In his bid to retake the White House, few states hold as much promise for Donald Trump as Michigan.
The former president has already won the state once and President Joe Biden, who reclaimed it for Democrats in 2020, is confronting vulnerabilities there as he seeks reelection. Trump’s campaign promises an aggressive play for Michigan as part of a robust swing-state strategy.
But, at least for now, those promises appear to be mostly talk. The Trump campaign and its partners at the Republican National Committee haven’t yet made significant general election investments in the state, according to Michigan Republican Party Chairman Pete Hoekstra. The national committee, he said, hasn’t transferred any money to the state party to help bolster its operations heading into the general election. There are no specific programs in place to court voters of color. And there’s no general election field staff in place.
This is what I’ve been saying. The MI GOP is such a mess that they can’t mount an effective campaign. They are busy infighting and they are dead broke. Without money and organization from outside, they aren’t going to effectively be able to mount any kind of ground game here. The state is Biden’s to lose, not Trump’s to win, I don’t care what the polls say. Once the campaign is in full swing, democrats will be organized, motivated, and effective while Republicans will be confused and disorganized and unable to challenge the narrative of the left.
Time is getting tight for them to fix it, and Trump had surrounded himself with sycophants and grifters rather than effective political experts. He’s also going to be very busy with trials which will cut down on his campaigning and hence the effectiveness of his personal brand of “charisma”. So I don’t think they would be able to fix it if they had all the time in the world, but we will see.