The WØRD — “Freedom”
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President Biden’s reelection campaign is officially underway. President Biden has been the most effective president in decades. He has delivered for Michiganders and people all across the nation, and we at the Michigan Democratic Party are ready and excited to tell the success story of this administration to voters across our state.
From creating hundreds of thousands of manufacturing jobs, to investing billions of dollars in Michigan infrastructure, to shepherding through common sense gun safety legislation, and bringing America to the other side of a global pandemic, President Biden has delivered time and time again.
I look forward to putting the President’s extensive record next to any and every MAGA challenger that throws their hat in the ring. I think we all know how that will turn out. And I’m especially proud that Gretchen Whitmer is the only Governor among the President’s 7 campaign co-chairs. That appointment shows the President’s tremendous respect for Governor Whitmer, and emphasizes the importance of Michigan to the reelection effort.
The forward-focused campaign of the President stands in stark contrast to this week in Republican politics, both nationally and within our state. While the President and Governor talk about continuing to rebuild our manufacturing economy, record-setting job creation, fighting to preserve our democratic system from GOP attacks, and fighting to stop GOP attacks on our individual freedoms, Republicans are in courtrooms at the defendants’ tables.
In Michigan, a former Republican Speaker of the House pleaded guilty to federal bribery charges with the prospect of the scandal ensnaring more prominent Republicans.
The Detroit News reported that a secret Oakland County grand jury is investigating prominent Republicans, including their 2022 Attorney General nominee, for felony election machine tampering. There’s a separate investigation into the fake presidential electors scheme, which includes the former co-chair of the state Republican Party.
Nationally, former President Trump is in two courtrooms: defending himself from criminal charges for lying in business filings AND is defending himself in a civil suit growing out of an alleged rape. In addition, the prosecuting attorney in Atlanta strongly hints that Trump faces indictment in Georgia this summer; and the federal special counsel appears close to filing criminal charges growing out of both the Mar A Lago documents coverup AND the January 6 insurrection.
Nationally there’s been a spike in hate crimes, fueled no doubt by divisive rhetoric from the right and Trump’s violent rhetoric dating back to even before his first White House campaign. The tally has reached the highest level since the government began tracking the crimes in the early 1990s
Joining us on the podcast this week: a Michigan Democrat who is taking on the growing spectre of hate crimes, Representative Noah Arbit.
Stories We’re Following This Week
Freedom
- Woodward Avenue synagogue faces anti-Semitic graffiti – Detroit Free Press
- Reps. Noah Arbit, Kristian Grant, Ranjeev Puri Introduce Landmark Hate Crime Reform Legislation – housedems.com
- Proposal would add sexual orientation to Michigan hate crime laws – Lansing State Journal
- Advocates push for reform in sexual assault cases – WILX TV
- New Michigan bills could give sexual abuse survivors more time to sue – Bridge Michigan
- Kalamazoo YWCA seeks tax dollars to support gender affirming, abortion care – Bridge Michigan
- Nessel, sheriff, clash over enforcement of red flag law – WLNS 6 News
- Black voting rights under threat in GOP supermajority states, lawmakers say – The Washington Post
- Indiana’s best, brightest flee state to live in more progressive areas – Indianapolis Star
Campaigns
- Biden Re-election Announcement – Twitter
- Top Dem super PAC starts Biden ad blitz, pledges $75 million campaign effort – Politico
- Joe Biden’s 2024 Message Is ‘Old Beats Crazy’ – Intelligencer
- Opinion | DeSantis’s Puddin’ Head Campaign – The New York Times
- The Lincoln Project: RIP Tucker – Twitter
- Slotkin’s Senate run may complicate Dems bid to retake House – AP News
Michigan Headlines
- Former MI House Speaker Rick Johnson pleads guilty to bribery – WPBN
- Secret grand jury has probed post-2020 examination of voting machines in Michigan
- After passing three gun bills, Michigan Democrats say they’re not done – Bridge Michigan
- Governors, Led by Whitmer, Fight GOP’s Budget Machete
- Michigan business leaders mildly hopeful despite lagging GDP, income – Bridge Michigan
GOP Culture Wars
- Biden’s team is leaning into this culture war staple – POLITICO
- Dwyane Wade Says His Family Left Florida Because They ‘Would Not Be Accepted’ – HuffPost Latest News
- DOJ challenges Tennessee over law banning gender-affirming care for minors – The Washington Post
- Transgender lawmaker banned from Montana House floor for rest of 2023 session – PBS NewsHour
- Many States Are Trying to Restrict Gender Treatments for Adults, Too – The New York Times
- In a thriving Michigan county, a community goes to war with itself – The Washington Post
- North Dakota governor signs law banning nearly all abortions – AP News
- 7 arrested for protesting in support of Montana transgender lawmaker – AP News
- In “sneaky move,” Indiana lawmakers revive contentious library materials language – Indiana Capital Chronicle
- Kansas bathroom bill passes after Republican lawmakers overriding governor veto – The Washington Post
Joining the podcast this week is one of the primary sponsors of the Clean Energy Future bills, Senator Sue Shink. 
Another week, another shooting followed by more Thoughts and Prayers. At the federal level, Republicans make it clear that is all they are willing to do as innocent Americans are slaughtered, almost always with legally obtained AR-15 style assault rifles.
Democrats in the Michigan Legislature also offer sincere thoughts and prayers, but are continuing to move forward with action on common-sense gun safety laws that have the support of an overwhelming majority of Michiganders.
Joining this week’s podcast is the Speaker Pro-Tem of the Michigan House, Laurie Pohutsky.
Here in Michigan, it’s especially challenging because of the razor-thin majorities Democrats hold in the state Legislature: 56-54 in the state House, 20-18 in the state Senate.