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Republican Michigan Senate leader Mike Shirkey and House Speaker Lee Chatfield curried little favor with President Donald Trump in November 2020 when they visited the White House and told the president he'd lost the election.
Now, Shirkey disses the value of a Trump endorsement in Michigan races in 2022.
"We shall let the results speak for themselves, but I will go on record right now predicting that most of the endorsements will fail," Shirkey said Wedneday on The Bart Hawley Show in Jackson. "We can play this back a year from now and find out what happened."
Shirkey's comments may reflect the declining value of a Trump endorsement in Michigan and elsewhere in the coming year. The ex-president has lashed out at Michigan state lawmakers for not challenging the 2020 election.
A former state GOP leader, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, tells Deadline Detroit that Trump's main criterion for backing candidates is whether they agree that the last presidential election was stolen. "That's all Trump cares about," the person said. "It's a disgrace to the party, it's a disgrace to the country."
He said he agrees fully with Shirkey's assessment of Trump's value in upcoming races. "The people Trump will endorse are so unqualified, the Lions have a better chance of winning the Super Bowl then they do of winning an election."
"I'm proud of Shirkey and Lee Chatfield for doing their job. They gave Trump his respect, but there's absolutely no proof of voter fraud."
Chatfield was term-limited in 2020 and Shirkey is in his final term, which ends in 2023.
"Would Shirkey have the balls" to speak out about Trump now" if he were running for re-election? "I say not, but he's still doing it."
During his TV appearance, Shirkey also frowned on plans by some Hillsdale residents to celebrate Jan. 6, calling it "horrible."
"Nobody should be celebrating what happened on Jan. 6, 2021, but yet they're doing that."
