Mike Rogers explained that his Democratic opponent in Michigan’s Senate race is lagging behind. Breitbart News Saturday Hosted by Matt Boyle.
Rogers, the Republican candidate, blasted Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) for driving auto jobs out of Michigan and for lying so blatantly about Rogers in campaign ads.error.”
Rogers, the former congressman, expects Slotkin to lie more as her momentum grows.
“I think they’re going to continue to do that,” he told Boyle. “The ‘I was not a border patrol officer’ kind of lie, right?”
Regarding Slotkin’s lies, Rogers said, “She was accusing me of working for a Chinese company,” something he and PolitiFact maintain he never did.
But Slotkin’s choice of attack is ironic given China’s efforts to build electric vehicle (EV) jobs at the expense of Michigan workers.
“She signed non-disclosure agreements to help a Chinese company come to Michigan and manufacture, or assemble, batteries — right in the middle of the state, in the middle of some of the most pristine horses and farms, and it was very disruptive and the whole process was corrupt,” Rogers elaborated. “She signed non-disclosure agreements as an elected official to help put together a contract so they could get state funds — an elected official!”
“Let’s not forget, this company is publicly saying, ‘Yes, we have ties to the Chinese Communist Party,'” he added.
Rogers argued that the multibillion-dollar package that Slotkin and other politicians negotiated for Chinese companies “is going to China and hurting UAW jobs, hurting autoworker jobs here in Michigan.”
He said Slotkin was resorting to lies to deflect attention from her “dangerous” record.
“You can see why they do it,” he said. “They’re going public with all their concerns and trying to attack us before we make a move. Luckily, we’ve been fighting back in every way we can, with social media, with digital advertising. We’re not holding back, we’re fighting back.”
Slotkin has positioned herself as a bipartisan national security expert, citing her experience working in intelligence for both Republican and Democratic presidents, but Rogers doesn’t see it that way.
“She’s a dangerous person. She’s really dangerous,” he continued. “She’s been wrong on Iran. She’s been wrong on China. I would never go as far as to say she’s a national security expert.”
Rogers again grilled Slotkin, accusing her of signing non-disclosure agreements as part of a group that coordinated government funding for Chinese companies.
“First of all, as a public servant you shouldn’t do that. Sorry, but everything you do shouldn’t be private unless you’re handling national security information on behalf of the government. That’s not true. She’s not doing that,” he explained. “This is a commercial company that gets money from the state, and it’s problematic because she signed on because she doesn’t want to talk about the details of the company, the details of the deals, how much money they got. And they’re shoving it down the throats of this community that doesn’t want it.”
Rogers spoke of the impact on local politicians who negotiated an unpopular and damaging deal.
“This movement spawned an army of grassroots activists,” he said, “who overthrew the town council that had approved the movement, and then overthrew the county council that had approved the movement. This was very inspiring because it shows that you can still stand up and speak out.”
Rogers said Slotkin had to share information protected by an NDA.
“You’re a civil servant. You can’t hide under a desk like that. And why do you think it’s a good idea to give cash to a company with ties to the Chinese Communist Party?”
“It all started with this EV mandate,” Rogers said, touting the damage Washington’s mandate has done to Michigan workers. He and Boyle discussed Vice President Kamala Harris’ role in the mandate and Slotkin’s votes that are hurting auto manufacturing jobs in Michigan.
“She also voted against blocking the EPA from banning gasoline engines,” Rogers said. “By the way, 1.1 million people [working automotive jobs]I mean, that alone should be enough to disqualify you.”
Rogers said Slotkin’s voting record is closer to her record in California than it is in Michigan.
“If she wants to represent California, then my argument is, represent California. Bye.”
He argued that workers were beginning to realise her history and the harm it was causing to the country.
“Autoworkers are starting to wake up to this idea as they realize government agents are going to come to their homes, take their gas stoves and gas water heaters, put them in the back of an F-150 and drive away,” he said. “They’re not going to go along with that.”
Boyle accused Slotkin of presenting a false image of a moderate to voters, as if she would be less extreme once she became a senator.
“But as I said, if you look at her voting record, she has voted with them 100%,” Boyle said. “She has never broken with them. Not on one thing. On anything, from putting IRS agents on people to radical orders to border policy. She has never broken with Kamala Harris or Joe Biden. She is their person through and through, and I don’t see that changing as a senator.”
Rogers agrees. “She has a way of saying, ‘I’m a moderate. I worked for two presidents in the White House,’ which is like saying I worked for Bill Clinton and George Bush as an FBI special agent,” he said. “No, no, I was an FBI agent fighting organized crime in Chicago. Or I was a military officer in the Ronald Reagan administration. So I worked for Ronald Reagan. I mean, it’s really ridiculous that she held a staff position. That’s important, don’t get me wrong. But the idea that she had any special relationships beyond what a normal person would do when they got that position is just total nonsense.”
Slotkin argued that removing the constraints of biennial elections would give the Senate the freedom to move further left.
“She’s a real political semi,” he said. “In an election year, she goes very moderate and says, ‘I’m for you. I’m for everybody,’ and then the election is over and she disappears. And then what happens? She swings so far to the left. I’m not giving her a promotion. She doesn’t deserve it. And if you look at the issues she has, it’s really terrible for Michigan. Grocery prices, gas prices, energy prices. I mean, we’re getting killed here. And it’s all policies that Biden and Harris aren’t going to implement.”
Rogers praised the energy within the Republican Party on display at the state Republican convention he attended last weekend.
“People were excited. They knew what was at stake,” he said. “And it wasn’t about atmosphere or joy. It was that we needed to protect our country and move it forward so that the next generation of Americans have the opportunity to be themselves, to do what they want, on their own terms, and to better their lives. All of that ability is at stake.”
Rogers said his candidacy has broad support and that he believes the backing of voters not typically targeted by Republicans will help him win.
“You have people standing up and saying, ‘I’m not a Republican or a Democrat, but I can’t vote for a Democrat this year. We’re going to get killed,'” he said. “And they talk about the price of groceries, the price of gas, the price of housing and how their kids can’t afford it. There’s no way my kids are going to be able to buy a house. Even the price of a car … it’s gone up from an average of $38,000 to about $47,000.”
With Donald Trump as the leading candidate, Rogers believes Republicans will win the state.
“They’re walking down the middle, clutching Trump and Rogers signs and proudly saying, ‘These are the people I’m voting for in November,'” he said. “It’s hard to pick that up at the polls because these people aren’t on anybody’s list.”
Breitbart News Saturday airs from 10am-1pm ET on SiriusXM Patriot 125.
Bradley Jay is Capitol Hill correspondent for Breitbart News. Follow him on X/Twitter. translation:.
