Trump's midterm INFILTRATION plan gets EXPOSED

[0:00] It looks like we might have some MAGA infiltration here where there absolutely should not be some. [0:06] I'm joined now by Sam Stein, who works at The Bulwark. [0:09] Sam, you wrote a great article, which is titled, I'm going to throw it right here on the screen, [0:13] Did MAGA Infiltrate the Green Party in Michigan? [0:16] So this caught my attention in a big way. [0:17] The reporting was outstanding. [0:19] Talk about this phenomenon that's otherwise completely flying under the radar. [0:24] Yeah, so what happened here was that there was a piece, I forget what it was in. [0:29] And it might have been Punchbowl or somewhere else where they noted that there's this weird phenomenon [0:33] where Green Party candidates are popping up on the ballot. [0:37] And there's some question about whether they're actually Green Party members. [0:40] You know, they seem like not. [0:42] And so I asked a colleague of mine, Brendan Hartnett, at The Bulwark to start looking at other filings in different states, [0:49] just sort of suspicious, like if it's happening in Pennsylvania, maybe it's happening elsewhere. [0:54] And Brendan comes back to me and he's like, I think I found a good one. [0:58] I was like, what are you talking about? [0:59] He's like, well, this is a guy in Michigan, in the 7th Congressional District, [1:03] which is like the tightest House race this cycle is decided by one percentage point in 2024, [1:10] or went for Trump by one percentage point. [1:12] He's like, this guy, his name's Shane Diedrich. [1:15] There's nothing on this guy. [1:16] I can't find anything on it. [1:17] He came out of nowhere. [1:18] He's like, I looked into him a little bit. [1:20] And he's given two donations or something like that. [1:23] Both are to Republicans. [1:25] He has no social media presence whatsoever, like limited. [1:28] There's a Twitter account, but it doesn't follow anyone. [1:30] But the people that does follow, one of them looks like a Republican operative. [1:35] And so we sort of looked into it. [1:36] We started digging around a little bit. [1:38] And it just became like more and more curious, right? [1:40] So Shane Diedrich, 25, 26-year-old, from Michigan, in the district, [1:46] does follow this one Republican operative who follows him back. [1:50] This person, her name's Parker Maddock. [1:52] She's the daughter of two very prominent Republicans in the state, [1:55] one of whom was the state party chair for Republicans in Michigan. [1:59] She was embroiled in the 2020 election scandal there, but she went off. [2:04] She got off clean. [2:05] And then we started calling around, and we started looking for more breadcrumbs. [2:09] And it was just very weird. [2:10] And then, I've got to be honest, the craziest thing we found was [2:14] we managed to find the actual Green Party nomination process. [2:19] Because, you know, you sort of wonder, how did he manage to get on the ballot? [2:23] And Brian, this nomination process sort of blew my mind at how flimsy it was, [2:30] how easy it was to just get your name. [2:32] I had no clue you could just get your name on a ballot this easily. [2:35] But I'm happy to explain it to you if you have any questions about that. [2:37] That was part of the story. [2:39] Talk to me about this nomination process. [2:42] Okay. [2:43] I'm not joking. [2:44] This is how it works. [2:47] Or this is how I discovered it, at least. [2:48] So the Green Party of Michigan actually sent us the video of their convention, [2:53] which is what happens. [2:55] It's all taking place over Zoom. [2:56] There's one room with, like, you know, it seems like 30 people in it, [2:59] all Green Party members. [3:00] But a lot of people are dialed into Zoom. [3:01] And about two hours into the convention, Shane Diedrich, our guy, raises his hand, [3:11] not, like, literally, because his camera's completely off. [3:13] He does the hand-raise emoji. [3:15] And they call on Shane. [3:16] And he never turns his camera on. [3:18] Like, never. [3:19] He's just in the dark. [3:21] He's like, hi, I'd like to be the Green Party candidate for the 7th Congressional District. [3:26] And the Green Party people are like, okay, who are you? [3:31] And he's like, ah, you know, I'm just, I'm from the area. [3:34] You know, I do this. [3:35] I do that. [3:36] I haven't really been involved in politics that much. [3:38] They're like, well, how did you, how'd you hear about us? [3:40] He's like, you know, just started, like, looking around, felt like Tom Barrett, [3:44] the sitting congressman, Republican, is not doing a good job, [3:46] didn't like the two moderate Democrats. [3:48] There's actually a third Democrat who won, not the moderates. [3:51] Right, who's decidedly not moderate. [3:53] Who's very much one of the co-founders of the Sunrise Movement. [3:56] Well, that's the irony of this. [3:57] And we could talk about whether this all matters in a bit. [4:00] But so Dietrich's on. [4:01] He's like, I didn't like the moderates. [4:02] I don't think they're standing up to Trump enough. [4:04] And it's all going sort of weirdly. [4:06] Like, you know, people are like, well, are you registered as a Green Party member? [4:09] He's like, nah, but I can get the paperwork to you. [4:12] They're like, can you authenticate who you are? [4:14] He's like, yeah, I can get you an affidavit. [4:15] And at one point, like almost 15 minutes in, someone just is like, all right, [4:21] I'll give you, I'll forward your nomination. [4:23] And then someone seconds it. [4:24] And then very, very abruptly, someone's like, wait a second. [4:28] Hold on. [4:30] Should we vet this guy a little bit more? [4:32] And then another guy's like, you know, I'm a little bit nervous that this is rushed. [4:37] Like, what if this guy's a MAGA plant? [4:38] And Diedrich's like, oh, you know, I guess that's probably a good thing to, you know, [4:43] consider. [4:44] But he never really denies it. [4:46] And then they keep going. [4:47] They go back and forth. [4:48] They're debating the bylaws. [4:49] At one point, they're wondering if Tom Barrett's even running, which he is. [4:52] It's a mess. [4:53] It's like a complete trombolic mess. [4:56] And then honestly, I kid you not, someone's like Googling him in real time. [5:01] A woman says, it looks like you played ice hockey. [5:02] He's like, yes, I did. [5:03] And that's it. [5:04] And then 33 minutes after he first digitally raised his hand, a woman's like, all right, [5:11] it looks like we have a consensus. [5:13] And then two people forward it and confirm it. [5:16] And he has made the Green Party's congressional nominee in one of the most critical house races [5:21] this cycle. [5:23] It's that it was that quick. [5:24] That's it. [5:26] All right. [5:26] So I think it's worth asking here, first and foremost, as the result of your reporting, [5:30] obviously, there's going to be looking into by the Green Party, actually some real vetting [5:36] besides just we Googled you and it looks like you played ice hockey. [5:40] So is there any way to go back on what they've done or once they've allowed him to become [5:48] the nominee under their banner, that's it? [5:51] So we asked him. [5:52] So what we did is we, you know, we did our reporting. [5:55] We did our due diligence. [5:56] We called all the people. [5:57] We called the, you know, before we, we called Parker Matic, we called her parents. [6:01] We called Shane Dedrick. [6:03] We called like everyone we could. [6:05] And obviously we talked to the Green Party because they sent us the convention video. [6:09] But once we got everything, or once Brendan, I should say, got all the reporting done, [6:15] then we went back to the Green Party and said, look, this is what we discovered. [6:19] Can you tell us like what happened here? [6:21] Like why, why wasn't there more vetting? [6:23] Do you know anything about this guy? [6:25] Did you know that he had donated to Republicans? [6:26] Did you know that he had this connection to this conservative operative? [6:31] Like, did you know any of this? [6:32] And they're like, oh, you know, they kind of were a little bit caught off guard. [6:38] The communications manager, that's his title, said, well, you know, if it, I'm going to, [6:43] I'm going to probably reach out to, to, to Dedrick after this and have a one-on-one, [6:48] which seemed a little bit sort of after the fact. [6:51] You know, it's like, maybe should have probably done that first. [6:53] Hey, good idea. [6:54] Yeah, yeah. [6:54] Maybe talk to him before you nominate him. [6:56] Yeah. [6:57] But he did say, I'll read the quote. [7:02] There's some possibility that he's a Republican plant, but based on the strength of that evidence, [7:07] I would say there's also, you know, some sort of possibility that he's had an evolution [7:10] of his, of his views and values. [7:13] Maybe I'll try to call him and see if he has any comment. [7:16] Maybe. [7:17] They did raise the possibility that they could disavow his candidacy, that they could [7:22] pull the endorsement. [7:24] I don't know the technicalities about getting him off the ballot. [7:27] He is on the ballot currently. [7:29] He is listed on the ballot on the Secretary of State's website. [7:34] I have no idea what the legal or political processes are for pulling that. [7:38] And maybe it happens. [7:40] And we are certainly keeping tabs on whether or not, you know, the Green Party acts on this. [7:45] So talk to me a little bit about two things here in conjunction, because I think they're [7:49] important. [7:50] What does the Green Party represent? [7:52] And what does it represent that would be different from the current Michigan 7 nominee on the [7:58] Democratic line? [7:59] Because that is one of the most progressive and, dare I say it, green candidates that we've [8:04] ever had. [8:05] Right. [8:06] So I think a lot of people look at this and be like, OK, well, you know, he's not going [8:11] to take that many votes away, if any, from from this guy who's been nominated because, [8:15] you know, this guy founded the Sunrise Movement. [8:16] He's obviously a progressive. [8:18] This is William Lawrence, who is the Democratic Party nominee. [8:22] And that's probably true. [8:24] It's probably true. [8:24] The other reason to not be too worked up about it, although I am pretty worked up about it, [8:31] is that traditionally people who support the Green Party are not really that gettable, [8:37] actually, for Democrats, even though there might be a lot of overlap in the Venn diagram [8:42] on the issues. [8:44] One of the things that the Green Party really does represent is this idea that the duopoly [8:48] of our party's system needs to go. [8:51] And so they are voting not just because they care about the environment, which is one of the [8:54] key pillars. [8:55] They're voting because they believe political parties, as currently constituted, are need [8:59] to be broken up and can't be trusted. [9:02] And so anyone who supports the Green Party probably is not going to cross over and vote [9:05] for a Democrat. [9:06] That being said, that's not true of every voter. [9:11] There are going to be some voters who look at this and say, OK, you know, I might go with [9:15] the Green Party. [9:16] And having someone on the ballot does complicate, to a degree, the election. [9:22] And in a district like this, where, again, Trump won the district by one percentage point, [9:27] at least Slotkin won it in her Senate race, but obviously Tom Barrett won it in the Congressional [9:31] race. [9:31] It is like literally one of the few truly jump ball districts. [9:36] Yeah. [9:37] You know, we're talking about like a couple hundred votes potentially deciding this thing. [9:40] And, you know, it's kind of crazy to think that the Green Party could be, spoiler, nominating [9:47] a candidate that they vetted for 33 minutes, barely at all. [9:49] Well, I think, look, I appreciate I don't agree with, but I appreciate the idea that [9:55] the Green Party will exist for people to have an outlet who don't like the duopoly of the [10:00] two party system. [10:00] I get that. [10:01] But but it undermines the whole point of it. [10:03] If you have a potential MAGA spoiler who's there to actually entrench the two party system [10:09] just to do it in deference to Republicans. [10:11] Right. [10:12] And this was the point made by other people when they were reporting on the Pennsylvania [10:16] Green Party infiltration, things like that. [10:18] That what's going to happen is there's going to be and this is not true of everyone in [10:22] the Green Party. [10:23] I don't want to paint too broad a brush here, but the people who go there are going to do [10:28] things like rail against data centers. [10:30] They're going to say, this is awful. [10:32] We can't have data. [10:33] You know, these data centers, you can't build them. [10:35] They're going to sap our environment. [10:37] They're going to waste our energy. [10:38] And they're going to end up electing Republicans who will be supportive of data centers. [10:44] Right. [10:44] And look, I've plenty I've plenty of experience talking to third party candidates through the [10:49] course of my time in journalism and trying to have this type of conversation with them. [10:54] And it's not persuasive to them. [10:57] It's very rare that you actually get someone who's committed third party candidate on the [11:00] environmental side, especially was like, yeah, you're right. [11:02] Like we have to play the long game. [11:04] We have to work within the system because to them, it's the system that's the problem. [11:08] And they don't think the system will ever change unless, you know, you prove that a [11:13] third party is somewhat viable or something like that. [11:16] So, you know, it is what it is to a degree. [11:19] And I hate to say that, but rarely do we see them being so susceptible to infiltration. [11:25] That's the story here. [11:26] And I guess I had never really actually, you know, done a deep dive into how they nominate [11:31] their candidates. [11:32] And this was just jaw dropping to me. [11:34] Yeah, could probably use some reform. [11:37] Maybe a little tinker here and there. [11:39] What about people who are going to be watching this and say, look, you know, Jill Stein served [11:44] as a spoiler in the most consequential election of our history. [11:48] And so this isn't like a one off. [11:51] This may very well be par for the course for the Green Party. [11:56] And so what do you say to those folks? [11:58] They're right. [11:58] I mean, this happens, right? [12:00] Like this happened with Jill Stein. [12:01] Obviously, Ralph Nader is the big one from 2000. [12:05] Um, they would say the margins don't really tell the story that the people who voted for [12:11] Jill Stein were never going to vote for Hillary Clinton and the people who voted for Ralph [12:15] Nader really were never going to vote for Al Gore. [12:17] And I, you know, I'm not, I would say to that, sure, but that's not, you don't have, you can [12:25] also think differently through different prisms about our politics in that, you know, electing [12:31] George Bush in 2000 was detrimental to the Green Party's other key pillars beyond the duopoly [12:37] and the, and the, and the problems with it, that electing Donald Trump obviously was detrimental [12:41] to the Green Party's key pillars beyond the duopoly. [12:44] And at some point you have to sort of be strategic about it, uh, pick your races, uh, more responsibly, [12:50] maybe even try to work within the system a little bit more, uh, aggressively. [12:54] Um, but that's not their MO and, and I don't imagine that this expose, as great as I think [13:00] it was, is going to change how they think. [13:03] It, it, and by the way, for those who are watching right now, it was phenomenal. [13:07] It was great reporting. [13:08] Highly recommend for anybody who's watching and listening right now. [13:11] I'm going to put the link to that piece in the post description of this video, read the [13:15] piece, sign up for the bulwark. [13:16] You will not regret it. [13:18] Excellent job. [13:19] I want to ask one last question in the minute that we have here at the end, and that is [13:23] for your reaction to, on a completely separate topic, your reaction to the fact that we got [13:28] a no from Susan Collins on Todd Blanche. [13:32] We got a new no from Lisa Murkowski on Todd Blanche, but wouldn't you know it, Bill Cassidy [13:38] came forward and said that he would vote in favor of Todd Blanche, which means he just squeaks [13:42] by, by one vote. [13:44] So let me get your, your reaction to the fact that it just so happened that Todd Blanche [13:49] had exactly the amount of votes that he needed to get through and no extra votes, especially [13:54] for people who just so happened to be running for reelection in a tough state this year. [13:59] Well, yeah. [14:00] First, let me take a point of personal coverage because you brought it up. [14:02] Thank you for the compliments for the reporting. [14:04] And for anyone who's not familiar with the bulwark, would encourage you to sign up. [14:08] You can sign up for free if you just want to take a gander and then you can sign up to [14:12] be a paid member. [14:12] It helps support reporting like this. [14:14] So we appreciate that. [14:15] As for Blanche, we're recording this like what, Friday, 1145 Eastern. [14:20] So he just taught, Bill Cassidy spoke like an hour ago and I, you know, I was, this is [14:27] not a, a non surprise to me. [14:29] This is how it usually works. [14:32] I, I, first of all, I never expected Cassidy to really show much courage on this vote. [14:36] Um, I also expected that they would line it up so the people that needed to take those [14:41] votes against Blanche, the two would take the votes that I think Murkowski probably is [14:46] the interesting one because in theory, I guess, you know, she could have voted yes, but she [14:49] probably was like, I'm not going to do that. [14:51] Um, here's my thoughts on it. [14:53] One is, uh, you know, we need to stop waiting for profiles and courage from congressional Republicans. [14:58] They don't come. [14:59] It happened once in McCain. [15:00] That's it. [15:01] You're not going to get more. [15:02] It is what it is to is, um, it's, you know, Collins gets to say she voted against Blanche, [15:10] but I'm not sure that Cassidy did her any favors necessarily here because the MO and the knock [15:14] on Collins is that she only votes no when it's inconsequential. [15:17] And that's exactly what happened here. [15:19] I just got to throw out a third thing here, which is, I don't think this gets appreciated [15:22] enough. [15:24] I wonder how much Cassidy did this because he wants to help John Thune and it's not really [15:30] about Trump. [15:31] I don't think, I mean, I don't think Cassidy cares all that much about Trump at this juncture. [15:35] I think he cares about Thune and I think he wants Thune to not have to deal with Trump [15:40] and have some success as majority leader. [15:42] And he looks around and he's like, okay, like Thune's got to be able to show that he [15:46] can get things through. [15:48] And I'm guessing Thune leaned very heavily on him to say, I need you to do this so that [15:52] I can get Trump off my back and I can maintain my post and you don't want like a Rick Scott [15:57] in here. [15:57] Right. [15:57] And I think that was probably more persuasive to Cassidy than anything Trump would have said. [16:02] Cassidy made a point in the hearing that I think is, you know, I could see it a little [16:07] bit, which is that, you know, Blanche is going to be serving no matter what. [16:11] But here's my response to that. [16:12] Like if Blanche is serving as an acting attorney general versus a confirmed attorney general, [16:16] yeah, he's still serving. [16:17] But you're giving him the stamp of approval. [16:20] Right. [16:20] The authority of the Senate. [16:21] Mandate. [16:22] Yeah. [16:22] A mandate to do what you want to do or what he wants to do. [16:26] And that means something. [16:28] I mean, that does mean something. [16:30] And I found the whole, I found the whole thing to be just sort of smoke and mirrors, right? [16:34] Like this whole, oh, we're getting rid of the weaponization fund. [16:36] It's not dead. [16:37] The immunity, like the RS immunity deal, like it's still there. [16:41] So we walk through these shows often and we try to build up the drama. [16:47] But to me, this outcome was pretty pre-baked, honestly. [16:51] We'll leave it there. [16:52] Sam Stein from The Bulwark. [16:53] Again, for those who are watching, please subscribe to The Bulwark. [16:55] That link is right here on the screen and also in the post description of this video. [16:59] Sam, appreciate your reporting. [17:00] Thanks for taking the time. [17:01] Hey, Brian. [17:02] Thanks for having me on, man. [17:02] Appreciate you.