This is an adapted excerpt from the Aug. 26 episode of “The Rachel Maddow Show.”
In a presidential election year, all eyes, understandably, are often on the two major-party presidential campaigns. But in an election year like this, with just two months to go until the big day, may I also suggest that you do not sleep on what is happening in the states — because sometimes what’s happening in the states seems like it can’t possibly actually be happening.
Take what happened this past weekend in Michigan. On Saturday, former Michigan Republican Party chair Kristina Karamo was escorted out of the state GOP convention by police.
As The Detroit News reports:
[Karamo] showed up on the convention floor at about 11 a.m., but the party said she wasn’t a registered delegate from her home county of Oakland. She was surrounded by her supporters with security officials attempting to talk to her…Eventually, two police officers with badges walked Karamo off the floor — amid shoving between a security guard and one of the people with Karamo.
Karamo was elected in 2023 and removed in January of this year. However, she refused to go. In February, a court ruled that she had been removed in accordance with party bylaws, but, as of this summer, she was still trying to get courts to reinstate her as Michigan party chairman.
Did I mention that this is one of the most important states in the country for the presidential race?
We pay so much attention to how the two parties’ presidential campaigns compete against each other in various swing state polls, but it’s also worth noticing when things are absolutely bananas with one of the parties in those states.
Not long after the Michigan Republican Party went to war with itself, a version of the same thing happened in Florida. Right after Michigan threw out their state Republican Party chair, Florida fired theirs too — following news reports that he was being investigated by police for allegations of rape. Police also said they were investigating Christian Ziegler for video voyeurism charges for allegedly illegally recording a sexual encounter without consent. They later cleared Ziegler of charges in both investigations.
Then, right on the heels of that, Republicans in Arizona lost their state party chair after GOP Senate candidate Kari Lake released secretly recorded tapes of Jeff DeWit in which she said he was trying to bribe her. She also reportedly threatened to release more tapes of him.
Then the national Republican Party lost its chair. Ronna McDaniel was pushed out — or resigned — apparently to make room for Donald Trump’s daughter-in-law. Lara Trump’s experience for the job included … being a singer. Additionally, she’s married to one of Trump’s sons — the blonde one. So that seems like a totally legit, noncontroversial, meritocratic choice for the leadership of the national Republican Party.
This has all happened this year, in 2024: Michigan, Florida, Arizona and the national Republican Party all lost their leadership under embarrassing, if not terrible, circumstances, all in an election year.
Now it’s happened again, this time in Colorado.
On Saturday, Colorado Republican Party members met to vote out the state chairman, Dave Williams, who they said was destroying the party. Williams is now refusing to recognize the validity of the vote to remove him — because of course. He called the meeting on Saturday “illegitimate.”
This has all happened this year, in 2024: Michigan, Florida, Arizona, and the national Republican Party, all lost their leadership under embarrassing, if not terrible, circumstances.
As of Sunday, the day after they voted to fire him, Williams at least still had custody of the Colorado Republican Party letterhead, on which he released a statement that said his firing was a sham and he was still in charge.
So you have one person who says she’s still the chair of the Republican Party in Michigan, who was escorted out of the state convention by cops this weekend, while fists flew. And you have another person, who says he’s still the chair of the Republican Party in Colorado, even after he was voted out by other Republicans.
Doesn’t it seem like a great idea to put these folks in charge of the whole country?
Join Rachel Maddow and many others on Saturday, Sept. 7, in Brooklyn, New York, for “MSNBC Live: Democracy 2024,” a first-of-its-kind live event. You’ll get to see your favorite hosts in person and hear thought-provoking conversations about what matters most in the final weeks of an unprecedented election cycle. Buy tickets here.
