Former Congressman Mike Rogers lost by a small margin in his U.S. Senate run this year. If fewer than 10,000 voters had switched their votes from Elissa Slotkin to Rogers, Rogers would have beaten Slotkin, and Republicans would have won a U.S. Senate seat for the first time in many decades.

It can be safely assumed that independent-minded Republicans, including tea partiers and libertarians, sank Rogers’ candidacy. This has caused some Republican activists to cry out in anguish. “Oh me oh my, why couldn’t have they supported the RINO?!?“, they exclaim.

Unfortunately for these activists, the Conscience of the Michigan Republican Party is not allowing us to backslide to the days where a candidate with as poor of a record as Rogers is viable and electable.

Here is an excerpt from Trump confidant and legendary right-wing strategist Roger Stone, who argued strongly against Rogers winning the U.S. Senate primary, on the former Congressman’s dismal record:

“Former Michigan U.S. Congressman Mike Rogers was the chief apologist for the mass surveillance policies that allowed President Donald Trump to be spied upon and sabotaged by the unaccountable deep state bureaucrats in Washington D.C…

As Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Rogers attempted to stonewall the investigation into Benghazi, claiming that Obama’s CIA officials were telling the truth and did not need to be investigated. This drew the attention of Judicial Watch, and they discovered that Rogers’ wife Kristi ran a major security contractor in the private sector where her husband’s clout in the D.C. swamp helped her firm, Aegis Defense Services, win many lucrative government contracts.

Aegis was one of the defense firms that profited from Obama’s regime-change war in Libya, which turned out to be as much of a disaster as any of his George W. Bush’s failed wars. As “quintessential Washington insiders,” according to Judicial Watch, Kristi Rogers served as President and CEO of Aegis while Mike Rogers chaired the House Intelligence Committee – a glaring conflict of interest as Aegis tallied Pentagon contracts worth hundreds of millions…

Rogers has raked in millions following his departure from Congress, funding a lavish lifestyle, and leaving his home state of Michigan in the dust. Rogers has raked in nearly $2 million from serving on the boards of various tech and cybersecurity firms in the past two years alone, cashing in on his deep state bona fides and amassing assets of $17.5 million as a military-industrial grifter. Rogers lived in a mansion worth $1.5 million in Cape Coral, Florida before relocating and buying a home in the Detroit area only a few months before announcing his U.S. Senate run last year…

In Nov. 2022, Rogers received a fawning profile in the Washington Post when he was testing the waters for a Presidential run. Rogers said that “Trump’s time has passed” and called Trump’s movement “clearly destructive,” only to change his tune after it became clear that Ron DeSantis, Nikki Haley, Chris Christie, and the rest of the anti-Trump clown crew failed abysmally to dethrone the Don.

Rogers also told a group of Oakland County, Mich. Republicans in May 2023 that he supports the open-ended probe of election fraud protesters who were assaulted by Capitol Police and led into a federally-orchestrated display of violence on Jan. 6.

“When you assault a police officer, you are a criminal. When you break a window to get into a place you are not authorized to be in, you are a criminal,” Rogers said, defending the murderous actions of Lt. Michael Byrd, the Capitol Police thug who murdered Air Force veteran Ashli Babbitt in cold blood.

“They used mace on a police officer… Those people are criminals and needed to be pursued. We shouldn’t even think about that,” he continued before praising Joe Biden’s messaging strategy and advising Republicans to sweep Biden’s Jan. 6 abuses under the rug.“

The proponents of Rogers could never defend his record. Rogers never even attempted to recant on his previous positions against Trump and against the U.S. Constitution. He arrogantly thought that because the Establishment Money loved him that he should be coronated as Senator. Many Republicans went along with this charade to their great peril.

When exploring the lessons of Mike Rogers’ failure, it should be remembered that there are lines that the Republican Party in the age of America First simply cannot cross.

It would have been one thing to put forward a mediocre or lackluster candidate for U.S. Senate. Those types are certainly plentiful within the Republican Party. A mediocre or lackluster candidate would have likely been able to ride Trump’s coattails into the Senate this year. But putting up a Neoconservative Deep State revolving door lobbyist who represents everything that is bad, corrupt and evil about Washington D.C. was simply a no go – the worst political maneuvering imaginable ensuring defeat.

Conscientious Republicans will not allow someone like Mike Rogers to be elected in this state, under any circumstances. This is not a solidly red state. Libertarians and independents are needed as part of a coalition to get a Senate candidate or a Governor candidate across the finish line and win as a Republican. Ignoring these voters is a death sentence. Cry about them not voting Rogers at your own peril. You have to earn their votes, you are not entitled to them.

Look at what President Trump did. He went to the Libertarian Party convention, hostile territory, and made the case to Libertarians that he was their man. He adopted pro-Bitcoin policies that are amenable to Libertarians, and these outreach efforts paid off. He won by playing to the margins, elevating him in battleground states like Michigan. Learn from the example of President Trump, extend the olive branch to principled voters rather than insulting their intelligence, to find the winning blueprint.

Conscientious Republicans hold considerable veto power over whether any Republican candidate can win a statewide race in Michigan, a purple state where their votes are essential for victory. If they stay home or decide to vote third party, that means the Republican will lose. This is a much-needed quality control mechanism on the Michigan Republican Party, to ensure that bad candidates will be rejected and the wheat will be separated from the chaff.

This bad medicine may be difficult to swallow now, but the Michigan Republican Party will be better off in the long run if they learn the correct lesson. The only answer is find better candidates. Conscientious Republicans will not allow the Republican Party of Michigan to backslide toward Bush-era Republicanism. That Republican Party is dead and buried. The new America First Republican Party is rising from its ashes like a phoenix.

Stubbornness will only result in more losses in winnable races. I personally held my nose and voted straight ticket Republican, but many others refuse to do so. Remember the power is in the hands of the Conscientious Republicans. Ignoring and mistreating this core coalition will only ensure electoral doom and leftist supremacy in the state of Michigan for generations to come.