Daniel Howes' Weekend Essay

This week, Howes says the governance of Wayne State University is so screwed up that Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and the state's bi-partisan legislative leaders felt compelled to write the trustees a letter. The request? To "make the right decision" and establish a code of conduct or risk the Higher Learning Commission yanking the school's accreditation. It's absurd. The continuing antics, the meddling, the preening for media attention are a screaming billboard to prospective academic talent. The message is: “Don’t come here!”

Daniel Howes says Michigan State University's chaotic search for a new football coach demonstrates two things: the Spartans are willing to spend big to try and stay competitive, and the trustees are once again showing zero understanding of the difference between management and governance.

This week, Howes says Iowa's Democratic caucus debacle is an opportunity — for Michigan to become a go-first state in presidential politics. Unlike the cornfield capital of America, the home of the Motor City ticks all the boxes today's Democrats theoretically want, even need, to kick off the primary season. Most importantly: the path to the Oval Office runs straight through Michigan, arguably among the most central battleground states.

This week, Daniel Howes says Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a former state Senate minority leader, is not living up to her widely touted knack for working with the Legislature. Instead of delivering grand compromises with Republicans, the governor is adopting the unilateral tactics so popular in Washington nowadays — and her $3.5-billion debt-financed plan to repair Michigan's crumbling roads is a prime example. Bipartisan comity in our tribal age is a cruel joke.

Howes says the Silicon Valley automaker, Tesla Inc., is getting its revenge. In one day last week, the company got approval to sell its electric vehicles directly to consumers in Michigan, epicenter of the automotive establishment. And this week, the market value of Tesla topped $100 billion dollars … making it more valuable than General Motors Co. and Ford Motor Co. -- combined. This new reality should scare Detroit.

This week, Daniel Howes says the winding down of President Donald Trump's parallel trade wars signals that an election year is here. Despite impeachment, Trump produced tangible results likely to quicken the country’s economic metabolism in the coming months … which is precisely the point. Racking up wins that buoy the economy … fatten paychecks … and juice stock markets are critical components of Trump’s re-election arguments. Those and your 401(k) balance.

This week, Daniel Howes says the birthplace of the modern American labor movement is facing a reckoning. Thank a growing cadre of United Auto Workers leaders, including two of the past three presidents. Their scheming and embezzling, alleged and admitted, is pushing the 85-year-old union to the brink of federal oversight. And toward racketeering charges, the tool the feds have long used to fight organized crime.

This week, Daniel Howes says President Donald Trump chose Michigan to counter the House impeachment vote because the state is shaping up to be a linchpin in his 2020 re-election effort. The signs are there: NBC News is tracking voter sentiment in and around Grand Rapids; the White House is tracking the votes of the state's Democratic members of Congress; Attorney General William Barr is touting a federal anti-violent crime partnership in Detroit; and Trump is taking his message to the heart of the industrial Midwest — often.

This week, Daniel Howes says surreal juxtaposition of Democrats moving ahead with impeachment of President Donald Trump and even as reach agreement with him on a replacement for NAFTA proves there are no coincidences in politics.

This week, Daniel Howes say the new president of the United Auto Workers, Rory Gamble, has leverage to drive reform within -- and if he falters, the most likely alternative is federal oversight of the 84-year-old union.