And what are you what are you sort of gleaning from those conversations? And what are you watching moving forward?

I spent about half my year in northern Michigan in one of the Trumpiest counties in the state.

And what I'm seeing is what is reflected in the polls, that about one out of every five Trump voters is dissatisfied with the president's leadership right now.

Those voters are either staying home, some of whom I know are actually voting for Democrats this time.

So that's a problem that Mike Rogers is going to have.

Of course, he's trying to play the race card.

He's trying to play on people's...

before we go the key ron the key thing what specifically are you going to be watching with your expertise in this waning week

And he's not really making that much effort to change himself.

He's conscious of it.

I think he's tried to moderate it a bit, but he doesn't sweat it because he does see that the greatest analogy that Michigan has for the rest of American politics isn't so much right versus left and immigration and Jewish voting versus the Arab vote and all the things that are important in this election.

The biggest thing is change versus status quo.

That Abdul Syed is riding the wave of populism that Obama did in 2008 and Trump did in 2016.

He's riding it differently than Obama did and certainly different than Obama did, but it's certainly in the state.

It's the same ethic.

advising him, I wouldn't get involved in that.

Okay.

Uh, first he has to not change too much.

Don't play this old game of running to the middle.

He has a message that, that will resonate with the people of Michigan.

"I'm gonna put money in your pocket, I'm gonna take it out of politics, and I'm gonna give you healthcare." That's not a radical position.

That's, that's right in the mainstream.

Um, secondly, for as charismatic as he is, for as talented as he is, he has a tendency to come across, and I would tell him this personally, of coming across sometimes as a little too condescending, a little too cool for school.

What is the feeling among, let's say, independents right now about Donald Trump and this administration?

But is, but, but is, but is it where independents and some Republicans are, too, in Michigan?

Yeah.

Well, uh, in the sense that, uh, uh, every Michigander, especially anybody making under $100,000 a year, is struggling to pay their bills, um, has had their ins- their health insurance go up 20, 30%, if they have health insurance now, and is sick and tired of a political system, of a duopoly of two dysfunctional, corrupt parties.

And they are so desperate, Mark.

They are so desperate, they'll, they'll vote for a reality star for president twice, and they are so desperate that they might vote for an Arab American who doesn't really look like them or totally align with them for Senate.

That's what this is all about.

... you know, she's thinking about '28

... she's a mixture of Clinton's retail politics and his political strategy.

So give me your take on, on one, what's going on, why Elon Musk has chosen now to give interviews to everybody, basically kneecapping Donald Trump's signature legislative not yet accomplishment.

Let's look at what Elon Musk, Bebe Netanyahu, Vladimir Putin, and Donald Trump have in common.

None of those men have friends.

None of those men have true partnerships.

All four of those men are the four most transactional human beings on the face of the earth.

They're in it for themselves.

There is, uh, it's very binary.

Mm-hmm.

Right.

Donald Trump is promising populist change.

I would love to see a new party, or the Democratic Party somehow, not just change its brand, but change its outlook.

We are going to be the party of reform.

Elect us and we are going to change how we elect people in this country.

We're going to have open elections.

We're going to get re- fix redistricting so that there's competitive districts in the House again.

But also, when you look around at the field, who do you see that kind of you go, uh, and without predicting anything, just that person has at least some of the right stuff and could be formidable?