Many residents in metro Detroit — home to the nation’s largest Lebanese community — are mourning as the war between Israel and Hezbollah brings devastation to Lebanon.

Since March, relentless fighting has left southern towns and villages in ruins. By May, at least 62,000 buildings were destroyed, more than 1 million people were displaced, and over 4,000 have been killed.

In Israel, four civilians have died and 32 soldiers have been killed in the conflict.

There’s a shaky ceasefire now, but it’s only days old, and Israeli forces still occupy parts of southern Lebanon.

For many in metro Detroit, the pain is personal.

What does it look like to be forced from home, only to return to rubble? How does all the violence and instability ricochet among friends and loved ones here in metro Detroit, where many have family and community ties to Lebanon?

Mirvet Makki is the owner of Divine Dine Detroit, a catering business in Dearborn. She immigrated to Michigan from Lebanon in 1990, and she’s been using earnings from her business to make donations to folks in Lebanon. She says she’s constantly reflecting on the devastation in the country where she was born. 

“Seeing the rubble on the side of the road, I was thinking to myself, ‘whose son was lost here, whose father was here, whose child died on this road?’” she says. 

Makki joined host Robyn Vincent on The Metro to reflect on the heartbreak unfolding in Lebanon and how it reverberates through metro Detroit’s Lebanese community.

Hear the full conversation using the media player above.

Listen to The Metro weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on-demand. Never miss an episode — subscribe to The Metro on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or NPR or wherever you get your podcasts.

More stories from The Metro

The race for the Democratic nomination in Michigan’s U.S. Senate race has been one of the most fascinating in the country. It drew national attention when controversial political commentator Hasan Piker rallied with Abdul El-Sayed on college campuses.

Piker has millions of followers on social media, largely made up of people under the age of 30.

The move was immediately met with condemnation from El-Sayed’s opponents – Congresswoman Haley Stevens, and State Senator Mallory McMorrow.

Since then, El-Sayed has steadily risen in the polls.

In a conversation this week, WDET’s Russ McNamara asked Piker what he seeks in an ideal candidate.

The following interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Hasan Piker: A candidate self-identifying as a socialist would be great, but in the absence of that, I care about where their primary focus is. Are they going to center the needs of the working class in their agenda, or are they malleable to corporate interests? And those are the things that I pay attention to.

I think some of the telltale markers of a candidate’s responsiveness to the masses is oftentimes their attitude on the issue of Israel, which is a 90-10 issue on the side of the voters within the Democratic Party, but a 10-90 issue seemingly when it comes to Congress.

Another one is Medicare for all. The private healthcare provider industry is a multi-billion-dollar industry, and they spend a great deal of money to ensure that Medicare for all is not implemented, and I think that’s another great litmus test to see if a candidate will actually put the needs and the interests of the working class first over their interest in farming campaign contributions from these moneyed interests.

Ed. Note – Piker recorded this interview while in New York City to support the Democratic Socialist candidates in their primary election. All won.

Russ McNamara, WDET: Then it sounds like Abdul El-Sayed checks a lot of those boxes.

Piker: Yes, absolutely.

McNamara: Was it all part of that that got you to come out onto the campaign trail for him earlier this year?

Piker: Yeah, Abdul El-Sayed doesn’t call himself a socialist, but I still like him quite a bit because I think he’s a fighter, and that’s what Americans need right now. Americans need fighters in the Senate, they need fighters in the House of Representatives, fighters that will put their interests first, fighters that won’t even shy away from sometimes telling the rest of the Democratic Party—not just the Republicans—that the path that they’re heading down is wrong.

Abdul obviously demonstrated that interest, and he has been a fighter for Medicare for all for a very long time, I mean, he wrote a book about it. His gubernatorial run was around the implementation of Medicare for all, so he has established a lot of trust in these communities, and I trust them as well.

McNamara: Kind of along those lines, when you came to Michigan in the spring, there was tremendous outcry in some circles. Congresswoman Haley Stevens said you were ‘divisive.’ Mallory McMorrow compared you to the white supremacist Nick Fuentes. What is your response to things like that? Because you seem to hear it a lot.

Piker: Unfortunately, this is the way that politics is conducted in this country. In most circumstances, people rely on the rest of the electorate not really knowing anything about me, and in the past this might have actually worked, because mainstream media and local institutions were capable of successfully gatekeeping outsider candidates and also outsider media figures.

Nowadays it’s a little bit different, especially because there’s so much diversity of choice in where people can get their news from, so people can come to me directly and figure out what I’m actually about, so that was one of the reasons why that smear campaign failed spectacularly, because people could just tune into my broadcast, or people were maybe somewhat familiar with what I represented, and they understood that these smears were simply being thrown in my direction, not because of any serious anti-Semitism that I’ve ever displayed.

I have not; I’ve actually combated anti-Semitism my entire professional media career and will continue to do so. I find it repugnant. It’s an odious form of bigotry, just like every other form of bigotry, including Islamophobia.

But the other reason why this smear campaign did not work is because a lot of people intrinsically now understand in the aftermath of three years of genocide, and a lot of establishment Democrats, and certainly the entirety of the Republicans, criticizing those who speak out against this genocide with these heinous accusations, a lot of people understand that this is not a person that is actually bigoted in any way, shape or form. As a matter of fact, it’s quite the opposite. This is an anti-genocide advocate, and that’s part of the reason why he’s being called an anti-Semite.

Now, that dangerous conflation actually foments more anti-Semitism, which is, ironically, something that I’ve discussed quite a bit as well, for many, many years prior to October 7, and continue to do so now. But that’s why it didn’t work. It demonstrably failed, right? It fell flat on its face.

People started looking at Abdul’s campaign, people started hearing what he was saying, and they liked it… He was in third place before this smear campaign started, and now he’s comfortably in first place.

Abdul El-Sayed is a wonderful candidate. He has solid fundamentals. He’s probably one of the best candidates in the Democratic primary cycle this midterm season. Rhodes scholar, doctor, worked for Detroit Public Health, spent his entire professional life trying to heal people, and on top of that, he is against the genocide that Israel has committed, and that’s consistent with his values, consistent with my values as well, and yet he was not receiving a lot of media attention, that race in and of itself was not receiving a lot of media attention… and I guess Haley Stevens and Mallory McMorrow stepped on a landmine there and accidentally nationalized and publicized this (Michigan Senate) primary, and people actually started tuning in.

People started looking at Abdul’s campaign, people started hearing what he was saying, and they liked it. And lo and behold, he was in third place before this smear campaign started, and now he’s comfortably in first place.

McNamara: It seems like many within the Democratic Party still haven’t fully accepted the role Israel’s genocide in Gaza played in the 2024 election. I recently talked with pollster Adam Carlson about a recent Zenith research survey he did, and it had showed that Haley Stevens would lose a significant portion of people who identify as progressives in the general election, should she make it through the primary, less so for El-Sayed and McMorrow. Do you think this country’s views have shifted enough, and now unconditional support for Israel is seen as a political liability?

Piker: Absolutely, and that’s precisely the reason why AIPAC and AIPAC subsidiaries never actually reveal that the candidates that they’re fundraising for are pro-Israel. None of those ads, whether they be attack ads against their opponents or the ads in favor of their hand-selected candidates, ever mention this candidate’s point of view on Israel. If Israel was such a popular position, then they would proudly declare it. AIPAC wouldn’t need to use this opaque funding structure and find shell corporations to funnel money into by way of their donor network under the guise of United Democracy Fund, or Elect Women Fund, that was the one they used in Illinois in the Chicago primaries.

They do that because I think everyone understands that pro-Israel politics is demonstrably unpopular, and it’s only going to get less popular from this point on. I often throughout the genocide would say: going forward, today is the most popular Israel will be. Tomorrow, Israel will be less popular than it was today, and yesterday Israel was more popular than it is today. And that has been resilient.

There are constant demands for censorship against prominent critics of Israel.

That (pro Israel) attitude has shifted, and it will continue to shift as more and more people not only come to terms with Israel playing a destabilizing role in the region, but also the unbelievable amount of arrogance in display by those who are defenders of Israel and defenders of Israeli foreign policy.

I think that is oftentimes a less discussed aspect of the reason as to why Americans are frustrated with Israel, and it’s because there are constant demands for censorship against prominent critics of Israel. Some of those censorship attempts are actually successful, de-platforming initiatives that take place. I myself was banned from traveling to the United Kingdom only last month, and it was directly a consequence of my criticisms of Israel.

This kind of censorious attitude, especially when it’s the overwhelming majority’s position, is going to be unbelievably frustrating, and it’s only going to breed more enmity and hostility against the State of Israel. And outside of that there is this level of entitlement to unlimited funds coming from the United States of America, funds and weapons that Israel deploys on Palestinian civilians, on Lebanese civilians, as they’re doing currently, as they’re in the process of trying to disrupt the memorandum of understanding in a longstanding ceasefire negotiation that we might actually finally implement with Iran.

These kinds of destabilizing initiatives paired up with hubris, unbelievable entitlement and arrogance come across as very frustrating to the average American who is maybe uninitiated with the actions of Israel.

McNamara: Influencers are often brought up as a way for people to connect with younger voters. As you know, Democrats tried to do this to very mixed success at the DNC two years ago, but to you, what is the best way to gain the attention and the vote of the mythical younger voter?

Piker: I think it’s policies, ironically enough. In the post 2024 autopsy that was being conducted in public, a lot of Democrats went to mainstream media and decided the reason why Donald Trump won was because of Joe Rogan—and Joe Rogan was obviously the catch-all term for the podcast circuit, the manosphere.

Now, is the podcast circuit of the manosphere influential, especially in terms of converting young men to voters? Certainly, but ironically enough, they chose me as the left version of Joe Rogan because of my audience, because of the success I’ve seen in the independent sphere as the largest left content creator in these spaces that are inundated with far right and right-wing messaging.

The most significant issue is that the Democratic Party is not defined by a policy prescription for the problems that the working class faces in this country.

I told them over and over again, this is not an issue that you can podcast your way out of, that I myself am not the Joe Rogan of the left, and that Joe Rogan could potentially be the Joe Rogan of the left, and was the Joe Rogan of the left at some point when he endorsed Bernie Sanders. And that ultimately the problems that the Democratic Party are facing do not revolve around their lack of funding in messaging initiatives. That’s one element of the issue, but it’s not the most significant one.

The most significant issue is that the Democratic Party is not defined by a policy prescription for the problems that the working class faces in this country, and when they’re not defining themselves on those terms with left populous economic solutions: Medicare for all, an initiative in the direction of publicly funded housing, federal jobs guarantee, free college, these bold and somewhat radical agenda items that I think a lot of Americans are on board with.

Instead of doing that, the Democratic Party is constantly finding itself in a defensive posture against Republican culture war agenda items, and by not having a vision in the affirmative, they are allowing the Republican party to define the Democratic party, and that’s the reason why they keep losing. So it comes back to policies at the end of the day, because that’s the fundamental principle of theoretical democracy. We are going to vote an elected representative to represent our interests.

“What will you offer me?” This is the question that I think a lot of people understandably ask their elected representatives in the Democratic party, and their  answers have so far been insufficient. I hope that this sequence of electoral defeats will light a fire under the Democratic Party, so that they don’t shy away from a more bold agenda, a more bold vision for change, especially because there’s tremendous appetite in the base of support for said bold agenda of change that centers the needs of the working class first and does not get bogged down with unnecessary culture war distractions.

Michigan is facing a serious housing shortage, with experts estimating the state needs to build nearly 100,000 homes.

Outdated zoning laws hinder the creation of diverse, mixed-use neighborhoods, and lengthy permitting processes slow new developments. Additionally, ongoing shortages of construction workers and building materials make it even harder to add new housing units. As a result, many new developments cater to wealthier residents, leaving residents struggling to find affordable options.

Joe Agostinelli, founder of Miller Johnson Growth Advisors, believes better financing and strong partnerships between local leaders and developers are key to expanding Michigan’s housing supply. His team is developing a new riverfront project in Grand Rapids featuring a mix of offices, apartments, and condos. Agostinelli says that city and the broader Kent County area have been able to develop homes faster than places in metro Detroit.

The Metro’s Sam Corey spoke with Agostinelli at the annual Mackinac Policy Conference to discuss how his group is trying to build homes quickly in an environment that often moves slow. 

Hear the full conversation using the media player above.

Listen to The Metro weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on-demand. Never miss an episode — subscribe to The Metro on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or NPR or wherever you get your podcasts.

More stories from The Metro

In Michigan, we have many needs: higher-paying jobs, better educational outcomes, and more public transit. Above all, we need more people. 

A lot is at stake. Even if your neighborhood feels bustling, when Michigan’s population stops growing, the state actually shrinks in all the ways that matter. Since 1970, we’ve lost a seat in Congress after every census, and those same population counts decide how hundreds of billions in federal funding are divided. That means less money for roads, water systems, housing, and more. As baby boomers retire, our workforce is shrinking, and Michigan has lost 93,000 workers just since last spring. Fewer people here means less political power, fewer resources, and a smaller tax base to pay the bills.

Michigan’s leaders agree — we need to attract more people to our state. Yet one central question remains: how do we make it happen, and who is responsible for leading the way? Some are trying to answer that question. The state of Michigan has a growth office. The City of Detroit has an initiative to grow its population. 

Jeff Donofrio is a leader in the population growth space. He’s the president and chief executive officer of Business Leaders For Michigan. He’s written about this topic in several reports, and he’s worked for the City of Detroit and the State of Michigan to resolve the problem.

He believes we need to reform teaching.“It’s about making sure that [students are] engaged and can do stuff besides passing a standardized test,” says Donofrio.

He joined host Robyn Vincent on The Metro to explore how government culture needs to change to build more housing, create better regional transit, and to ultimately attract more people to the state.

Hear the full conversation using the media player above.

Listen to The Metro weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on-demand. Never miss an episode — subscribe to The Metro on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or NPR or wherever you get your podcasts.

More stories from The Metro

In this episode

• The current status of the Michigan US Democratic Senate race.
• Will the budget get done by the July 1st deadline?

Subscribe to MichMash on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, NPR.org or wherever you get your podcasts.

Over the past month, Michigan’s U.S. Senate race has emerged as one of the most competitive contests in the country. This week on WDET’s MichMash, Gongwer News Service’s Zach Gorchow and Alethia Kasben break down the major developments that have shaped the race.

Dr. Abdul El-Sayed and U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens appear to have pulled ahead of state Sen. Mallory McMorrow. Fellow state Sen. Sam Singh said he still hopes McMorrow can gain ground before the primary election.

“What we are seeing right now is significant investment by outside groups [supporting Dr. El-Sayed and Rep. Stevens]. My understanding is that McMorrow has some independent expenditures that are happening. Now that people are spending real money, I think you’ll begin to see a clear path.”

The Michigan primaries is on August 4th 2026.

• More from WDET:
  Dr. Abdul El-Sayed on reaching voters and prioritizing issues near home
  Haley Stevens weighs in on energy costs, tariffs and Michigan jobs
  State Sen. Mallory McMorrow says she’s working to win over undecided voters, find path back to bipartisan cooperation

A recent Gallup poll shows 86% of Americans surveyed think Congress is not doing a good job on behalf of the country. That’s not necessarily surprising in a fractious election year. But lawmakers say they can work in a bipartisan fashion.

Kristen McDonald Rivet is the U.S. representative for Michigan’s 8th Congressional District. She spoke with WDET’s Jerome Vaughn at last month’s Mackinac Policy Conference. McDonald Rivet says there’s a formula to get lawmakers from different sides of the aisle working together.

She says Ohio Congresswoman Nancy Kaptur gave her some invaluable advice along that line.

“Find the people that are close to your district in terms of median income. Seeking out other members whose districts look like mine, who are worried about the same things that I am worried about.”

McDonald Rivet says there’s a gap between many voters’ perception of Congress and how things really are.

“The reality that you don’t hear on the 24-hour news channels is that most people in Congress are there because they are serious about making things better. Not all of them. Definitely not all of them, but most people are.”

McDonald Rivet is in her first term as a congresswoman. The 8th District includes Flint, Saginaw and Midland. The Democrat is running for a second term in office.

The United Auto Workers (UAW) endorsed Abdul El-Sayed for Michigan’s open U.S. senate seat and Jocelyn Benson for Governor.  

For UAW Region 1A Director Mark DePaoli, this move puts the union “back at the forefront” in terms of political influence.  

To determine which candidate receives their endorsement, DePaoli said the UAW Community Action Program (CAP) Board schedules meetings with candidates to ask questions and vote on who best reflects their values.  

“They ask a lot of tough questions because they want to be able to hold the candidates accountable for their answers,” DePaoli said.  

UAW rules require a two-thirds majority of CAP board member to agree in order for an endorsement to be made. 

“The best part about it is whether you’re one of the CAP reps from the plant, you’re one of the three Michigan directors, or you’re the president of the UAW, everybody’s vote weighs the same,” DePaoli said.  

Selecting a senate candidate

The CAP representatives came from each plant and facility represented by UAW, DePaoli said, and ended up voting in favor of El-Sayed.

Another way UAW members learn more about the candidates and their beliefs is through a public debate in which the candidates discuss their values.  

“It was live stream for all of our members, and the consensus at the end of that debate amongst everybody that was talking was that Abdul was the clear-cut winner,” DePaoli said. 

The vote was a surprise in some circles since the other two candidates—Congresswoman Haley Stevens and State Senator Mallory McMorrow—both have some background in the auto industry.

Stevens worked on the 2009 auto bailout in the Obama Administration. McMorrow trained as car designer. In autoworker-heavy Michigan, both candidates have leaned into drawing the interest of organized labor.

DePaoli said he was “dreading” the endorsement decision because each candidate had values that the UAW supported, but he decided that El-Sayed would be best suited to tackle the issue of healthcare, which DePaoli  referred to as “the biggest problem” for the majority of Americans.   

“We seem to be the only country where it’s acceptable for big business to make profit off of our illnesses,” DePaoli said. “Why not a health care expert in the U.S. Senate to help try and fix some of these problems?” 

El-Sayed said he was “deeply honored” to receive the endorsement from UAW. El-Sayed makes it a point that his campaign is built from union members instead of “corporate PAC money, AIPAC and Washington insiders.” 

“Together, we’re going to take on corporate greed, rebuild an economy that works for working people, strengthen collective bargaining and ensure that the future of Michigan manufacturing is built right here by union workers,” El-Sayed said.  

In the past, the UAW has almost exclusively endorsed Democratic candidates. According to DePaoli, UAW leadership invited all candidates for the U.S. Senate seat, and only three Democrats attended. Republican Mike Rogers did not attend.

“It makes it hard to endorse somebody that doesn’t even bother to come out and listen to the questions and hear the concerns of your membership, let alone give an answer,” DePaoli said. “I don’t think they even try to get Labor’s endorsement because they know they’re not going to vote any policies in favor of Labor.” 

Why Jocelyn Benson?

In the race for Michigan Governor, Jocelyn Benson has a financial advantage over Genesee County Sheriff Chris Swanson. She also has a lead in the polls.

According to DePaoli both candidates were worthy of backing and recently discussed their positions for the CAP board at UAW Local 600.

“Two great candidates coming from completely different backgrounds,” DePaoli said. “At the end of the day, we don’t completely trust in polls, but we were comfortable that Jocelyn Benson was the correct decision.”

None of the Republican candidates for governor showed up.

At the time, former Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan was in the race and in the forum.

“I think a lot of people were surprised at how well he did,” DePaoli said. “But I think everybody had gotten to a point to say, well, even if we don’t endorse him—if he does win— we’re comfortable that we can work with him and get things done for labor.”

Duggan dropped out citing concerns over money and no path to victory given a recent surge for democrats. 

Subscribe to MichMash on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, NPR.org or wherever you get your podcasts.

In this episode

• How do we currently nominate secretary of state and attorney general?
• Reactions to this new proposal

Johnson says that having voters choose secretary of state and attorney general nominees allows for better representation for both the Democratic and Republican parties, as opposed to party conventions which are dominated by “insiders and special interests.”

“Anytime you have more people involved, you get a better reflection of society,” said Johnson. “It’s time to move forward and present this choice to the people of Michigan.”

The other two states that don’t use voters to nominate these roles are South Dakota and Indiana.

Johnson said roles that he and his group may focus on next includes Michigan Supreme Court seats and university trustees.

More from WDET

• Current and Former Secretaries of State Talk Transparency To Kick Off Sunshine Week
• MichMash: Attorney General Dana Nessel talks ICE detention center lawsuit, data centers and more
• MichMash: Secretary Benson on presidential primaries, election security

The Gordie Howe International Bridge is widely interpreted as strengthening the connection between Canada and the United States, making travel easier and cheaper. It’s seen as a win-win project that Canada paid for and jointly owns with the Michigan.

But President Donald Trump has tried to block the bridge’s opening until Canada meets certain trade-related demands with the U.S. and compensates America for it, even though Canada already paid for the bridge. 

The upcoming opening of the bridge has now been delayed. In an email statement Thursday morning, Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens said, “Although we would all like the Gordie Howe International Bridge to open, Canada need not fall on bent knee to make it happen.”

Producer Sam Corey spoke with Dilkens yesterday before the ribbon cutting was canceled. He says the bridge is “the ultimate symbol of connection” and friendship.

Hear the full conversation using the media player above.

Listen to The Metro weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and stream on-demand.

Never miss an episode — subscribe to The Metro on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, NPR, or wherever you get your podcasts.

More stories from The Metro

The Michigan Senate is set to lose three women of color from Detroit-area districts.

Erika Geiss, Stephanie Chang, and Sylvia Santana are all term limited.

Eboni Taylor is running in the 3^rd district – and was recruited to run by Senator Chang.

There are 10 other people in the primary including: Kimberley Hill Knott, Latanya Garrett,  Adam Hollier, John Conyers III, and Korey Hall.

Taylor is also the Vice President of Programs for Higher Heights for America, a political action committee with the goal of increasing Black women’s elected representation. Taylor spoke to WDET’s Russ McNamara about the challenges Black women face in campaigns and where she finds the most support.  

The following interview has been edited for length and clarity. 

Taylor: All federal races, all statewide executive races, according to the state’s constitution, and the only local race that we partake in is top 100 cities for mayor. So, really excited that my organization, with me at the helm of the program and the political work, was very proud that we were able to support our now Mayor Mary Sheffield. 

McNamara: Does Mayor Sheffield endorse your campaign currently? 

Taylor: I think that Mayor Sheffield is currently staying out of it because it is an extremely crowded race. There are 11 people in the race, but I know that she does believe strongly in Black women’s leadership, and Black women stepping up and deciding to run. So, I do know that she holds that value. 

McNamara: What are the challenges that go into getting a woman of color elected? Black women specifically. 

Taylor: Women in general, it takes them four to five times to be asked to run before they say yes. A woman of color, it takes even more times for them to be asked before they decide to run, and when they do say yes, the issues that they face are numerous, but the number one issue is that it’s hard to raise funds. As the Vice President of Programs and the political work at Higher Heights, I’m in conversations with candidates all across the country, all different walks of life, and that is probably the number one thing that rises to the top, is that it’s hard to raise money in comparison to their white counterparts, to their male counterparts. It’s hard to get campaign staff that actually can put forth products and put forth a campaign that’s in their voice, because these are folks who are cookie cutting from campaign to campaign, instead of understanding that a Black woman’s voice and a Black woman’s way of running a campaign might be different, not always, but it might be different, and for us to not have just across the board, campaign managers, finance directors, who don’t understand the importance and the uniqueness of a Black woman or a woman of color running, we need more of that, and so those are probably the top two issues that we’re seeing.  

McNamara: Does that surprise you? Since one of the key pillars of the Democratic base are Black women. 

Taylor: Yeah, and Black women, we have been key to the Democratic party. We have been a very strong voting block. We have been essentially the architects, the purveyors, if you will, of democracy, and for us to not be at the helm, at the vanguard, and the forefront, is a problem. And I think that the Democratic Party, it’s high time for them to step up—and I think that they are—to see the uniqueness that Black women bring and the community and the network that comes with Black women, because we are at the center of our communities, we help support our immediate families. I was just on the doors with a woman who was talking about making sure she got to all of her neighbors on her block, that they got out and voted, or they submitted their absentee ballot, and so this is the work that Black women have been doing to ensure that they can feed their families, to ensure that they can go to work and not worry about being treated unfairly, and that’s the only way that they can do it if they do it themselves. 

President Trump has repeatedly said the U.S. Justice Department has been “weaponized” against him.

But one former Justice official argues the president is not just weaponizing the government but running it like an organized crime syndicate.

Author and law professor Barbara McQuade served as the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan from 2010 to 2017.

She successfully prosecuted former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick on corruption charges.

Now McQuade is out with a new book, “The Fix: Saving America from the Corruption of a Mob-Style Government.”

She says the book stems, in part, from what she found during the Kilpatrick trial.

Focus: Hope was founded in 1968 as a way to bring Black and white Detroiters together in the aftermath of the 1967 rebellion.  The organization has grown and changed in the last six decades, but still faces challenges.

Portia Roberson is the President and CEO of Focus: Hope.  She spoke with WDET’s Jerome Vaughn at the Mackinac Policy Conference last week.

Roberson says changes in federal funding priorities have made it harder for the non-profit to achieve its goals.  The organization had its federal funding slashed for Head Start.  She says those funding cuts endangered early learning opportunities for more than 200 families.

At the same time, Roberson says the Focus: Hope food program is growing because more people across the state are dealing with food insecurity.  The non-profit is feeding between 45,000 and 50,000 Michigan seniors every month.

In this episode

• What is in the Money Out of Politics group’s proposal?
• What are the reactions from the supporters and opponents of the bill?

Subscribe to MichMash on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, NPR.org or wherever you get your podcasts.

A ballot measure that would prohibit political spending by Michigan’s regulated utilities and large state contractors could appear on the November ballot. As part of WDET’s weekly series, MichMash, Gongwer News Service’s Zach Gorchow and Alethia Kasben discuss what’s included in the proposal and how supporters and opponents are responding.

The co-chairs of Michiganders for Money Out of Politics, Sean McBrearty and Christy McGillivray, stop by to discuss the proposal.

Opponents of the proposal say it infringes on their right to free speech. McBrearty disagrees.

“They’ll still get to play a role in the political process. The utility executives will be welcome to go out and canvass for any lawmakers they support,” he said.

McGillivray added, “They won’t be able to use money to shut the door on everyone else who wants to have a conversation with their elected officials.”

The group is confident it will gather the 356,000 valid voter signatures needed to qualify for the November ballot.

Producer’s Note:

MichMash reached out to Consumers Energy and DTE Energy, as well as Protect MI Free Speech, the committee opposing the ballot proposal, to share their perspectives. However, we were unable to schedule interviews with them. We will continue to cover this issue and hope to have them on the show in a future episode.

More from WDET:

• DTE Energy is building the region’s largest battery energy storage center at old Trenton coal plant
• A Republican outlook on Michigan’s 2026 elections
• The Metro: Can a new coalition remove big money from Michigan politics?

You probably learned this as a kid: When something goes wrong, you call 911. Someone answers, and help is on the way. But across America’s biggest cities, more than 1 in 5 911 centers can’t answer calls fast enough to meet the national standard.

Often, there simply aren’t enough people on staff to pick up the phone.

Reporter Byard Duncan spent a year finding out how often emergency calls go unanswered. His reporting was the source of recent episode of the investigative podcast Reveal called “911, Please Hold.” His search took him from California to Capitol Hill, and one common theme emerged: emergency call centers dispatchers are not classified as first responders.

In the federal government’s eyes, they sit alongside receptionists and bill collectors. There’s a move in Congress to change that, and this past winter, a team from Detroit’s 911 center went to Washington to fight for it.

Why aren’t emergency call dispatchers considered first responders? Duncan joined The Metro to share his findings.

“911, Please Hold” was produced by Byard Duncan for Type Investigations in partnership with Reveal.

Listen to The Metro weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on demand.

Subscribe to The Metro on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, NPR.org or wherever you get your podcasts.

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Eli Savit is the Washtenaw County Prosecutor and the Democratic endorsed candidate for Michigan attorney general.

Savit spoke with WDET’s Russ McNamara about his campaign and the importance of younger voters in this year’s elections.

The following interview was edited for clarity and length.

McNamara: Take me through the process of the convention this year – it was a little bit wild for Democrats’ sake, but something that was pretty clear was that the people at the convention voting much prefer you over Karen McDonald, the Oakland County prosecutor. Why? And I don’t mean that as an insult.

Savit: I give a lot of credit to our team and to the organizing efforts that we did. We made a conscious effort to speak to people that have felt shut out by not just the party, but by the political process, especially younger people. We had tremendous turnout among youth, among college students. The convention was during finals season, and we didn’t just have kids from U of M come in. We had a group of kids from Northern Michigan University make the drive down in the middle of finals season to be there to cast a vote on a Sunday when you got to go back to school the next day. We had a tremendous surge in youth turnout. The youth in turn organized for us, right? They volunteered for our campaign, they called voters, they came to convention, and they worked for our campaign because they found something to believe in.

I’m tremendously honored that I was the candidate that they saw fit to support in that regard, and I think that’s what we need if we’re going to keep building our party into the future. So, it was a great convention for us, for them, but now we’re focused on moving forward to the general in November.

McNamara: Do you think that enthusiasm by the youth vote can carry over into the general?

Savit: Well, it’s certainly something that we’re hoping remains in the general, but it’s not the only thing that we need to win this race. We need to talk to everybody, we need to talk to all communities, but I will say we’ve seen drop off in youth turnout, not just in Michigan, but across the country in 2024 from even 2022. We need that vote, we need young people in the fold if we are going to win general elections, and that’s something that our campaign has, and it’s momentum that I’m hoping will carry forward, even as we talk to every group in every constituency in the state.

McNamara: Do you think part of the problem in 2024 with the youth vote staying home was the candidates, whereas there wasn’t really a candidate that this younger generation was excited about?

Savit: I think to some extent, but here’s the other thing that has really been crystallized to me over the course of this campaign: I’ve got young staff too, so we spend a lot of time in the car together and have some pretty long conversations, and they’ve emphasized to me, listen, when Donald Trump came down that stairway in 2015, if you are 18 years old, that is your entire political life. You know nothing other than a politics that has been dominated by Donald Trump. It’s baked in. So, running a campaign just on a message of we’re fighting back against the Trump administration. Young people know that what’s going on in D.C. is bad, but they want something more. They want a positive vision. They want to know that the future that they thought was promised to them is going to be secured, and we can’t just talk over and over again about how bad Trump is, because really, for young people, that’s about all they know intuitively in terms of the political landscape here.

So that’s something that’s really been important to me, and we’ve tried to go out and talk to young people and say, okay, what are the issues that concern you, and it’s things like AI. Am I going to have a job after college graduation? Things like, am I ever going to be able to afford a home and start a family? Talk to young people, they want a secured future, and we’ve got to talk about their issues and really listen to what their concerns are, not just hammer home the message over and over again about how bad this administration is.

McNamara: We’re here at Mackinac. I talked with Jim Runestad, the chair of the Michigan Republican Party, yesterday. He thinks you are a gift to Republicans because you do skew progressive, and it plays into the messaging by Republicans that everybody in the Democratic Party right now is a radical leftist. I don’t know if you’re necessarily radical, but you are a leftist.

Savit: I actually would not categorize myself as a leftist. I would not, and I actually don’t think that pinning down what I stand for ideologically makes a lot of sense. Here’s what I stand for, especially in this race. If somebody is screwing over the people of the state of Michigan, whether that’s a criminal on the street, whether it’s your boss who’s stealing from you, whether it’s a corporation who is ripping you off and price gouging you, whether it’s a corporate polluter or whether it’s the President of United States himself, the attorney general needs to be there standing for the people of the state of Michigan.

If you want to put ideological labels on that, go nuts.

But I think that the people of the state of Michigan, when you say, ‘Don’t you want an attorney general who’s going to stand up to the corporation that’s contaminating your local water supply? Don’t you want an attorney general who’s going to stand up to your boss if he’s stealing from you? Don’t you want an attorney general who’s going to actually do something about price gouging?’

They say, yeah, regardless of where they fall on the political spectrum. So, I look forward to having that conversation.

McNamara: But you have been supportive of things like bail reform; that’s not even universally adopted in traditionally Democratic spaces. So, is that something that you would like to see? You don’t have that power, but is that something you would continue to advocate for if you get the big office?

Savit: We need to move beyond, just as a policy matter, cash bail system, but that doesn’t mean—I want to be clear about that—that everybody who’s arrested for a crime gets to go free. I want to hold people if they are dangerous pending trial, right? And if you’re not, I don’t think you should be held, but money shouldn’t play a role in this, and here’s the thing that I want to ask people who say bail reform is bad. Why do you think it’s okay that Jeffrey Epstein, the first time that he was arrested, was able to bond his way out of jail and continue to harm people? It didn’t matter what you set that price at. Jeffrey Epstein was going to be able to buy his way out. I think people like Jeffrey Epstein, that are wealthy, that are dangerous, that are going to continue to harm people if they’re released, I think they should remain in jail.

And so, if you’re defending that system, you are essentially defending a two-tiered system of justice in which wealthy people are able to continue to go out and harm people simply because they’re wealthy. And I don’t know why anybody would be comfortable with that.

James Tate is the latest in a long line of Detroit city council presidents as of January.  He attended the Mackinac Policy Conference on Mackinac Island last week and sat down to speak with WDET’s Jerome Vaughn.  

Tate has been on the city council for years, but now he’s learning how to perform in his new role as president. He’s had conversations with current Mayor Mary Sheffield about her transition from council member to council president.

The city council president says he looks forward to working closely with Sheffield on an issue that he sees as Detroit’s biggest challenge: poverty.  Tate hopes potential opportunities posed by transit could help ease some of the effects of Detroit’s income gap.

For the past few years, Michigan Republicans have been fractured between the historically small government variety and the Trump fanatics who lean into conspiracy theories.

State GOP conventions have been a flashpoint for controversy and fighting.

“We have had fisticuffs, kicking in the groin—you name it, all videotaped and spread all over the nation,” said Jim Runestad, Michigan Republican Party Chair.

“When I first went to the RNC, they said ‘you’re the groin kickers’ and I was saying, ‘well, this isn’t really a good reputation for a state party to have,’ particularly when people decide where they’re going to put their donations.”

In an interview at the Mackinac Policy Conference, Runestad—who is also a state senator—tells WDET’s Russ McNamara that he feels like the in-fighting has largely stopped.

The following interview has been edited for clarity and length.

Russ McNamara: What brought about this change from fighting to relative peace?

Jim Runestad: I said I’m not going to engage in (factional infighting), I won’t tolerate it. We’re going to run a unified party, and the people who want to have drama and fights are going to get thrown out or ostracized. Everybody liked that message. They’d seen what it was like in the past, and it was, it was very unifying. So I’ve been really pleased. That’s what I ran on. This is what I’ve been able to accomplish when I’ve been in front of the convention or the state committee.

McNamara: You’re fairly prolific in getting bills passed through the state legislature. Do you think you brought some of those skills of negotiation to bring everybody together within the Republican party?

Runestad: You’re the first person that I’ve talked to who mentioned that. The last year Republicans were in control (of the state legislature) with the Democrat in control (of the governor’s office), I had the second most number of bills signed into office.

Frankly, I wasn’t exactly the favorite of the majority leader Republican (Mike Shirkey) at the time. That adds to the complication, but a lot of it was reaching out to members of committees, chairs of committees and explaining why this is a good bill.

Sometimes it’d have 20 to 30 people in a meeting, all stakeholders to get them to either yes or neutral. And when a chair sees you have a very complex bill that’s a great idea, and you have no opposition, that’s how you get a bill through. And that’s what I really specialized in doing over the last 10 years in office.

McNamara: You don’t have a lot of control over what happens nationally, but the national perception of the Republican Party, of President Trump, can affect how people vote in the state of Michigan. What are you kind of doing to overcome some of that, because these are the worst poll numbers that we’ve seen for the president since his second term started.

Runestad: A lot of it comes down to the candidates you have running for these particular offices. I’ve never been more excited for what we have in terms of the candidates coming out of our convention. We have just such a great cadre of candidates. Mike Rogers is running by himself, and they’re (Democrats) beating themselves up in their primary. Our primary is going to be a tough one on the gubernatorial side, but we’re going to have a fabulous candidate come out of there.

On the national level, I think what we’re seeing is just a result of price of gas. I believe that that can be reversed relatively quickly.

So I think we’re going to be very, very good going into the November elections. We have fabulous candidates, we’ve raised way more money. If you look at the Democrats, (their) party polling is the lowest it’s ever been in its history, so it’s not like, ‘oh, they have some frustration over gas prices, therefore they love the Democrats’. Oh no. The woke policies that they ran on that were they were destroyed by in 2024 is exactly the same policies they are going run again.

McNamara: Can you explain what you mean by woke policies?

Runestad: I love their policy of having boys playing girls sports, it’s a good one for them. They need to continue running on open borders.

Their Attorney General (candidate and current Washtenaw County Prosecutor) Eli Savit was constantly speaking to the Michigan Senate Judiciary committee when the Democrats are in control. (He was in there) with the most woke leftists, ‘free the criminals’, ‘get the criminals out into society’ as anyone I’ve seen coming through the Judiciary Committee.

I think it’s wonderful that they’re doubling down on those woke policies that I just described. I don’t know how they describe them, but that’s how we describe them.

McNamara: In the race for Michigan’s open U.S. Senate seat who do you want to face Mike Rogers?

Runestad: Well, Abdul El-Sayed performs the worst in in the polling (head to head vs Rogers), but you know that’s temporary.

I know Haley Stevens was booed by 7,400 people going into the (Democratic) convention. You turn on the TV and all you see is Haley Stevens to try to overcome the negativity within the base of the party, They’re (AIPAC) pumping millions into it.

Listen to the full interview using the media player above.

Women-led organizations marched on Washington to be heard during their historic efforts to achieve social, political and economic equality. Yet, not all women were included in the conversation. Many of the early women’s suffrage groups excluded Black women and women of color.

Discrimination in the movement led to the formation of Black-led organizations like the Detroit Association of Women’s Clubs (DAWC).

Founded in 1921 at Ferry and Brush at the height of the women’s suffrage movement, the DAWC made it their mission to fight for their own version of equality—one that included both gender and racial parity.

So what happened to the DAWC, its founders, and its mission?

Every year, the National Trust for Historic Preservation compiles its list of the 11 Most Endangered Historic Places in America. 

This year, in honor of our nation’s 250th anniversary, the organization is centering its selections around the theme of equality—protecting and preserving spaces that have advanced the idea that all people are created equal.

The DAWC earned a place on this year’s list. Executive Director Candace Calloway joins the show to share what the designation means, and why its essential to preserve this historic space.

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More stories from The Metro

In this episode:

• Why did Michigan State University President Kevin Guskiewicz leave to go to Clemson?
• What was the general theme of this year’s policy conference?
• Who gave standout speeches during the conference?

Subscribe to MichMash on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, NPR.org or wherever you get your podcasts.

The Mackinac Policy Conference had a couple of surprising moments from lawmakers, leaders, and political candidates. This week on WDET’s MichMash, Gongwer News Service’s Zach Gorchow and Alethia Kasben give a glimpse of some of the news happening on the island. Gongwer reporter Liz Nass joins the conversation from the conference to share her coverage of the annual meeting. 

Unlike other years, the conference was focused more on where Michigan ranked in comparison to the rest of the nation. “It’s very stat heavy. Everybody is really focused on numbers, specifically Michigan’s rankings. There isn’t specific legislation being spoken about, but more so about competition with the rest of the country,” said Nass. 

The conference had its fair share of news-breaking moments. One of the biggest was Michigan State University President Kevin Guskiewicz leaving his position to become the 16th president of Clemson University. Nass said his departure points to a larger story.

“It follows what the MSU Board of Trustees have been dealing with for a while. A while ago, they had a special emergency meeting discussing [possibly] changing the code of ethics because of rogue trustees writing op-eds, which they expressed created a bad environment for our president.”

There is a conversation about changing how these positions are nominated. 

• More from WDET:

  2026 Mackinac Policy Conference

  ‘No!’ Whitmer shoots down presidential run, looks back at career at Mackinac Policy Conference

  Mackinac Policy Conference: Sen. Peters comments on Iran, state Rep. Puri on budgeting and DTE announces battery storage for data centers