Left Of Lansing

Here’s the 45th installment of Michigan’s premier progressive podcast! Democratic State Rep. Betsy Coffia from the 103rd District joins me this week. Rep. Coffia’s district contains Leelanau, Grand Traverse, and Benzie Counties. She’s been a journalist, a social worker, and a Grand Traverse County commissioner. And now, she’s in Lansing trying to make a difference on a variety of fronts. We discuss the Traverse City hair salon owner who’s refusing to serve transgender people, why bigotry is bad for business, the budgets Democrats passed, her work on the school aid budget to help kids and families in northern Michigan, allowing 16-year olds to pre-register to vote, and more. You can follow Rep. Coffia on Twitter. My opening segment concentrates on how the right wing has always used “fear and anger” to get-out its voting base. Nothing has changed in the last 40 years when it comes to the Republican Party’s values. Donald Trump wasn’t some anomaly. The party was always a Trump party, and he emboldened Republic