Kristoffer Ealy is a political scientist, political analyst, and professor in Southern California. He teaches American Government and political behavior, with a focus on political psychology, voting behavior, and political socialization. Subscribe to his Substack, The Thinking Class with Professor Ealy.
Some of you may remember my article on power, particularly the section involving Haley Stevens. I will never forget that woman. She is personally responsible for turning what should have been a lovely evening with my wife at El Torito into an emergency editorial session. There I was, looking forward to tacos, margaritas, and quality time with the woman I love, when Stevens decided to commit political malpractice on a Sunday afternoon.
Suddenly, I’m revising paragraphs while my wife wonders why Michigan politics has become a third person on our date. Try explaining to your wife that dinner has been interrupted because a congresswoman who lost her primary has decided to help elect a Republican. I would have had better luck explaining why the restaurant charges extra for guacamole. Lady, you ruined my date night for a losing cause. At least have the courtesy to make the betrayal electorally productive.
The ridiculous episode started with Abdul El-Sayed’s association with Hasan Piker. I don’t know the extent of their friendship, but Stevens had strong feelings about it. Then Piker’s blowhard uncle, Cenk Uygur, put out an advertisement through his Rebellion PAC, and Stevens demanded that El-Sayed answer for it. A political action committee El-Sayed didn’t control produced an advertisement he didn’t authorize, and Stevens appointed herself principal of the Michigan Democratic Party’s disciplinary academy. El-Sayed disavowed the advertisement. Stevens wasn’t satisfied. Evidently, his response needed to be notarized, accompanied by three character references, and submitted in triplicate before Her Royal Highness would consider accepting it.
By the Sunday before Election Day, Stevens withdrew her support and endorsed his MAGA opponent, Mike Rogers. But here’s the part that really gets me: she accompanied Rogers to Perfecting Church, a predominantly Black church in Detroit. She had originally been expected to attend a church service with El-Sayed and Congressman Jim Clyburn, but instead showed up beside the Republican. Think about that audacity. She spent days demanding that a brown Muslim man demonstrate sufficient moral accountability, then took her political betrayal on a field trip to a Black church. What exactly did she expect the Lord to do with that endorsement? Was Jesus supposed to inspect El-Sayed’s apology and announce that Haley had been right all along? I can imagine the prayer: “Lord, I know I’m helping elect a MAGA Republican, but this Muslim man really hurt my feelings.” Somebody should have handed her a church fan and told her to sit her ass down.
Two days later, Rogers got his proverbial ass kicked, El-Sayed won his Senate seat, and Stevens was left with a participation trophy for an election she wasn’t even running in. She had lost her primary, alienated her colleagues, triggered staff resignations, and backed the losing candidate. That’s an impressive amount of political destruction for somebody who couldn’t win the original nomination.
What interests me is the entitlement. Stevens appointed herself the apology police and decided she was qualified to grade a Muslim man’s response to something he didn’t say, create, or finance. Who made Haley Stevens superintendent of Muslim apologies? Was there an election? Did somebody give her a little wooden desk, a rubber stamp, and a bell to ring whenever a minority candidate failed to demonstrate sufficient contrition? This woman lost to El-Sayed and somehow decided that losing entitled her to supervise him.
