Mike Shirkey's long, crazy goodbye

SUSAN J. DEMAS
DECEMBER 13, 2022 4:29 AM



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As it turns out, Shirkey — who bounced between QAnon-inspired homophobia, tired lies about COVID-19 vaccines, bizarre tirades about “one world government,” and tales of sticking his hand in Senate building toilets (no joke) — appeared to draw inspiration from Jack Nicholson’s performance in “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” (stream it, kids, it’s worth it).

Let’s pause for a moment to reflect on the fact that this isn’t some MAGA-loving Twitter rando, but the top elected Republican in the state (Michigan doesn’t vote like Mississippi, either). It was hardly Shirkey’s first entre into the outlandish, from a still-unexplained trip to the White House with Michigan Republicans while Trump was openly scheming to stay in office even though he lost the 2020 election to calling the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection a “hoax” and grumbling like Grampa Simpson about too many dead people voting.

Then there was the time that he appeared at yet another right-wing anti-Whitmer rally at the Capitol just hours after state and federal agents announced arrests in a militia-tied assassination and kidnapping plot against her in hopes of sparking a civil war. Yet Shirkey declared, “This is no time to be weak in our commitment to freedom. We need to be strong … and not be afraid of those who are taking our freedoms away from us.”

Shirkey also met with militia leaders and advised them on messaging, telling a local TV host, “It was very fascinating and they’re not uniquely different than you and I. They bleed red, white and blue, but they feel like they are not being heard.” And he bragged that his party had “spanked” the female governor over her pandemic health orders.

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