of state committee members staged an illegitimate g gathering to claim removal of chairwoman kristina karamo. if you click on that weird banner, you get to this. and the black box there is a video. i swear i'm not going to show you a whole big, long swath of it because it will haunt your dreams. it will at least make you get up immediately and start cleaning your eye glasses. but this really is what pops up at what appears to be the michigan republican party website right now. and if you click on the black box there, this is what happenst i've got to tell you, this does not seem good. >> hi. my name is dan hartman. i am still the general counsel for the michigan republican party. today's date is january 6th of 2024, and i am a member of the karamo administration. there was a vote taken today at a meeting. it was not an authorized special meeting. >> it was not an authorized special meeting. this seems like a very special meeting indeed. in politics or in anything, it is never a good sign when you have to start your remarks by insisting, i am still here. as if that might be a contested thing.

yourself at a totally different michigan republican party website, one where the chair is not kristina karamo but rather this other person, a totally different person. how can both of these people be the chair of the michigan republican party? how can both of these things be the michigan republican party? well, you could try to click through, but it turns out there's nothing to click on on this other michigan republican party web page. but they do both purport to be the same thing. here it says at the bottom of the page, january 6, 2024, this weekend gop state committee members voted to remove chair kristina karamo. did they do that? has she been removed? the other michigan republican party website says it's a fraud, she wasn't really removed. we have a two-party system. we are one week away from the first votes in our election for president this year in the republican party primary. you tell me. is there a republican party in swing state michigan? is there one? are there two? how do you tell the difference? each of these totally different websites with totally different chairs says literally

republican leader and therapist who is loving all the tea you're spilling about aunt judith, kristina karamoramo is an anti-vax trump loyalist who was elected party chair after spreading january 6th conspiracy theories. but the real issue is that karamo has drained the g.o.p. coffers in michigan. as of this fall, they were $500,000 in debt. and, in an attempt to scrape up some cash, karamo tried to sell the party's former headquarters in lansing. only one problem. karamo and the state g.o.p. do not own the building. but to sweeten the deal, karamo promised to throw in the brooklyn bridge, the hope diamond, and a candlelight dinner with sasquatch. but perhaps the strangest story of republican dysfunction comes from florida. on monday, the chairman of florida's republican party was ousted because he was under criminal investigation for sexual assault. yes, no one under investigation for sexual assault should be chairman of the florida republican party. they should be the republican nominee for president. and here's -- you okay? you all right? here's what happened. the chairman, christian ziegl

republicans are in the middle of a vicious fight over the potential ouster of the state party chair, kristina karamolost her bid for secretary of state in 2022, after using her campaign to spread the big lie on donald trump's behalf, and so distrust in american elections. this tale of two state republican parties is important because the state of the gop in these two crucial swing states could directly affect upcoming and competitive senate races, and the presidential election. joining me now, nick corasaniti, reporter for the new york times, covering national politics, voting, and democracy, who's written about the state of michigan's republican party. also with us is charlie dent, former republican congressman for the state of pennsylvania. welcome, to both of you. nick, i didn't know you are in new hampshire, but that very much looks like our camera in new hampshire. so good to see you, my friend. i want to start with you, because the pennsylvania story is a little easier to understand for normal folks. the michigan story is black. >> to understand michigan, we have to take a couple steps back. s