I realized a little while ago that with the breaking news last Saturday of Hamas bombing Israel, and all the events leading up to the Israeli Army lining up along the Gaza border fence, I had not been paying attention to the Michigan Grand Old Party. However, I'm happy to report that nothing has changed, and the clown show continues on.

I have spent a whole lot of time over the past year talking about what a slow-motion train wreck the Michigan GOP is and how since February, it made all of the mistakes of the past look like amateur hour. As I just looked back at some of my stories, I realized that in no way, shape, or form am I exaggerating.

Here is an article from a week after the February 2023 convention called One Week After the Michigan GOP Convention, I Have These Fun Observations, where I had some interesting takes. Here are some...

There are currently 619 days until the November 5th, 2024, presidential election and there is no question that the previous chair Ron Weiser and co-chair Meshawn Maddock left the Michigan GOP in a severe mess for Karamo and her team to come into. The party is possibly millions of dollars in debt, which means there is little or no time for a learning curve to utilize. Also with the Republican presidential race for the nomination bound to heat up in the next couple of months, time is of the essence to lay out the plan.

After talking to a number of people who were at the convention last week, there is a feeling of doom about the direction that the party has been in for the past couple of years, and where it is going for 2024.

This is not necessarily based on whether you supported the current team or somebody else who ran for Top Chair. This seems to be more entwined with people who have unyielding, unwavering support for Donald Trump, and are chastising anyone who is willing to look at the field that is shaping up before committing to somebody to vote for in the primary next year. The circular firing squad analogy could be in full display here–depending on how the new party leadership handles these disputes over the next year. As I continue to speak to people about this, I will be curious if this continues to be the case.

I continue (and this ties into my main point for this article today)...

Tying into my last point about party unity not happening so far, fundraising will be absolutely critical across the board.

With Karamo decisively winning last week, the party faithful delivered a victory to somebody who refused to concede her 14-point loss and railed at the establishment Republicans, who did deserve some criticism. Yet in most cases, establishment Republicans are the ones who donated large amounts of money and helped make things behind the scenes run smoothly. In other words, you can hate all you want on Betsy DeVos for quitting the outgoing Trump team on Jan 7th. However, who is going to pick up the missed donations from people who have contributed to causes Republicans have traditionally supported but are no longer welcome because the term EsTaBlIShMeNt has been slapped on them? You never see the left going after their big-money people, which is a big reason why they win here in Michigan.

Sniff, sniff. If only I was this clairvoyant on lottery numbers.

Well, the party is so busted and broke, they are ticked off about people talking about it and now, if you do, they are gonna get ya -- which this story talked about right here

Michigan Republican Party officials have been distributing non-disclosure agreement forms that ask people to pledge confidentiality about internal party information and that say violators are subject to "a legal monetary penalty that is equal to $150,000."

The Detroit News obtained a copy of one of the party's secrecy agreements on Friday, a week after The News reported on the party's bank records, which revealed the state GOP, led by new chairwoman Kristina Karamo, had about $35,000 in its accounts in early August.

Past Michigan Republican Party officials said the $35,000 tally was millions of dollars behind where the party should have been at that point ahead of a presidential election.

THATS HOW YOU DO IT.

Instead of actually figuring out how to raise some money, just fine people 150K for talking about all the money you have not raised. I'm sure all the folks attending these high-level, Manhattan Project-style meetings have 150k just lying around in their sock drawers.

What a clown show.

As of the last write-up I did here, With Just Over 30k in the Bank, the Funeral March Has Begun for the Michigan GOP, the party had just over 30k in the bank and should be around $10 million this far out from a POTUS election. From that article

A listing of Michigan Republican Party account balances from West Michigan Community Bank showed $35,051 across seven accounts, with expenses for many of the scheduled speakers at the Sept. 22-24 conference on Mackinac Island not yet paid, including author Dinesh D'Souza and unsuccessful former Arizona candidate for governor Kari Lake.

At this point, 13 months before a presidential election, the Michigan Republican Party should have about $10 million in its accounts, said Tom Leonard, a former Michigan House speaker and former finance chairman for the state GOP.

The party had less than 1% of the $10 million target.

You should have 10 million dollars this far out from a PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION and you have less than 1%? Sign me up for this leadership team to lead the state GOP to victory. Hell at this rate the Get Out The Vote strategy and money raising is going,  Trump could lose this state by even more than he did in 2020.

Karamo went on in the article listed above to say this.

During a closed-door state committee meeting on Sunday, the final day of the Mackinac conference, Karamo spoke about the health of the Michigan Republican Party's finances, according to a recording of the meeting obtained by The News.

"The party is not going bankrupt," Karamo told state committee members.

Hopefully, you realize now, but you probably don't.

If you don't have a mix of billionaires, millionaires, and upper middle-class people willing to part ways with their money that is not tax deductible for a greater cause, this is what you get.

A party that is 13 months away from a presidential election is flat broke, is still paying the person who's leading the party down the hill into a lake, and has no prospects of raising any money.

Where are all the people screaming WE ARE THE GRASSROOTS donating their money to the party?

Where is all the energy after the four ballots in February at the Lansing Convention Center to elect somebody who was not qualified in any way, shape, or form to lead this party?

Where is the damn vision to turn it around?

If I didn't know any better, I would swear the people leading the Michigan GOP right now are planted by the Democratic Party -- that they picked some crisis actors that ran previously and got whooped, claimed fraud, hooked a lot of people into their nonsense, and then were given the directive to destroy the party within.

It's kind of like a reverse Manchurian Candidate, but just on the party-state level.

So, I would say I'm shocked, with all the events around the world happening, but I'm from Michigan and used to watching  $% shows in progress.

This is an old hat to me.

As always, let me know what you think by scrolling on my bio below, and letting me know what you think by email or Twitter.