ICYMI: Michigan Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey Continues to Defend Pushing Conspiracies & Texas GOP’s Reckless Approach to COVID-19

Michigan Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey continued his tour of extremist and out-of-touch comments during a radio interview on Monday, tripling down on his lies about the January 6th insurrection and reiterating his defense of Texas’ reckless COVID-19 policies.

Shirkey was caught on video last month calling the Capitol riot a “hoax” and insisting “that wasn’t Trump people,” a theory that’s been proven false. “It was arranged by somebody who was funding it. […] It was all staged.” He even suggested Senator Mitch McConnell was somehow involved. When asked about those comments by a radio host this week, instead of apologizing, Shirkey said, “Well there have been times in the past couple weeks where people have taken words out of context and have made those accusations.” [1:06]

And last week, Shirkey defended the reckless, anti-science COVID-19 policies of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, who removed his state’s mask mandate against the advice of health officials, and Sen. Ted Cruz, who abandoned his state during a crisis. If he were governor, Shirkey said he would do something “similar to what Governor Abbott has done in Texas.” [00:45]

In the radio interview on Monday, Shirkey doubled down, saying in Michigan “there shouldn’t be any restrictions” [4:21] – even though Abbott’s move could put people at greater risk as COVID-19 variants spread across the U.S. Local health officials urged residents to still wear masks as recommended by CDC guidelines.

Listen to Shirkey’s full interview here.