Detroit’s Largest Newspaper Brutally Shreds Trump Endorsed Candidate In Key Michigan Primary

The Detroit Free Press editorial board endorsed former Rep. Justin Amash (R-MI) on Monday in the GOP primary for Michigan’s open U.S. Senate seat – taking a brutal swipe at former Rep. Mike Rogers (R-MI).

Rogers, who former President Donald Trump has endorsed, is currently leading the field to run in November for a seat that could potentially decide the majority in the Senate.

“Rogers’ transactional approach to politics, his ideological inconsistency and obeisance to former President Donald Trump render him a poor fit for this Senate seat,” wrote the editorial board of Detorit’s largest paper while explaining its decision to endorse Amash. The board added:

For political insiders who’d followed Rogers’ career, it came as no surprise that the former congressman declined to endorse Trump in 2016 or 2020, holding the line when many of his fellow Republicans bowed to the former president’s Svengali-like influence — Rogers is exactly the kind of Republican who should stand up to the forces in his own party seeking to undermine American democracy.

But Rogers performed an abrupt about face earlier this year, granting his imprimatur to the former president after Trump’s efforts to discredit or overturn the results of the 2020 election, a maneuver contingent on disqualifying votes in the state of Michigan, specifically, the city of Detroit; after Trump’s diligent and continual efforts undermined confidence in the American electoral system; after the attempted Jan. 6 insurrection — hardly a profile in courage, and squandering whatever bipartisan bona fides he once claimed.

While the editorial blasted Rogers for his unwillingness to stand on principle, the board made the opposite case for Amash – who has long struck an independent tone in politics, leaving the GOP in 2019 to become an independent. Amash, the first Palestinian-American ever elected to Congress, also leans toward the libertarian wing of the GOP and “describes himself as cynical about politics and politicians, he said he believes in the power of the American voter.”

Michigan’s GOP primary will be held on August 6th and the editorial board notes that Amash has an “uphill climb” to make the election competitive with Rogers, but the paper argues that Amash will both be a better senator for Michigan and a far more competitive general election candidate for the GOP.

Read the full editorial here.