Ex-Michigan Gov. Jim Blanchard (D) — a longtime friend of Rep. Haley Stevens (D-Mich.) — revealed that her stunning endorsement of U.S. Senate nominee Mike Rogers (R) occurred less than 48 hours after she told him over dinner that she planned to reiterate her support for Rogers’ opponent, Democrat Abdul El-Sayed.

In the lead-up to Sunday, the congresswoman — who is backed by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee — and her fiancé, Jason Turkish, ramped up their criticisms toward El-Sayed’s views on Israel, pressuring the progressive to denounce ads backing his bid that they called “hateful” and antisemitic.

Turkish — who is Jewish and has donated to AIPAC — had endorsed Rogers days before attending the dinner with Stevens on Friday.

Blanchard, speaking on Turkish’s behavior at the dinner, told Gongwer, “He was working her over.”

“The way he was saying it was, ‘Everyone is disappointed in you, they did everything they could to help you and then immediately after you lose the primary, you endorsed him,’” Blanchard said.

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[–] 119 points 1 week ago (4 children)

Gee, $$$$$ I wonder $$$$$$ what could $$$$$$$$$$ have $$$$$$$$ happened $$$$$$$ to make her $$$$$$ change her $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ mind

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  • [–] 65 points 1 week ago (9 children)

    Turkish donated $15,000 toward a political action committee supporting Slotkin’s 2024 campaign, per federal election data.

    What kind of "normal" person can fucking donate $15k to a PAC?

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  • [–] 21 points 1 week ago (7 children)

    The same sort of person who can donate $24k to a Susan Collins PAC.

    Turkish has described himself as a Democrat, although his political donations have also included contributions to Republican candidates.

    According to The Detroit News, federal campaign finance records show that he donated more than $24,000 to committees allied with Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine in 2025.

    https://www.ibtimes.sg/who-jason-turkish-meet-haley-stevens-fiance-centre-michigan-senate-fallout-95798

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  • [–] 36 points 1 week ago (6 children)

    His photo looks insane. This isn't a 2000s-era video game NPC?

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  • [–] 4 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (2 children)

    I can't believe you are shaming this guy because of his beady eyes and his little face and chubby cheeks and stringy hair. That's not right

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  • [–] 130 points 1 week ago (12 children)

    AIPAC and its donors have no place in American politics.

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  • [–] 80 points 1 week ago* (6 children)

    Why stop there? No donors. Zero. It's all the same problem.

    You can't (logically) reject AIPAC money while accepting luxury jets from Qatar.

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  • [–] 45 points 1 week ago* (5 children)

    Honestly if you want fair elections then you would need to set up an election fund and use it to give everyone the same sum of money for their campaign. Any other external contributions would be illegal. That way everyone, no matter who they are would be on equal footing.

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  • [–] 19 points 1 week ago

    This would be fine and could be done for a fraction of the current election spending. It’s absurd how much money is wasted on these dumbass campaign ads.

    A side benefit of this change would be that corpo media loses one of their primary revenue streams. They might have to start doing actual journalism again…!

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  • [–] 14 points 1 week ago (4 children)

    Politicians vote to send money to isreal, then isreal uses it to elect politicians that will send money to isreal. Its the circle of life.

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  • [–] 8 points 1 week ago (3 children)

    IF china dropped a hundred million dollars in US races there would be riots.

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  • [–] 58 points 1 week ago (2 children)
  • [–] 19 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

    We may never know. /s What's amazing to me, at this time, is not the fact that politicians can be bought, or that Israel is throwing some $$ around, but rather how cheaply politicians are being bought by Israel / AIPAC. And I'm happy to see, on the link below, that MI-12 Representative Rashida Tlaib is the only one from MI that took ZERO $ from AIPAC.

    https://www.trackaipac.com/states/michigan

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  • [–] 17 points 6 days ago (1 child)

    And, now that the election is over, we have Senator Abdul Al-Sayed. Stevens' betrayal accomplished nothing.

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  • [–] 14 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

    I$RAEL COME$ TO ME IN MY DREAM$!!!

    -Haley $teven$

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  • [–] 14 points 1 week ago

    Israel came to her dream again

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  • [–] 13 points 1 week ago (9 children)

    Can it just really be money? Any chance she's being blackmailed?

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  • [–] 52 points 1 week ago (7 children)

    Emotionally, yes. Read the article. Her partner is Jewish and was basically telling her that she was being anti-Semitic for backing Sayed. You throw that kind of borderline abusive emotional manipulation on top of half her campaign funding coming from AIPAC and it's not hard to see how this happened. No conspiracy required.

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  • [–] 38 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (2 children)

    This makes a lot of sense. Especially given her bizarre interview with Anderson Cooper. He kept asking her the same question: what changed on the night before you endorsed the Republican? And she kept (ineptly) tap-dancing around the issue and fluctuating wildly between thanking Cooper for giving her air time and getting hostile about his question.

    Her behavior and that interview shows all the hallmarks of someone who has jumped into or been pushed into a corner and doesn't know how to get out.

    Not that I pity her as it stands. This whole fiasco shows a remarkable lack of character and spine from her.

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  • [–] 3 points 6 days ago* (1 child)

    I mean ok, but she was running for major national office, maybe it shouldn't be that fucking easy to manipulate her into saying and doing things that run contrary to her previously stated values.

    That's a major problem for a Senator to have, and it seems Michigan dodged a bullet. This is why primaries are so important.

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  • [–] 1 point 6 days ago

    Oh, for sure, no argument there. I'm not defending her character, she sucks, end of discussion. I'm just pointing out that no one needs to start coming up with weird-ass conspiracy theories to explain how this happened.

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  • [–] 11 points 1 week ago

    Maybe something snapped, it's possible, but that only ever works in one direction. "Snapping" suggests a period of pressure that the "snap" -- or reversion to natural state -- then resolves.

    If she genuinely snapped and in that "snap" she changed in character, that only means that this is who she was all along.

    For myself, I don't believe even that much. This whole thing sounds like the beginnings of a plan to blame it all on the fiancé whenever she wants to reenter politics.

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  • She looks like a spooky Halloween decoration. Also, she sucks

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  • [–] 2 points 1 week ago

    Wednesday's let herself go.

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  • [–] 3 points 1 week ago

    Israel left a note in her home saying they can get to her.

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  • [–] 3 points 6 days ago

    With trump and netanyahu it's all about the money, the violence and the blackmail. They don't see a better day, they see a bigger throne.

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  • [–] 1 point 6 days ago

    Yeahhhh I think it was her income stream that met with a sudden end. As a result, she got a big fat AIPAC cheque to torch her life and reputation

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