Ann Taenes - Washington Post

Trump's RNC is reuniting the band: convicted criminals Paul Manafort and Steve Bannon (and maybe now-in-jail Peter Navarro) plus world-class whackos Steven Miller and Corey Lewandowski...under the "leadership" of daughter-in-law Lara Trump. It's looking like a rerun of 2020, but better organized but without Jared or Ivanka. Just this week, we're seeing

The screening for new Republican National Committee employees: do they agree that the 2020 election was stolen? 

Michigan’s Ronna “Don’t Call Me Romney” McDaniel’s NBC gig lasts half a Scaramucci after an on-air rebellion 

The Zillow listings for Trump properties will have to wait as the Sneaker-and-Bible Salesman gets a $300-million reprieve from a New York appeals court

Trump gets a tenuous windfall with Truth Social, but the company continues to lose money and could end up bankrupt (just like Trump casinos, Trump Airline, Trump Water, Trump University etc. etc.)

Trump gets to pray about his first criminal trial, now set to begin on April 15th (which likely means fewer rounds of golf).

Around Michigan:

Former Governor Granholm returns to the Mitten bearing gifts: $1.5-billion to restart the Palisades nuclear plant

Ottawa County may be Michigan’s most conservative politically, but its voters aren’t at all happy with the new ultra-right-wing mob running the county

Protecting healthcare, Social Security and Medicare are back as fundamental campaign issues

The most successful one-night fundraiser in political history gets launched with Biden's backup band: Bill Clinton and Barack Obama

Biden’s polling numbers are up in Michigan and nationally, and the campaign opens a 2nd office in Michigan. Meanwhile Trump’s Michigan remains in shambles.

We're joined this week by longtime Republican political consultant Stuart Stevens, now a senior adviser with the Lincoln Project.

Stevens has worked at the top level of more presidential and senatorial campaigns than just about anyone. His first presidential effort: the Bob Dole campaign in 1996. His book The Big Enchilada is a chronicle of George W. Bush’s 2000 campaign. 

He is also a prolific writer. It Was All A Lie: How The Republican Party Became Donald Trump is his eighth book; his ninth book, The Conspiracy to End America Five Ways came out last October. He has also written extensively for dramatic television series, starting with Northern Exposure and including I’ll Fly Away, K. Street, Commander in Chief and others.

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