In Michigan, a ranting, QAnon-adjacent fired weatherman is trying to pass himself off as a moderate Republican

[Eugene]

Source: The Independent

In Michigan, a ranting, QAnon-adjacent fired weatherman is trying to pass himself off as a moderate Republican

A swing-state candidate reveals the problem at the heart of MAGA Republicanism, John Bowden reports

1 day ago

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Two years later, Karl Bohnak is trying to stamp out the last refuge of Democratic representation on the Upper Peninsula, centered around the college town of Marquette, on a very similar message. The message has evolved — slightly — but the roots are still the same: a massive dose of skepticism for any kind of government oversight or regulations, and disdain for lawmakers in Lansing in general. It comes after a moderately successful bid to make it back on the air — no longer delivering weather reports, Bohnak was picked up by local station WZMQ in 2022 to provide historical weather analysis, a gig he dropped in early 2024 when he announced his bid for the state house.

And like so many other MAGA Republicans both presently and in past cycles, Bohnak exemplifies the kind of novice political firebrand whom GOP primary voters love but don’t translate so well to voters in general elections. That phenomenon was pretty directly blamed by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell in 2022 for his party’s inability to capture the upper chamber of Congress, when Republicans also did worse in House elections than its members had publicly predicted.

Bohnak’s team did not respond to a request for an interview for this piece. Instead, he has given a handful of interviews to local state outlets, where he has been open about his climate change denialism and in one discussion with a local news reporter described how he finally entered the race after hearing plans to turn the Upper Peninsula into what he called “the Saudi Arabia of wind and solar [energy]”.

Yet, in some appearances, Bohnak has played himself off as a middle-of-the-road candidate, clearly cognizant of the number of Democrats who still vote in Marquette. On Facebook, he has embraced a decidedly centrist hashtag: #PeninsulaOverParty.

“I am the alternative because basically, I’m a moderate, I am a centrist,” ...

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Read more: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/maga-karl-bohnak-michigan-trump-b2621577.html

Alternate link: https://news.yahoo.com/news/michigan-ranting-qanon-adjacent-fired-144044177.html