If you are confused about the status of the Michigan Republican party, that is because we are witnessing a coup. Wealthy individuals with powerful connections have been in control of the Michigan Republican party for decades. On February 18, 2023, at a state convention in Lansing, Kristina Karamo was voted in as GOP chairwoman by 2,100 precinct delegates from across the state. Now, the GOP establishment is attempting to seize control and return the party to the former status quo. To convince the public that they are the rightful leaders, they have been putting on a quite a show through an orchestrated series of events, character attacks, and false accusations. They have been making it difficult for the new leadership to lead and have been attempting to regain control since it began to slip away.
The Michigan GOP determines which candidates will appear on the state-wide ballot for secretary of state, attorney general, university regents and lieutenant governor. It accepts donations and uses those donations to support political candidates. The leadership of the Michigan GOP is determined by the precinct delegates who are elected by the voting public. For decades, the voters have not fully understood this process and big money donors have controlled the Michigan Republican Party. In fact, many individual members of the big donor families have been Michigan Republican Party Chairs (chapter 97).
Betsy DeVos 1996-2000
Gerald Hills 2000-2003
Betsy DeVos 2003-2005
Saul Anuzis 2005-2009
Ronald Weiser 2009-2011
Bobby Schostak 2011-2015
Ronny Romney McDaniel 2015-2017
Ronald Weiser 2017-2019
Laura Cox 2019-2021
Ronald Weiser 2021-2023
Kristina Karamo 2023-
In his book, Bob Cushman lists the top Michigan families who have made political donations, and calls them the Michigan Oligarchy. The Michigan Oligarchy has tremendous influence over who gets elected in Michigan and the actions that those elected officials take once in office.
Donations Reference for the last 25 years: Michigans Corruption – Chapter 97
The Michigan GOP was an organization that recently employed as many as 45 people. When Karamo was elected as chair, the leadership transition was anything but smooth. It took over 60 days for Karamo and her team to gain access to the GOP headquarters building in Lansing, and once access was available, they found an empty building with no office furniture, phones, or computers. There was difficulty getting email lists, donor lists, bank account information, past tax filing data, telephone numbers, and key contact information. Although they have not received all of this information, once they started receiving information, they were told they owed nearly $180,000 from credit card charges and $20,000 in rent despite not having access to the building.
Like lawfare, the establishment used the rules of the party as weapons. There are 107 state committee members of the Michigan Republican Party. On January 6, 2024, those attempting to regain control of the MIGOP held a meeting in which they voted 40 to 5 to remove Kristina Karamo from her position. More than half of the members did not attend the meeting because they did not see it as a legitimate meeting. GOP Attorney Dan Hartman responded to the meeting with this short video. According to GOP bylaw section 6B, the chair must call a special meeting if requested by one-third of the members. When members made this request, Karamo scheduled a meeting for January 13, 2024. On January 13, 2024, when the state committee officially met, they voted fifty-nine to one to reaffirm Karamo as the chair of the party. Additionally, they voted 74 to 2 with 3 abstaining to remove six of the leaders who orchestrated the prior week’s coup from participating in state committee leadership for a period of five years. The media appears to be complacent in the coup, as the majority of the news organizations originally reported Karamo was removed as chair and are now either reporting that the Michigan GOP is plagued by infighting and has two chairs, or that Pete Hoekstra is the new Michigan GOP chair.
In addition to trying to unseat Karamo from her position, the establishment has been making an effort to ruin her reputation. Karamo was formerly involved with the group Unauthorized. Unauthorized has been characterized as an organization to get Democrats elected, but it is actually a bipartisan 501c4 that focuses on election integrity. The group wants to eliminate voting machines and absentee ballots, clean the voter rolls, and go back to single day in-person voting. Unauthorized is supported by Doug Mastriano, Mark Finchem, Kari Lake and Steve Bannon among others. Karamo stepped down from this organization when she was elected as MIGOP chair.
In another twist, on January 14, 2024, Natalie Winters, Chief researcher for War Room, wrote about Republican National Convention chairs and treasurers meeting with Chinese Communist Party officials to discuss Campaign Strategy. Ronna Romney McDaniel who was MIGOP chair from 2015-2017 was mentioned in the article as her treasurer Anthony Parker participated in the dialogues. This report raises the question: why was the financial information withheld from incoming party leadership?
This coup attempt clearly shows the ongoing battle between We the People and the elite who have powerful connections. Grassroots patriots support Kristina Karamo while the elite supports the GOP establishment. The tactics being used against Karamo are the same techniques that have been used over and over through the ages: false accusations, character attacks, and lawfare. Some recent examples of individuals and groups that have been targeted in this manner include, Matt Gaetz, the J6 political prisoners, the Ottawa Impact organization, and even local leaders.
The establishment has an insatiable desire to hold on to power. They manipulate the voters by funneling big political action committee money to controllable candidates. Instead of adapting to the concerns of fed up constituents, they sabotaged the incoming leader’s ability to do the job and then created a narrative around her inability to do the job. If Kristina Karamo’s state committee is able to close the primaries it will greatly reduce the establishment’s ability to influence local elections. That initiative alone, is a motivation for action. Going forward, the establishment is likely to continue causing chaos and sabotaging opposition from various angles until something sticks. Do not be fooled. What we are witnessing is a coup within the Michigan Republican Party.