Mike Rogers deflects as Kristen Welker presses him on if he’s ‘MAGA’

Kristen Welker asked Michigan Senate candidate Mike Rogers three times whether he considers himself a MAGA Republican on “Meet The Press” Sunday. And three times, he found a way around the question.

Welker : “Let me just ask you, big picture, do you consider yourself to be a MAGA Republican?”

Rogers : “I get you guys on the national press, but this is a little bit disgusting to me. You know what you don’t cover? The chairman of the Democrat Party just came out and said he cannot, the former chairman, sorry, he cannot vote for ….”

Welker: “Hold on, Congressman, I’m asking you about you.”

So why is a Trump-endorsed candidate suddenly so uncomfortable answering that question?

Ohhhhh, because Rogers declined to endorse Trump in 2016 or 2020, then endorsed him in 2024. Now, with control of the Senate potentially riding on Michigan, that relationship seems a lot more complicated since the president’s favorability rating is so low and Michiganders, like many people across the country, are looking for the country to head in a new direction. The Trump brand was an asset in the primary but it’s seemingly become a liability in the general election.

Look at the messaging. Trump endorsed Rogers, promising a partner on his “America First” agenda, emphasizing the economy as one area they would work closely together, but Rogers’s own campaign is now challenging one of Trump’s signature economic policies — tariffs.

This is such a flip flop. Rogers spent months defending Trump’s tariffs, saying as recently as September that “President Trump is right to put America First – and tariffs are necessary.” But he must have forgotten that Michigan’s economy is deeply connected to Canada, and the trade fight is now a political problem.

The president is finally realizing that his tariffs on Canada were not a great idea, since the administration recently announced that it’s now moving to exempt some Canadian products from tariffs starting on Oct. 30, with The Wall Street Journal reporting that this was a move to help vulnerable Republicans, including Susan Collins in Maine.

Republicans are increasingly keeping Trump out of their general-election advertising after whole-heartedly embracing him in the primaries. A CNBC analysis of AdImpact data shows his mentions falling from 47.1 percent around the primaries to just 4.3 percent now.

The race is extremely tight, Decision Desk HQ polling shows Abdul El-Sayed with a narrow lead over Rogers . Michigan’s in-person early voting began Saturday.

And Trump, himself, is escalating his input in this race, attacking former President Obama just for campaigning with El-Sayed recently. In a Truth Social post at almost 1am Sunday morning, Trump called Obama “a grossly incompetent President!” and labeled El-Sayed “a Muslim Brotherhood Jihadist.”

Obama had the perfect response to these attacks on El-Sayed’s name and religion, reminding folks that Trump often intentionally uses fear to sow division and “may even use your name, or your faith, to somehow suggest that you are dangerous and less than trustworthy and less patriotic and less American.” And then he left us all with a mic drop moment : “We have seen this movie before. I starred in it. I’ve got a long form birth certificate to prove it. This stuff didn’t work on me, not in Michigan. It’s not going to work on Abdul.”

Rogers wants Trump’s endorsement without necessarily owning Trump’s agenda, and so from now until Election Day, it seems the strategy is deflect, deflect, deflect and make Abdul El-Sayed’s name and religion the boogyman instead of owning up to policy decisions that have hurt Michigan voters.

Lindsey Granger is a NewsNation contributor and co-host of The Hill’s commentary show “Rising.” This column is an edited transcription of her on-air commentary.