Senate Showdown: “Absolute Clown Show” GOP Primary Heats Up as Amash and Pensler “Say Ugly Things” about “Unprincipled” Rogers

LANSING — The “particularly nasty” GOP Senate primary in Michigan is only heating up as Amash and Pensler continue to “expose” Rogers for being “unprincipled” and selling out Michiganders.

Here’s the latest on the “absolute clown show” aka the Republican Senate primary:

  • Pensler quickly jumped at the chance to bash Rogers for being “unprincipled.”

See for yourself: 

Mike Rogers VideoRogers: “It is an absolute clown show of people attacking us…”

Mike Rogers VideoRogers: “We have that one guy [Justin Amash]… is out there trying to say ugly things.”

American Journal News: Michigan Republican Mike Rogers worked for organization that threatened privacy rights

  • Former Rep. Mike Rogers, who is running in the Republican primary for Michigan’s open U.S Senate seat, worked for a federal contractor that designed civilian surveillance programs and pushed for right-wing social policies. 
  • From 2016 to 2023, Rogers was on the board of trustees of the Mitre Corporation, a non-profit that conducts federally funded research and advises government agencies. 
  • Rogers was vice chairman of the Mitre Corporation’s board from 2019 to 2021 and served as its director in 2023. Rogers launched his senate campaign in September 2023.
  • When Rogers joined Mitre it was working on one of its most infamous projects: developing technology that could lift fingerprints from photos posted on social media. 
  • …Lawyers at the ACLU and other human rights organizations said it could infringe on personal privacy rights.
  • “Nobody expects that by posting a digital photo online, they are exposing their unique biometric identifiers including their fingerprints, to collection in a law enforcement database,” Nate Wessler, staff attorney at the ACLU Speech, Privacy and Technology Project, told Forbes.
  • Mitre also did research into scraping personal data from mobile devices.
  • Rogers said the FBI’s repeated disregard for privacy rights and the Fourth Amendment had led to a loss of public trust. He did not comment on how Mitre’s work may have contributed to this erosion.
  • Mitre received another controversial contract during Rogers’ tenure. The Trump White House awarded Mitre $21.5 million in 2018 for a “teen pregnancy prevention study.” The stated goal of the study was to develop “medically accurate and age appropriate programs that reduce teen pregnancy.” 
  • A Rogers campaign spokesperson… did not answer questions concerning Rogers’ stance on abstinence-only programs.

Gold MediaSupriya Tamhane: “So my last question, what comes to your mind when you hear the following names? First is Mike Rogers.” Pensler: “Unprincipled.”

Brian Kilmeade ShowKilmeade: “Did you have a problem with the bipartisan bill, by the way?” … Rogers: “I mean, on immigration, absolutely.”

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