It’s official: Michigan’s Amir Hassan has notched the most humiliating loss for MAGA world during this primary election cycle. 

Hassan, a Black man who received a late endorsement from Donald Trump and who formerly served on Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy’s security detail, was vying for a seat representing Michigan’s battleground 8th Congressional District — one that could prove crucial in deciding control of the House of Representatives this fall.

But he just got shellacked by Thomas Smith, a nondescript white dude who suspended his campaign weeks ago, citing a lack of funds after complaining he couldn’t reach the help desk at the Federal Election Commission. Smith’s name remained on the ballot — he is the official nominee now — but still, this situation is like losing a foot race to a dead man. Harsh lessons abound for MAGA world, it seems, as the president’s endorsement proves worthless in this case.

As the Michigan Advance explained, the district was “one of 13 congressional districts nationwide that voted for Trump in 2024 while simultaneously electing a Democrat to the House of Representatives.”

On one hand, it’s fair to wonder if Republican primary voters in the district might not have been thrilled about the prospect of nominating a Black man named Amir Hassan who has claimed to be Muslim and Christian during the same campaign — whether endorsed by Trump or not. Judging from some of the memes mocking the results, it’s clear many people suspect MAGA bigotry played a key role, which Trump ally Laura Loomer basically confirmed in this Islamophobic tweet.   

But the robotic Hassan was also an objectively bad candidate, and his failed campaign offers lessons about the limitations of Trump’s offensively superficial outreach to largely middle-class, if not poor, communities like those in Michigan’s 8th District, which includes Saginaw, Midland, Bay City and the Flint area. 

Hassan was a candidate in the mold of failed perennial Republican Minnesota candidate Royce White — both of whom seem better suited for hypermasculine, crackpot podcasting than actually serving as politicians. I say this because when not appearing on right-wing media outlets, Hassan — as his social platforms prove — has spent a great deal of time tweeting bizarre conspiracy theories, accusing Democrats of being Nazis or sitting in his car stiffly rattling on about any number of right-wing culture war issues.  

Ja’han Jones

Ja’han Jones is an MS NOW opinion blogger. He previously wrote The ReidOut Blog.