Michigan Republican Party Now Dumpster Fire Wrapped In Drunken Bar Slap Fight

No, an actual bar fight. With chicks.

Last year, during the fizzled "red wave," Republicans had their asses handed to them in Michigan, losing the governor's race and (for the first time in 40 years) the House and Senate. Local Republicans conducted a post- Big Gretch -rout autopsy and concluded correctly that running Tudor Dixon, the restricted country club posing as a gubernatorial candidate, was a big mistake. The party's extreme position on abortion and continued embrace of one-term loser Donald Trump didn't help, either.

So, naturally, Michigan Republicans chose election-denying, QAnon conspiracy theorist Kristina Karamo as their new state party chair. Karamo doesn't just deny the results of the 2020 presidential election. She also refuses to concede her own personal defeat in the 2022 Michigan secretary of state race. She did lose by a whopping 14 points, so a level of denial is probably understandable. However, that just means you buy the sad lady a drink. You don't put her in charge of shit.

Karamo's greatest freak-show hits include claiming Democrats drink children's tasty, tasty blood and that demonic possession is transmitted through sexy times. She compared a gun control bill to the Holocaust, a standard asshole MAGA move. She bested Trump-endorsed candidate Matt DePerno, another election-denying kook.

PREVIOUSLY:

 Gun Control Laws Are So The Holocaust, Michigan GOP Chair Insists 

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  Karamo's victory speech, in which she vowed, "We will not betray you; we will not lie to you," was cut short because the party didn't have enough money to rent space in the Lansing Center for the full day. That's a simultaneous "LOL!" and "sad face" emoji.

The party dysfunction was on full display last Friday, the night before a leadership meeting at the Doherty Hotel in Clare. Local police were called to the hotel's patio bar because it seemed as if Kalamazoo Republican Party Chair Kelly Sackett and Macomb County GOP Secretary Melissa Pehlis were about to throw down.

 Here's the video:  

 youtu.be 

Sackett and Pehlis, who unfortunately aren't the leads in a police procedural, reportedly represent competing factions in a Karamo/DePerno turf war. DePerno insists that the crazy lady in charge has "done nothing to bring the party together. And how could she after she ran on a platform for the chair to divide the party? Her platform was to burn it down to eliminate the people who don’t agree with her.”

So, Friday night, Pehlis confronted Sackett over her alleged move to purge Karamo loyalists from the Kalamazoo Republican Party.

"How many laps? Around 22?" Pehlis slurred at Sackett. (No, I don't know what she means, either.) "By the power vested in me! Is that what you said?" Some dude steered Sackett away, suggesting, "Let's talk about Macomb County."

"You're all going to jail!" Pehlis shouted at them. "You're all going to go down!"

Sackett, perhaps also not entirely sober, responded, "You're so fucking crazy! Get the fuck out of here!"

Pehlis kept repeating "By the power vested in me!" like a taunting mantra, while someone noted, "Don't drink and drive, yo."

"By the power vested in me, you're no longer a delegate? Is that what you said?" Pehlis continued her rant until Sackett slapped her phone out of her hand. Pehlis then put her hand up in Sackett's face. (If you're middle-aged, you should understand the phrase, "Talk to the hand because the face's not listening.") It was all very classy. Pehlis was asked to leave the bar, and I will generously assume this is the first time that's ever happened.

According to Bridge Michigan , Sackett said she filed a police complaint over the scuffle but wouldn't comment further. Pehlis, who was probably still sleeping it off, was unavailable for comment.

Keep up the great work, Kristina Karamo! I don't want to indulge in premature chicken counting, but I think Democrats are in good shape for 2024.

[ Bridge Michigan ]

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