As I watched Congresswoman Haley Stevens attempt to announce at the 11th hour that she would support Republican Mike Rogers over fellow Democrat Abdul El-Sayed in Tuesday’s election to become the next U.S. Senator from Michigan, my underlying emotion was relief. Thank God this person did not beat El-Sayed in the primary, despite outspending him by a landslide margin. Thank God this person is unfit for higher office and is now making it clear that he is unfit to serve. Thank goodness this person won’t be on our television screens for too long.
Stevens participated in an excruciating 15-minute conversation on CNN Sunday night with Anderson Cooper, who remained calm and quietly incredulous during questioning. Cooper focused on the claim by Stevens’ fellow Congresswoman Debbie Dingell, the elder stateswoman of the Michigan delegation, that Stevens had assured Dingell that a cross-party endorsement would not follow just hours before appearing with Rogers at a church in Detroit. What changed between that phone call and the next morning? What was the determining factor for Stevens’ return?
Stevens proved unable to answer these simple and direct questions. (Dingell, just minutes later on the same show, called this segment “one of the most painful interviews I’ve ever watched.”) Stevens’s demeanor, which has been so important on television since Richard Nixon’s famous debate crisis in 1960, was the opposite of reassurance. Stevens, who reflexively begins each answer with “Look…” before making a coherent point, blinks, frowns, and frowns at a series of evasive non-answers. One of his favorite talking points was a nonspecific complaint about El-Sayed’s supposed anger, but it wasn’t El-Sayed whose apparent anger toward his primary opponent was on full display.
Cooper largely gave Stevens permission to end his own political career with enthusiasm. While Stevens repeatedly insisted how much he loved the Democratic Party, Cooper avoided stating that the gist of his speeches was his outright refusal to vote for a Democrat. While Stevens brought up former Maine senatorial candidate Graham Platner’s allegations of a Nazi tattoo and sexual assault, Cooper did not ask which of El-Sayed’s alleged actions approached that level. He simply addressed the narrow but seemingly impossible question at hand: Why were Stevens’ problems with El-Sayed worth the public favor at a critical moment for the next high-stakes midterm, when his troubles (like campaigning with Hassan Piker or an ad tying Israel to high prices produced by an outside group unconnected with the campaign) could have been overcome in an instant?
Stevens also tried to downplay the importance of her decision (“I am an independent woman”); This was an odd stance for a woman who garnered the attention she gained by appearing on national television. The irony Cooper couldn’t help but call out because it was too much to bear. Stevens could have limited his support for Rogers to the privacy of the voting booth; This is a shameful but private concession to personal hostility over political principles. Instead, Stevens chose to self-immolate, then double down on his own worst instincts in an exchange that revealed nothing but the exquisite wisdom of Michigan Democrats in refusing to make him their party’s elected standard bearer.
On the other hand, you can’t blame Stevens for basking in a pretty intense and quickly fading spotlight. Much of his staff resigned, as evidenced by his unpreparedness for Cooper’s easily predictable questions; As Stevens himself admitted to Cooper, he is a lame duck who will not be able to serve in the House of Representatives in just a few months. By casting his lot with Rogers and winning the public adulation of Donald Trump, Stevens has ensured both his temporary relevance and the fact that the attention involved will be vanishingly brief. Ironically, it was clear that the stammering, evasive voice on CNN was not ready for prime time in real prime time. No matter how disgraceful his behavior, the American people can breathe a sigh of relief that we dodged at least a bullet.