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.

  • @Ekybio@lemmy.world
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    838 months ago

    Good.

    The RNC is dumping so much money on Trumps legal fees and expenses, that running an actual campaign becomes more and more impossible.

    I dont remember the source right now, but I read that large parts of the RNC at the state-level are already practically bankrupt. If thats true, then we might have an even weaker GOP in the comming years.

    Turns out if everyone is just grifting, you cant build anything in the long run. I hope their efforts are crippled for a very long time. At best they never recover.

    • @cfi@lemmy.world
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      308 months ago

      If Project 2025 comes to pass and they have sweeping powers they’ll find a way to siphon federal money into the RNC

      • @agent_flounder@lemmy.world
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        188 months ago

        It won’t be hard when all oversight is gutted or populated with members of Trump’s Mafia. Once they have enough control they can ensure they always win future elections. Sort of like Putin does.

    • @ghostdoggtv@lemmy.world
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      228 months ago

      I remember those reports, the media buried them because they greatly prefer the appearance of a close contest. The GOP is turbo fucked.

    • @Zink@programming.dev
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      38 months ago

      Yeah. Remember how the Russian military was a laughing stock for a while after failing to steamroll through Ukraine?

      That’s what you get from a government full of grifters and cronies. At least in our case it’s mostly one party, but waaaay too many people are happy to go along with them.

    • @Habahnow@sh.itjust.works
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      28 months ago

      Michigan is bankrupt and needs RNC to support them. They’ve also experienced a lot of internal turmoil, which is a horrible combination. Considering the 2 percent margin that Biden won MI by, RNC needs to be completely on top of their game in MI to flip it. That or for Biden to make a huge error.

      • @Nastybutler@lemmy.world
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        58 months ago

        That or for Biden to make a huge error.

        Like supporting Israel’s genocide of Palestinians when there’s a substantial Palestinian and Arab population in Michigan?

        • @Habahnow@sh.itjust.works
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          48 months ago

          Supporting Israel is definitely Biden’s biggest and ongoing political mistake so far, but we have yet to see whether its actually a huge error. I’m hoping Biden turns around his decision sooner rather than later because too many people are suffering, and things will get worse in the US if Trump wins as I bet a huge reason may be because of Israel.

            • @StarPupil@ttrpg.network
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              38 months ago

              No, see, passively continuing policy while trying to rachet it back when you realize how unpopular something is with your base is exactly the same as active hostility and escalation, fully justifying my refusal to participate in the system. I’m very smart.

              • @Nastybutler@lemmy.world
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                28 months ago

                Almost as smart as those who have the magical thinking that a third party candidate is clearly the only choice to solve this problem

                • @StarPupil@ttrpg.network
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                  28 months ago

                  No, see, the spoiler effect, a well-documented phenomenon, isn’t real and is just a lie to keep people from voting for third parties, who are super for real going to affect anything positively this time! It’s your fault for not abandoning the only party with a chance to win against the fascist party in favor of checks notes Cornel West, a candidate so unserious he declared his party affiliation with the People’s Party (a bunch of definitely not grifters featuring such intellectual titans as Jimmy Dore and Jesse “the Body/Mind” Ventura) only to immediately switch to the Green Party, only to immediately switch to Independent. Math isn’t real and I’m very smart.

    • Admiral Patrick
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      228 months ago

      They probably do think it’s great.

      The only problem they see is that they’re not the ones on top of the pyramid. So instead of seeing / fixing the problem, they’re focused on grifting their way up there.

  • @gravitas_deficiency@sh.itjust.works
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    238 months ago

    The problem is that about 30% of the country could be described as political zombies, because that’s roughly the proportion of people who support him unquestioningly. And don’t forget all the other rich assholes who are trying to help him, for no other reason than they want his tax break handouts.

  • @AllNewTypeFace@leminal.space
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    228 months ago

    There’s a lot of extremely wealthy people who effectively have infinite money and want to see the Republicans in power. Trump’s probably hoping that, after the rubes’ donations have been diverted to his legal funds, these shadowy plutocrats will quietly step in and ensure that the races that matter are amply funded.

      • @Dkarma@lemmy.world
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        98 months ago

        You think that money is going to down ballot races instead of directly into Trump’s pocket,??? Lol

        • @ashok36@lemmy.world
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          58 months ago

          They don’t give a shit about down ballot. Down ballot doesn’t matter when you control all three branches of government, imprison or kill all your enemies, and replace the entire federal beauracracy with toadies.

          They don’t care about consequences because they do not intend to suffer them.

            • @ashok36@lemmy.world
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              58 months ago

              What part of this do you not understand? They don’t care about down ballot races because they intend to install a dictatorship. You think Putin gives a shit how much funding down ballot candidates get? Fuck no. They just install whoever they want or have sham elections.

              • @Telodzrum@lemmy.world
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                88 months ago

                You: They will control the House, Senate, and Presidency.

                Also You: They don’t care about voting in House and Senate races.

                Somehow Also You: What don’t you understand about my previous statement?

          • @n0m4n@lemmy.world
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            48 months ago

            Down ballot is where the gerrymandering and state supreme courts work together to kill democracy.

  • @MagicShel@programming.dev
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    228 months ago

    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.

    • @Willy@sh.itjust.works
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      238 months ago

      it’s kind of amazing that campaigns do anything anyway, this election more than ever. what could an ad or a rally convince anyone of at this point?

      • FaceDeer
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        88 months ago

        Bear in mind that you’re in a “politics” community comment section, so you’re probably much more informed about the subject than the vast majority of people.

      • @Nollij@sopuli.xyz
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        78 months ago

        There are a surprising number of people that think their options are either voting for the Republican that’s blasting them in the ass or the Democrat that’s blasting them in the ass. There are also a bunch that truly don’t see their lives changing much, regardless of who wins.

        Convincing them that one option will be better for them/their loved ones/the world is difficult, but very possible. This also includes motivating supporters to cast a ballot at all.

        Money in a political campaign is the single biggest factor in its performance at the polls.

        • @Habahnow@sh.itjust.works
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          8 months ago

          There are also a bunch that truly don’t see their lives changing much, regardless of who wins.

          expanding on Noliij’s point, the changes that the president and their party pushes are usually impacts that are slow to roll out, which makes it hard to really note the difference in party and candidate. This applies more if you’re less politically informed, and is a boon for Republicans.

  • Binthinkin
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    138 months ago

    He is going to lose so bad it’s going to cause the greatest laughter this country has ever experienced.

    • @ChillPenguin@lemmy.world
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      248 months ago

      I can only hope. I’m rather nervous about the election. Since his entire voter base in a cult. And the other side has their eyes on what’s going on in Gaza.

      • @Habahnow@sh.itjust.works
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        88 months ago

        Me too, Biden has to fix shit in Israel real quick (doubt) or start actually telling Israel to fuck off to start reducing liberal dissidents.

    • Optional
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      218 months ago

      We said that in 2016 though. So.

      Just saying. Don’t boo - vote.

    • 4grams
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      8 months ago

      while he will certainly lose the popular vote, he and the cult are busy setting the stage for Jan. 6th round 2. every trick to steal it will be tried and by how feckless our judicial system has been, I have very little hope of our institutions holding this time.

      it’s got to be an epic, undeniable drubbing, else we’re all wearing red hats this time next year.

      edit- in case anyone doubts it: https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2024/03/26/rnc-2020-election-stolen-trump-hiring/

    • @Zipitydew@sh.itjust.works
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      128 months ago

      I’ve been wondering why so many GOP reps are bailing early. Starting to lean towards internal polling shows them getting smoked.

      Trump sucking up all the party funds for legal fees screws those down ticket races. Plus McCarthy is in the background working on revenge against MAGA candidates who forced him out. With Kevin having been the party fundraising champ.

      Dumbass could still get an EC win. And the GOP is going to throw every way possible of cheating behind this election. But their chances aren’t looking as good as the news wants to suggest to keep some drama going this far out.

  • @SacralPlexus@lemmy.world
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    108 months ago

    Me (a serious reporter): Should I maybe write a story that points out weaknesses and flaws in the fascist candidate’s strategy so as to call attention to them and perhaps get them to fix those flaws? Yes, I think that would best serve everyone.

    • @mosiacmango@lemm.ee
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      308 months ago

      Making it clear that a fascist is weak also weakens them. They gain power on the appearance of strength. Pointing out that they don’t have any breaks this illusion.

      • @SacralPlexus@lemmy.world
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        68 months ago

        I hope you’re right. I guess the laser focus on a swing state in the opening just struck me the wrong way. I understand and endorse blasting them for being underfunded/underprepared but the way it started read to me like “hey you are making a mistake, look at this!” and that grossed me out.

        • @OhNoMoreLemmy@lemmy.ml
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          28 months ago

          Honestly it’s good.

          Trump is not going to stop embezzling from the campaign, and the more people point out the problems the more chance there is that the republicans start infighting, and donors drop out.

    • 𝕱𝖎𝖗𝖊𝖜𝖎𝖙𝖈𝖍
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      8 months ago

      All the news networks have been hedging their bets on a fascist takeover. Many of them are also directly or indirectly owned by billionaires who would benefit from said takeover.

  • @Rapidcreek@lemmy.world
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    108 months ago

    Trump wants all the money of the RNC to go to his legal bills. He doesn’t have time to worry about trifling things like “battleground states”.

  • GladiusB
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    98 months ago

    This system sucks. Pandering to one state when they are 50 doesn’t help any citizen. I know it’s important and I will vote. But I can’t help but think it’s fuckin moronic.