LANSING — This morning on Michigan’s Big Show with Michael Patrick Shiels, Michigan Democratic Party Chair Curtis Hertel called out Mike Duggan for remaining silent on Donald Trump’s attacks to health care while his campaign is being funded by MAGA donors and prominent Republicans.
“We’re in the middle of a healthcare crisis, the cuts that have happened, and the high cost of health care because of what President Trump did, giving tax cuts away for billionaires and cutting access to health care around this country,” said Chair Hertel. “Our democracy is at threat, our own U.S. Senator was threatened with sedition charges for saying something that’s in the Constitution, and Mike [Duggan] has refused to stand up to President Trump over and over again.”
Duggan has defended Trump’s cuts to Medicaid while also deflecting questions about Trump’s toxic tax law, and he’s even refused to condemn Trump’s execution threats against U.S. Sen. Elissa Slotkin. Throughout his campaign, Duggan has been “echoing conservative rhetoric” and “disproportionately” attacking Democrats rather than Trump and Republicans.
Listen HERE and see below.
Chair Hertel: “What really bothers me more than anything else is that what I’ve known about Mike [Duggan] in the past is that he’s always been willing to say what he believes, and at this point, that has changed in this election.
“We’re in the middle of a healthcare crisis, the cuts that have happened, and the high cost of health care because of what President Trump did, giving tax cuts away for billionaires and cutting access to health care around this country. Our democracy is at threat, our own U.S. Senator was threatened with sedition charges for saying something that’s in the Constitution, and Mike [Duggan] has refused to stand up to President Trump over and over again.
“And my point is, if you won’t stand up for somebody in a campaign, if you won’t stand up for the people of Michigan now, you’re certainly not going to do it when you’re governor. And so, I’m sure he wants some of those votes. And so he’s done the calculation that if he just stays quiet on those things that are happening that he maybe can pick up some of those votes, but I wouldn’t call it very courageous.
“What we’re seeing, I think, right now, is people want somebody to stand up. I mean, right now, we’re just on your radio beforehand, they’re talking about invading Greenland. I mean, it would be a bad novel if it was written, and most people would say it was unrealistic. And I think that people have to stand up to what’s happening in this country, and that doesn’t mean you have to disagree with everything, and we certainly have to be a party that not just talks about what we’re against, but what we’re for as well, and that we’re a party of working people.
“But at the same time, you have to be willing to stand up for Michigan’s people and for the country, and for what this country means and the democracy that we have. And I think at every step so far, Mike Duggan has refused to stand up for those things.”
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