BEHIND THE CURTAIN

We gained further insight into one general election candidate as a boisterous gaggle of Republicans tried to bum-rush the TCF Center in Detroit during vote tabulations the day after the November election. You know, the mob-like crowd – demanding entrance to the building as votes were counted – that was stopped by local police because the building was already overcapacity with election workers and poll watchers from both political parties. Those gathered hung around and banged on windows while shouting “Stop the count.” Crain’s Detroit Business cited one man who claimed the U.S. Senate campaign of Farmington Hills Republican John James had called him and asked him to head to Detroit to help “watch over” the vote counting. This from the same campaign that earlier had sent out a tweet declaring victory in the race against incumbent Senator Gary Peters (D-Bloomfield Township) when there was still 100,000 or more votes to count. Said a reporter on MSNBC: “John James doing the same thing Donald Trump did last night.” Then things got even worse. On Thursday of election week, after vote totals showed Peters had won the contest, James refused to concede. Taking a page from the authoritarian playbook, James called for an “investigation” (by whom we are not sure) and bemoaned how “millions” in Michigan had been “disenfranchised by a dishonest few who cheat.” In the following days he would join the Trump chorus calling for vote state-level certification to be delayed. Quite the swan song from a candidate who has now tried twice to claim the mantle of a U.S. Senator from Michigan, and failed both times.