Fake Progressive Running for Michigan Governor: Hello Black People, I Too Enjoy Popeyes

There are three major candidates in the race for the next governor of Michigan: Abdul El-Sayed, a leftist candidate in the mold of Bernie Sanders; Gretchen Whitmer, an establishment candidate who happily holds fundraisers with health insurance companies; and Shri Thanedar, a completely fake progressive who claims he’ll be a “fiscally savvy Bernie” but didn’t even decide whether to run as a Democrat or a Republican until last year, multiple sources told the Intercept last week.

But only Thanedar managed to do a Facebook post so insanely bad this weekend that it’s led to comparisons with Donald Trump’s infamous taco bowl tweet. He posted a video inviting people to join him at a black caucus event and, well:

Oh my god!!! OH my God!!! He posted about going to Popeyes before a black caucus event!!! (I am forcibly reminded of Benny Johnson tweeting a photo of his chicken and waffles dinner to celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day.)

It’s also hard not to note the similarities to Trump posting his taco bowl lunch to celebrate Cinco de Mayo:

When asked about the video, which has since been deleted, during a local radio interview on Sunday (skip to 01:20:00), Thanedar said: “I just happened to be [there]… I love spicy chicken,” and said he deleted the post because its only purpose was to invite people to the black caucus debate. Once the event was over, “there was no point” keeping it up, he said. We have reached out to the Thanedar campaign about the post and will update this post if we receive a response.

Despite his obvious con, Thanedar is leading in some polls, partly because his huge personal wealth has allowed him to spend more than a million dollars on advertising, including $150,000 for a Super Bowl spot. As Nathan Robinson wrote of Thanedar today in Current Affairs, he is exactly the kind of candidate Democrats should avoid: ones who have “promising political careers solely because they are very rich,” and who view progressivism as an “expedient but meaningless brand.” And, of course, those who post about how much they love Popeyes as a means of promoting their attendance at black caucus events. God damn.