FREEDOM CAUCUS PURGE?
Republican sources could not or would not say whether it’s an organic or an orchestrated movement to target members of the Freedom Caucus within the GOP Caucus in the Michigan House of Representatives with primary challenges this August, but it has all the makings of an effort by more traditional (non-MAGA) party members to clean out hard-right crazies who repeatedly bring shame on the state party itself. The small Freedom Caucus was formed in early 2015 by conservatives and Tea Party members but has drifted to the farther hard-right fringes of the political spectrum, making it irrelevant on most issues in Lansing. Among the targets will be first-term Rep. Josh Schriver (R-Oxford), a headline grabbing Christian Nationalist who got more than his 15 minutes of fame after posting/reposting on social media items promoting the Great Replacement conspiracy theory that there is a Democratic effort to have non-White persons replace White and European descendants in this country through immigration and interracial marriages. That nonsense cost Schriver his office staff, committee assignments and office funding which were taken away by House Speaker Joe Tate (D-Detroit). And it prompted the House to pass, with all but five Republicans in support, a resolution denouncing anyone with “racist, xenophobic, White supremacist, antisemitic and Islamophobic” attitudes. Word on the street just prior the filing deadline for the August primary was that Oxford resident Joe Kent was planning to take on Schriver this year. Kent in 2016 lost by 15 votes in his attempt for the state House and in 2020 the accountant/tax expert failed in his run for treasurer of Oakland County. Then there is Freedom Caucus member Matt (Mad Dog) Maddock (R-Milford) whose latest transgression was his online posting about busloads of supposed illegal non-White immigrant “invaders” at Metro Airport, who turned out to be the Gonzaga Bulldogs basketball team arriving here for the March Madness NCAA playoffs. Add that to the growing list of ignoble BS (think voter denial Great Lie) that has become the hallmark of Maddock, who in April of 2022 was blocked from attending GOP Caucus meetings for breaking confidentiality rules. The spouse of former state party co-chair Meshawn Maddock, who is facing legal charges for attempts to overturn the last presidential election, is reportedly the target of traditional party faithful, several sources told Oakland Confidential, although most were tight-lipped when it came to who the designated primary challenger will be. Just for the record, this primary fight could be a tough but doable one. Maddock took 59.44 percent of the general election vote in 2020 and 57.7 percent in 2022, so a primary route may be the only way to take him down. Said one of the party-faithful past overlords: “People like this don’t belong in the Republican Party and, frankly, I’m not sure they belong in this country.”