Mike Rogers, a Republican who backed Donald Trump's trade war and initially backed the Iran war, stood on a Grand Rapids debate stage Thursday and announced that he had personally phoned the White House this week to get the tariffs sorted out. Funny how that call got made in the same week he released a campaign ad demanding an end to the trade war. Michigan's open Senate seat is on the line, and the guy who wants it is suddenly very concerned about the policies he used to cheer.
A Phone Call Timed Perfectly for the Campaign Trail
Per NBC News, the first Michigan Senate debate, hosted by Grand Rapids NBC affiliate WOOD, pitted Democrat Abdul El-Sayed against Republican former Rep. Mike Rogers. The race is one of the most competitive in the country, and the outcome could help decide who controls the chamber. Sen. Gary Peters, a Democrat, is not running again.
The tariff exchange was the cleanest window into Rogers' predicament. Trump's new tariffs took effect last month, putting duties of 15% to 50% on $20 billion worth of American products exported to Canada. Michigan borders Canada and trades with it constantly. This is not an abstract fight in the Wolverine State. It is a fight about whether the stuff Michiganders make can cross a bridge without getting taxed into oblivion.
"I have actually called the White House this week, talked to the secretary of commerce about getting the deal done," Rogers said. He added that Canada still has some high tariffs on American goods, that some of the tariffs are "too high and not helpful for us," and that "I'd like to see it end."
The Guy Who Once Supported the Push Wants It Over
Here's the thing. Rogers did not discover tariff skepticism on a mountaintop. He once supported Trump's push, and this week he put out an ad calling for an end to the trade war. That is a man reading polling data out loud.
El-Sayed knew it. He countered by pointing to Rogers' initial support and to a study estimating how much the tariffs have cost Michigan households. The framing was simple and brutal: you cheered this, the bill came due, and now you want credit for noticing.
Rogers' whole pitch on the issue boils down to "I called the secretary of commerce." Cool. Did he pick up? Did anything change? A phone call is not a policy, and a campaign ad is not a conversion.
Gas Prices, the Iran War, and a Very Selective Memory
The debate opened on gas prices tied to the war with Iran. Moderator Rick Albin asked whether the candidates would back a pause on the federal gas tax. Both said yes. That was the last thing they agreed on all night.
El-Sayed used the opening to go straight at Rogers' record. "It's the war in Iran, a war that has been cheer-led by my opponent since the beginning," he said. "Called it a 'win, win, win.' I don't know about you, but when I go to the gas tank, I don't feel like I'm winning. I don't feel like our country is winning."
Rogers initially supported the war and has recently said he wants it to end swiftly. Same pattern as the tariffs. Back the Trump policy when it's fresh, then discover reservations once the pump prices show up on voters' receipts.
"We Cannot Afford Abdul"
Rogers did not answer the Iran charge so much as sidestep it. He pivoted to El-Sayed's support for Medicare for All, the proposal Bernie Sanders and the left have been pushing for years. Rogers claimed it would force people off private insurance they might prefer while driving up taxes and gas prices.
"It is a disaster," Rogers said. "We cannot afford Abdul."
Later he went bigger, calling El-Sayed "the best con I think I've ever seen" and warning voters that "this guy is not what he says he is." The Republican argument is that El-Sayed is a con man promising things he can't pay for without raising taxes or other costs. Notice what that argument leaves out: anything about why Rogers keeps flipping on the policies already hitting Michigan wallets.
The Real Estate Insult Olympics
At some point the debate became a property tour. Each candidate repeatedly taunted the other over real estate. Rogers got hit for a home he owns in Florida. El-Sayed got hit over property his wife owns in the United Arab Emirates.
The sniping got so mean-spirited that Albin had to beg for order. "I'd like to be a part of the debate, too," the moderator said, which is the sound of a man watching two people fight over his microphone.
The backdrop matters. El-Sayed, backed by Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, survived a nasty primary against Rep. Haley Stevens, who ran as the more moderate Democrat. Republicans, hungry to win a Michigan Senate seat for the first time since 1994, have spent the weeks since trying to paint him as an extremist.
The Dingo Take
"I'd like to see it end." That's Rogers on the tariffs, and he said it like a man who had nothing to do with starting them. He backed the push. He backed the war. Now both are costing his neighbors real money, and suddenly he's a deal-maker working the phones. Come on.
The pattern is the story. A candidate hitches himself to Trump when it's convenient, then peels off the second the polls in a swing state turn sour. Michigan voters are not stupid. They can read a gas receipt, and they can read a campaign ad that shows up the same week as a sudden change of heart. Calling the secretary of commerce is what you do when you want a photo op, not when you want results.
To be fair, El-Sayed has his own homework. Medicare for All is a real fight, and a debate full of property jabs about his wife's holdings in the UAE shows Republicans will throw everything at him. But on this night, the sharper question belonged to the guy asking how a loyalist becomes a critic in a single news cycle. Rogers had no good answer. He had a phone call and a slogan.
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