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jn

ous and, within days, Gilchrist
released a statement saying he had
“waded into a complex geopolitical
issue and made comments about a
conflict I did not fully understand.”
Gilchrist now says he supports
Israel and calls Hamas a terrorist
group.
Whitmer, meanwhile, said in
interviews after the 16-second
video clip that while “ICE has
become the face of the most hor-
rendous, horrific, heartbreaking
action that has happened under
the Trump administration,” she is
not calling for the agency to be dis-
banded.

CONCLUSION

While voters are motivated by a
host of issues — including perhaps
whether their political leaders are
antagonistic toward Israel — Truth
Squad would like to remind candi-
dates running for state office just
how little time they’ll spend in their
jobs dealing with tensions in the
Middle East. Unless Hamas is put-
ting potholes on I-96 or ICE is caus-
ing low third-grade reading scores,
there are more important issues for
most Michigan voters.
Beyond the question of relevance,
though, is the question of fairness.
The ad strings together a 16-second

video clip that Whitmer quickly
walked back and nine-year-old
tweets by Gilchrist that he apolo-
gized for, into a suggestion that the
Democratic ticket actually sympa-
thizes with terrorists and wants
Washington to abandon border
security.
Clearly, Whitmer’s hesitant
response to her interrogator was
not her finest moment on the cam-
paign trail. And it’s worth asking if
her campaign fully vetted Gilchrist’s
social media history. Both incidents
left them open to political attack.
But it’s now fewer than eight
weeks before Michigan elects a new
governor. And voters might be for-
given for wanting the leading candi-
dates for this office to, at long last,
flesh out their plans for improving
our public schools, rebuilding our
roads and bridges, ensuring our
groundwater is clean, and our tax
bills are reasonable and well spent.
Sending out ads with ominous,
shadowy photos of your opponents
and painting them as terrorist-
sympathizing “extremists” may win
a few votes in our divisive, hate-
fueled political landscape. But they
do little to educate voters about the
consequential choice they will con-
front this November. The claims
are misleading. •

