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Squishy opinions aren't Jack Lessenberry's jam. No rounded edges or graceful tiptoeing soften the Michigan political commentator's views.

His sharply worded columns and broadcasts leave no doubt where he stands, as he shows Tuesday at Michigan Radio: 

Governor Romney fiercely loved his family. But I think he would be ashamed of what his granddaughter, Ronna Romney McDaniel, did last weekend.

Under the headline "Romney McDaniel’s disgraceful tweet," Lessenberry quotes a pair of nationally prominent critics of this shot from the Republican National Committee chair:


Jack Lessenberry and Ronna Romney

McDaniel, a 45-year-old niece of Mitt Romney and granddaughter of the two-term Michigan governor Lessenberry name-checks, lives in Northville when not in Washington. She stopped using Romney as part of her name late last year at Donald Trump's request, according to The Washington Post. Last Saturday's tweet publicly displays her loyalty.

Lessenberry calls her "a true believer" and comments on her tweet:

If you wanted ten words to illustrate what is wrong with politics in this country, you couldn't do better than this. . . . She basically accused half the country of being unpatriotic.

Well, I could fill this essay with what Democrats said about that, but I think it makes more sense to quote her fellow Republicans. Bill Kristol, founder of the Weekly Standard, is about as tough a neocon as they come. He’s a fierce Republican partisan who never met a war he didn't like, and is proud of his role in killing President Clinton’s health care plan. But hours after McDaniel's tweet, he sent one:

John Podhoretz, the editor of Commentary, is just as conservative as Kristol. After McDaniel’s infamous tweet, Podhoretz sent one that was more like a sigh:

Michigan Radio's senior political analyst laments that in the America of 2018, a national party leader views Democrats as disloyal enemies of the country rather than as political rivals. 

Read more: Michigan Radio