month in vote-rich Oakland County. James has seen his once overwhelming lead for the GOP gubernatorial nomination shrink as septuagenarian Perry “Quality Guru” Johnson dumps millions into an effort to spend his way into office. Governor Whitmer says she will not endorse a candidate for U.S. Senate or Secretary of State. She earlier ruled out an endorsement in the race for the gubernatorial nomination. It’s pretty easy for Democrats to be critics of Donald Trump, his policies and his corruption. More important to most people is answering the question: “so what are you going to do?” State House Democrats have answered, releasing their Vision for a Brighter Michigan. We’re joined by House Democratic Leader Ranjeev Puri who led development of the plan. The son of Indian immigrants, Leader Puri made history in 2020 as the first person of color to represent his Canton Michigan district and the first Sikh-American in Michigan’s legislative history. In his second term he served as majority whip, making him the highest-ranking South Asian in state government nationwide. Remarkably, he is one of two first-generation Indian-Americans in top legislative leadership: Senate Majority Floor Leader Sam Singh is also the son of Indian immigrants. Leader Puri’s leadership has earned national recognition, including being named to the Council of State Government’s “20 Under 40” Leadership Award Class of 2023 and receiving the MIRS Legislator of the Year Award in 2024.His leadership has earned national recognition, including being named to the Council of State Government’s “20 Under 40” Leadership Award Class of 2023 and receiving the MIRS Legislator of the Year Award in 2024. (Jeff) First question! A personal note from producer/co-host Walt Sorg April is Michigan Donate Life month, a recognition of the state’s organ donation program. Four years ago I was the recipient of a donated kidney. It changed my life … and probably saved my life. A part of you can live on after death through the simple act of saying “yes, I want to pay it forward.” And you ca...
Transcribe →It’s Not a War … It just looks like one (Guest: Jack Ebling)
Apr 201:00:50Tap to summarizeOn our political radar this week… Michigan Republicans have turned their backs on the craziest of the MAGA crazies with hopes of at least one upset in November. But the leader in their race for Governor had a bad weekend. John James had some of the delegates booing him as he was introduced for his speech … much to the delight of septuagenarian perpetual candidate Perry Johnson. Volunteers manning a Rank MI Vote booth at the Michigan Republican Party’s endorsement convention this past weekend were asked to leave by party leaders and security after Rep. MAGA Matt Maddock told them their presence wasn’t welcome…and called them Communists. Rank MI Vote volunteers said they had paid the party for a booth under the name of the ballot question seeking to establish a ranked voting system in the state and wanted to talk with people who are politically active about their objective. The Michigan Court of Appeals which ruled that 37 absentee ballots for Mayor of Hamtramck should be counted … in an election that was otherwise decided by 11 votes. National Democrats have targeted two Michigan Republicans in Congress for retirement. “House Majority Forward” is running ads on the TSA mess at airports – pointing out that Bill Huizenga and Tom Barrett blocked legislation paying TSA agents … even though the bill they opposed was unanimously approved by the Senate. A new tabulation from the Huffington Post shows Donald Trump’s nearly weekly golf trips to Florida have cost taxpayers $100-million in the last year. He is on track to hit nearly one-third of a billion dollars by the end of his term. The latest in the Trump ego-massage campaign: Trump shared the first images of his planned presidential library in downtown Miami, posting a short video that depicts a skyscraper which appears to be about 50 stories tall and filled with reconstructions of parts of the White House, military vehicles and at least two gold statues of Trump. Also included in plans for the gaudy Miami high rise: a hotel, golden escalators, gold doo-dads everywhere, displays attacking Barack Obama and Joe Biden, and the Boeing 747 given to Trump by the oil sheiks of Qatar. Probably missing from the high-rise library: books … and any mentions of Jeffrey Epstein. Another Trump stroking comes by way of Florida. Travelers in Palm Beach soon will be able to drive down President Donald J. Trump Boulevard to catch a flight at President Donald J. Trump International Airport, all in the shadow of nearby Mar-a-Lago, owned by President Donald J. Trump. Trump had a hat-trick of losses in court over the last week: construction on his half-billion-dollar ballroom has been paused, with the judge saying it needed congressional approval, another judge ruled the defunding of NPR and PBS was unconstitutional, and still another judge ruled that presidential immunity did not shield Trump from lawsuits growing out of the January 6 insurrection. And the Supreme Court seems poised to reject Trump’s abolishing of birthright citizenship. Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson calls bullshit on the latest Trump executive order which turns control of elections to the Post Office, Department of Justice and Homeland Security. Her immediate reaction: “States run elections, not the president. This executive order is illegal on its face.” Expect to hear from Dana Nessel and other Democratic state attorneys general about a lawsuit in the near future. There’s seemingly no end to politics in our lives. It has even infiltrated sports. As we approach this weekend’s Final Four in men’s basketball, we take a deep dive into the intersection of Sports, Politics and Money with three-time Michigan Sportscaster of the Year Jack Ebling. He has covered college sports dating back to the days when Jim Harbaugh was the University of Michigan’s quarterback and Earvin Johnson was a magical MSU freshman. Unlike ESPN’s Stephen Smith, Jack’s take on political issues actually make sense … and he doesn’t start screaming to make his point! A two-time graduate of MSU, the former English teacher and coach spent nearly a quarter-century as a beat writer and columnist for the Lansing State Journal and won 21 major writing awards before entering broadcasting in 2002. In addition to the sportswriting honors, Jack was named 2017 Michigan Broadcaster of the Year and was a 2006 inductee into the Greater Lansing Area Sports Hall of Fame. He has received 21 major state and national writing awards, authored or co-authored eight books and contributed more than 125 articles for national publications. He has hosted sports and news talk radio shows for nearly a quarter-century, including The Drive with Jack Ebling. Every Sunday evening since 2013, he has hosted Press Pass with Jack Ebling on FOX 47 in Lansing, the state’s longest-running hour-long, year-long sports TV show. We’re now on YouTube every week! Click here to subscribe. A Republic, If You Can Keep It is sponsored by <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="wp-image-2930 size-large...
Transcribe →Every Day is TACO Day (Guest: Todd Spangler – Detroit Free Press)
Mar 2600:44:58Tap to summarizei On our political radar this week… As Donald Trump’s polling numbers continue to plummet to record-setting lows, he’s constantly shifting positions on Iran, NATO, DHS funding and ICE messaging on a daily basis. About the only constants: his efforts to shift the blame for everything bad to Biden and Obama, and his preoccupation with his $400-million ballroom, and figuring out ways to add more to the $4-billion his family has gobbled up in the last year. Attorney General Dana Nessel is fighting efforts by ICE to convert a Romulus warehouse into a Trump Immigration Prison which would lock up as many as 500 men, women and children. The warehouse would give ICE close access to Metro Airport, but it’s also adjacent to a residential neighborhood, near both a middle school and high school, and in a flood plain. The drive to reverse changes the state Legislature made last year to Michigan’s tipped and minimum wage laws is on hold. One Fair Wage had sought to collect enough signatures to place a referendum vote on the November ballot, but was unable to meet their signature goals. Instead, the group said, it planned to throw its efforts behind a separate ballot initiative seeking to limit certain political contributions. The Democratic race for U.S. Senate has a battle of the polls this week. A new internal poll from state Senator Mallory McMorrow’s campaign shows her leapfrogging Rep. Haley Stevens, who’s now trailing the field in third place behind Abdul El-Sayed in the closely watched Senate Democratic primary. Her poll by Global Strategy Group has McMorrow leading the field with 30 percent, followed by El-Sayed at 25 percent and Stevens at 23 percent, with 21 percent undecided. The same survey showed McMorrow in second place and trailing Stevens by six points last June. A poll from the Stevens campaign shows the race as a statistical three way tie: Stevens 28, El Sayed 26, McMorrow 25 – well within the poll’s 3.5% margin of error. McMorrow is the first statewide candidate to announce she has the signatures to get on the ballot. Her campaign says she will file 30,000 signatures, the maximum allowed under state law, to qualify her for the August primary. The signatures were all gathered by volunteers. Nearly all statewide campaigns typically use paid circulators. We are recording two days before state Republicans gather in Novi to endorse candidates for statewide offices other than Governor and Lt. Governor. There’s new drama in the battle for Secretary of State. The sister of contender Amanda Love publicly alleged her family member was a “truly evil person.”Adora Orlowski says her sister would do “anything to anyone to gain power and control.” She accused Love of never having a real job and lacking the experience to serve as Michigan’s secretary of state.” Break out the popcorn! A majority of Michigan voters believe the country is generally going in the wrong direction. 58% say things have gotten pretty seriously off on the wrong, and 33% say the country is headed in the right direction. Only 63% of Republicans polled were happy with the country’s direction. The poll was commissioned by the Republican-leaning Marketing Resource Group. Donald Trump is now represented in Florida’s Legislature by a Democrat. Emily Gregory scored a major upset on Tuesday, flipping the legislative district that includes Trump’s waterfront grifting headquarters at Mar-a-Lago. Gregory, a first-time candidate who runs a fitness business serving pregnant and postpartum women, defeated her Republican opponent by a 51-49 margin to win the 87th House District in Palm Beach County. Trump, who says mail-in voting is cheating, voted in the election … by mail. Melania and Barron also mailed in their votes. Florida Democrats flipped a second legislative seat. Navy veteran and union official Brian Nathan flipped a Tampa-based state Senate seat that became vacant after Governor Ron DeSantis tapped its previous occupant to serve as his lieutenant governor. Congratulations to Trump as winner of the brand new America FIrst Award, bestowed on him by U.S. House Republicans. This latest in a string of newly created awards gives the attention-craving Trump still another big, beautiful gold doo-dad to put right next to the first-ever FIFA Peace Prize, the first-ever “Undisputed Champion of Beautiful Clean Coal” award, multiple golf championship trophies he awarded to himself, and his second-hand Nobel Peace Prize. As a topper, Trump’s hand-picked Federal Arts Commission has approved putting Trump’s mug on a commemorative 24-karat gold coin as part of the 250th anniversary celebration despite a law prohibiting putting a living President on U.S. coins. The New Yorker reports that year one of the Trump presidency has increased his family’s wealth by a staggering $4-billion. And that doesn’t even count the tens-of-millions taxpayers have spent to pay for Trump’s every week golf trips to Florida. Joining the conversation is veteran Detroit Free Press reporter Todd Spangler. Todd Spangler has been with the Free Press since 2003, previously as metro editor in Detroit (among other gigs) and since 2007 as Washington correspondent. In that job, he covers the presidency, Congress, politics and federal policy, a panoply which, admittedly, often makes him scratch his head in wonderment (if not outright confusion). Before joining the Free Press he managed the AP’s Pittsburgh bureau for 4 years. Away from work, Todd runs, hikes, bikes, cooks and listens to jazz. And when he’s back in Detroit he can be found, at least one night of the trip, at Lafayette Coney. Todd is a graduate of West Virginia University where he majored in journalism. <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="wp-image-2739 size-medium" src="https://a-republic-if-you-can-keep-it.blubrry.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/YouTube-logo-300x81.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="81" srcset="https://a-republic-if-you-can-keep-it.blubrry.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/YouTube-logo-300x81.jpg 300w, https://a-republic-if-you-can-keep-it.blubrry.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/YouTube-logo-500x134.jpg 500w, https://a-republic-if-you-can-keep-it.blubrry.net/wp-con...
Transcribe →March Madness (Guest: Lauren Gibbons/Bridge Michigan)
Mar 2000:45:25Tap to summarizeiIt’s not just college basketball Madness – the bracket busters extend into the halls of Congress where two of Donald Trump’s legion of incompetents got busted over the administration’s war on Iran … and on the American people. Michigan’s two Senators took part in the Homeland Security Committee’s grilling of onetime MMA fighter and plumber Markwayne Mullin who is set to inherit Kristi Noem’s office … presumably minus any romancing with Corey Lewandowski. Elissa Slotkin tried to get a commitment that ICE agents won’t be showing up at voting precincts in November … with a response that wasn’t exactly reassuring. Gary Peters reminded Mullin that it’s Republicans who are voting against getting paychecks for TSA employees at airports. Peters re-emphasized what he said on last week’s episode of this podcast about the growing mess at airports. Also on our poli-radar this week The Trump grift-and-grab family found another opportunity for personal enrichment. Jared Kushner, the not-a-government-employee who is taking the lead on Middle East negotiations, is simultaneously soliciting $5-billion from Middle East potentates in the form of investments in the Kushner wealth management company. In Michigan, state House Speaker MAGA Matt Hall is taking a page out of the Donald Trump Ego-Massage Manual, bragging about winning an apparently fictitious award for government transparency. The problem with the organization honoring Hall? It apparently doesn’t exist. State Democrats responded by offering Hall with the equally bogus SAD Award, or Speaker’s Asinine Decision Award. Oakland County hosted Vice President James Donald Bowman – or is it James David Hamel? Or is he sticking with J.D. Vance? Whatever he calls himself, the self-proclaimed Appalachian Hillbilly checked in to tell Michiganders “don’t believe your eyes and ears: the economy is really just peachy.” The Jeff Epstein web of debauchery threatens to tarnish Michigan’s famed Interlochen Center for the Arts, with state Democrats calling for an investigation into what they described as disturbing connections between Epstein, his associate Ghislaine Maxwell and the northern Michigan arts institution. Donald Trump says a former living President privately supported the Middle East War and wishes he had done it, with all four former living Presidents denying that they’ve even talked with Trump about the war. But … we haven’t heard denials yet from President Jeb Bartlet or President Frank Underwood, or the ghost of the late great Abraham Lincoln. Michigan is a national political center of attention. Governor, U.S. Senator, Secretary of State, Attorney General, the entire congressional delegation and the entire legislature are all on the ballot in November. Covering all of this is Bridge Michigan’s outstanding political reporter Lauren Gibbons. Lauren covers state politics and policy for Bridge Michigan. Prior to joining Bridge’s Capitol team, she worked at MLive, where she led coverage of the state Legislature and the redistricting process, and before that covered the state Senate for MIRS News. She has covered the ins and outs of Michigan politics for nearly a decade and has won awards both for her political coverage and her work documenting the Larry Nassar sexual abuse case. Lauren grew up in the Lansing area and graduated from Michigan State University, majoring in journalism and history. She lives in Ferndale, and her party tricks include Irish dancing and telling friends what political districts they live in without looking. We’re now on YouTube every week! Click here to subscribe. A Republic, If You Can Keep It is sponsored by © Clay Jones — https://claytoonz.substack.com  
Transcribe →A Little Excursion
Mar 1400:52:05Tap to summarizei On our radar this week… © Clay Jones – claytoonz.substack.com In the last week, the list of Donald Trump’s broken campaign promises was seemingly endless: beginning with starting a Middle East War and increasing gas prices to go up 60-cents-a-gallon (with the prospect of Four Dollar per gallons looming … maybe even more). The “I will end inflation” guy is now looking at inflation headed in the wrong direction. The man who promised to create manufacturing jobs has given way to the reality of manufacturing job losses. Promises of draining the swamp have taken a multi-billion-dollar detour into the Trump family bank accounts. The long-ago pledge to balance the budget and pay off the national debt have been transformed into record-setting deficits in order to cut taxes for the yachts-and-private-jets crowd. And the promise to release the Epstein Files … well, we all know how that’s going. Also this week: We have the tenth special election flip from Republican to Democrat – this time in New Hampshire … as the Trump Train Wreck barrels down the tracks with his polling numbers hitting a new all-time low. His latest political Hail Mary is the SAVE Act which would take away the right to vote from untold hundreds-of-thousands. But his demands are falling on deaf ears on Capitol Hill, with Senate Majority Leader John Thune telling him it ain’t gonna happen. The Trump family has, of course, figured out how to make money from the war. Sonny and Fredo, a.k.a. Don Jr. and Eric, are backing a new drone company that is vying to meet fresh demand from the Pentagon and fill a hole left by the administration’s ban on new Chinese drones in the U.S. Clay Jones – claytoonz.substack.com Trump says the U.S. won the war in the first hour. But they still managed to spend 11-billion dollars after we supposedly had won…and the bombing continues. It looks like the Gordie Howe Bridge will be putting the Maroun Family into the penalty box. Tolls to cross the not-yet-open bridge will be less than half the fees at the competing Ambassador Bridge for both passenger vehicles and commercial trucks, setting in motion a forthcoming toll war between the two Detroit River crossings. Michigan Democrats are using the Bridge controversy to highlight the financial ties between the Maroun family and GOP Senate candidate Mike Rogers. In Michigan, Republican candidates for Governor are all calling for pretty much closing most of state government by repealing the income tax, property taxes, or both. Apparently they think things like State Police, prisons, public health, public parks, food safety inspections, mental health and our universities can all be funded with the sales tax, sin taxes, unclaimed bottle deposits, the lottery and the tooth fairy.The state Senate has passed bipartisan legislation to help people deal with medical debt. But its fate is uncertain in the House, where Speaker Matt Hall has very different ideas for addressing medical debt through more transparency in pricing. Petitions have been filed with the state to force a vote in November on a deceptive proposal which, on its face, prohibits non-citizens from voting in Michigan … something that is already a part of state law. Left unstated by the backers are the proposal’s impact on voting rights. A longtime chronicler of state government has taken a look behind the proposal of “Americans for Citizens Only Voting.” John Lindstrom has covered state government over the last four decades. Since retiring as publisher of the highly regarded Gongwer Michigan report, he’s been a columnist for the Detroit Free Press. John is the newest inductee into the Michigan Journalism Hall of Fame – the ceremony formalizing his induction is a month from now in East Lansing. We’re now on YouTube every week! Click here to subscribe. A Republic, If You Can Keep It is sponsored by <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="wp-image-2892 size-large" src="https://a-republic-if-you-can-keep-it.blubrry.net/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/Iran-Diversion-©Clay-Jonesclaytoonz.com_-500x377.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="377" srcset="https://a-republic-if-you-can-keep-it.blubrry.net/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/Iran-Diversion-©Clay-Jonesclaytoonz.com_-500x377.j...
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