'Eating each other alive': MAGA infighting roils local GOP in crucial swing states

06 May 2024

The MAGA movement has suffered some major setbacks in Michigan in recent years, from Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's 11 percent victory over GOP challenger Tudor Dixon in 2022 to Whitmer signing an official repeal of an anti-abortion law from 1931. And it was also in 2022 that Kristina Karamo, a far-right conspiracy theorist and Christian nationalist, lost by 14 percent when she tried to unseat Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson.

The Michigan GOP, however, responded to these setback not by moving closer to the center, but by moving more and more to the far right.

According to journalist Ben Mathis-Lilley, MAGA Republicans in Michigan have been angrily turning on one another. And he details this "MAGA infighting" in an in-depth article published by Slate on May 6, stressing that "the MAGA activists in charge are eating each other alive."

"States in which old-guard 'establishment' Republicans were run off — seemingly paving the way for unified efforts on behalf of (former President Donald) Trump — are instead beset by resignations, lawsuits, and financial crises," Mathis-Lilley explains. "Conflicts are ongoing in Nevada, Idaho, Arizona, and Georgia as well as Michigan, and are tearing apart smaller chapters at even more local levels. It's a perplexing state of affairs given that these Republicans are so united behind their presumptive (presidential) nominee."

The journalist continues, "But as I learned in Grand Rapids, Donald Trump's wishes are sometimes beside the point to the people who followed him into the party. Their loyalties are to causes bigger — and stranger — than electing one person to the presidency."

A great deal of the "MAGA infighting" among Michigan Republicans, according to Mathis-Lilley, has Karamo — who formerly chaired the Michigan GOP and refused to step down when she was replaced.

Karamo and her allies have been engaged in a bitter feud with fellow MAGA Republican Scott McMahan, who claims that Karamo is part of a conspiracy to hurt Republicans in the state.

"For all his affability," Mathis-Lilley notes, "(McMahan) holds some dark beliefs. In fact, his contention is that Karamo is a tool of powerful puppet masters who are engaged in a long-running scheme — one which may have been engineered by the American intelligence community — to infiltrate and destroy the Republican Party."

Read Slate's full report at this link.

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