Rogers’ metamorphous keeps R’s in game for U.S. Senate seat

Remember the Mike Rogers of early 2014? Before our then-8th District congressman said he was hanging up his seat for a radio show microphone?

Can you imagine THAT Rogers, the former FBI official, complaining that our judicial system cranked out “an un-American persecution” through a “rigged trial.”

No. That Rogers three years ago described Trump in a Washington Post op-ed as “more gangster than presidential.”

It’s a different Mike Rogers who won the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate on Tuesday. The big-smile glad-hander who kept a center-right persona when he represented Lansing in Congress is the hard-right Trump apologist the Republican Party needs him to be.

Today’s Mike Rogers is stoking people’s prejudices by holding a public roundtable that shames transgender or intersex individuals from participating in organized sports.

He’s adopted the poll-tested, cookie-cutter policy agenda only a Republican in a competitive seat can love. Tough on the border. Tough on crime. China’s the enemy. Post-COVID inflation is Joe Biden’s fault.

The Rogers transformation is a modern-day necessity for Republican politicians. If they want to get elected to anything, anyway.

In 2024, Trump is the mainstream. He’s masterfully bridged the divide between the traditional “establishment Republicans” and the hard-right grassroots. Those who don’t follow his path are doomed to fall into the depth of irrelevance.

Justin Amash rolled out his principled Libertarian rhetoric over social media. Nobody paid attention. Rogers crushed him in Tuesday’s primary.

Sandy Pensler tried using his millions to build his own following. It failed. Pensler figured it out weeks ago and endorsed Rogers before Tuesday’s election.

Peter Meijer wanted Trump impeached for passively encouraging the Jan. 6 riots on the U.S. Capitol. His U.S. Senate campaign never got off the launching pad.

The era of free-thinking politicians blazing his or her own path is long gone. Rogers is the Republicans’ U.S. Senate nominee not because of who he is, but what he was willing to become.

It’s what the Michigan Republican Party needed.

I wrote last March that Rogers represented the Republican Party’s best chance at defeating Elissa Slotkin. At the time, I listed the resume-neutralizing qualities he brought to the table. One thing I undervalued was Rogers’ political pliability.

Nothing seems to stick to this guy. The Democrats tried hammering him on carpet-bagging back to Michigan after spending the last few years living in a sweet Florida mini mansion. Nobody really cared.

Pensler tried claiming Rogers was part of the broader Benghazi cover-up scandal with Hillary Clinton. Benghazi proved to be ancient history. We’ve all moved on.

If parachuting back to Michigan was a political liability, Slotkin wouldn’t have beaten Mike Bishop in 2018.

The latest knock on Rogers is he used his congressional connections to make a lot of money these last 10 years. Maybe that works. But maybe his Chinese business connections only neutralize Slotkin’s own vulnerability. She signed a non-disclosure agreement that cleared the way for the Gotion advanced battery plant near Big Rapids.

After all, business with China works for everybody until it’s campaign time.

Rogers is evolving on the abortion … as is Trump and any other Republican who want votes from suburban women.

You can call Rogers a political chameleon and I won’t argue with you. As times change, public opinion changes, and the politicians who represent the public tend to change with them.

What’s made Rogers’ evolution so remarkable is how quickly and skillfully he’s pulled it off after being out of the political game for 10 years.

I’m not saying Rogers beats Slotkin in November.

The Democratic nominee has too much money, and Senate Democrats need Michigan much more than Republicans for them to lose this race. Besides, the Kamala Harris switch-a-roo ends up boosting Democrats across the board a few points.

(History is on her side, too. Democratic U.S. Senate candidates in Michigan have won 20 of the last 23 elections).

The masterful metamorphous of Mike Rogers is keeping Michigan in the game, though. He’s forcing Slotkin and Co. to spend their money, which is a win in itself.

(Email Kyle Melinn of the Capitol news service MIRS at melinnky@gmail.com.)