
May 10, 2024 - Dr. Sherry O'Donnell (R)| OTR OVERTIME
Clip: Season 53 Episode 44 | 16m 44sVideo has Closed Captions
Topic: Republican Candidate for U.S. Senate. Guest: Dr. Sherry O'Donnell (R).
This week the panel discusses the upcoming U.S. Senate race with Republican Candidate Dr. Sherry O'Donnell. Zachory Gorchow, Beth LeBlanc and Zoe Clark join senior capitol correspondent Tim Skubick to discuss the week in Michigan Politics.
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Problems playing video? | Closed Captioning Feedback
Off the Record is a local public television program presented by WKAR
Support for Off the Record is provided by Bellwether Public Relations.

May 10, 2024 - Dr. Sherry O'Donnell (R)| OTR OVERTIME
Clip: Season 53 Episode 44 | 16m 44sVideo has Closed Captions
This week the panel discusses the upcoming U.S. Senate race with Republican Candidate Dr. Sherry O'Donnell. Zachory Gorchow, Beth LeBlanc and Zoe Clark join senior capitol correspondent Tim Skubick to discuss the week in Michigan Politics.
Problems playing video? | Closed Captioning Feedback
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We're now back with Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate, Dr. Sherry O'Donnell.
And if you were a student at Columbia University, would you be protesting?
And if you would be, which side would you be on or would you sit it out?
I wouldn't sit it out.
I'd be trying to stop the anti-Semitism that's going on at the universities right now.
How does one do that?
Well, I think begin to show the that death to America is really not acceptable on the campuses and that the students should not be allowed to do that in that regard.
Death to America and death to Israel is not a message we need to be allowing.
So if you were the president of that university, would you send in the cops and just arrest them all?
I would be telling that they need to stop.
And if it took, bring the cops in.
Yes, I would.
Where do you think that line is crossed between free speech and speech that needs to be punished or stopped, as you said.
When it when it comes against students, the Jewish students that are needing to go home and not continue their education because others are bullying and others are so anti-Semitic that they are feared for their very lives, that needs to be stopped.
I absolutely believe in free speech.
That's our first constitutional amendment.
But to bring damage and to bring harassment, that's not acceptable.
And to to allow that on the college campuses right now just can't be.
The Jewish students are also paying for their education and they're being sent home.
The people that are causing the ruckus are not being sent home.
They're the ones that need to be stopped.
There's a residency issue with Mike Rogers.
Is that gaining any traction among grassroots voters that you talked to?
This is the idea that he, of course, was born and raised in Michigan, represented Michigan in the legislature or in Congress, but moved to Florida around about 2015, just moved back in time to run for the U.S. Senate.
Some Republicans, a lot of Democrats are, you know, tagging him as a carpetbagger.
Is that gaining any traction or is that not much of an issue.
That comes up repetitively as I go to these meetings and the fact that he had a 728 square foot home here in in Michigan only to get on the ballot there are seeing through that he has a $1.7 million home in Florida.
And he came up here after touring New Hampshire and Iowa to try to get the presidential nominee.
And when it didn't happen, he moved to Michigan, bought a 728 square foot home.
So those people that are informed and realize it, yes, it is gaining traction.
And that's been the term that's been we've been accused of is why?
Why does that does it disqualify him from serving in the Senate?
It does not, unfortunately, disqualify him.
You only need to be a resident at the time that you're voted in.
If it were to be voted in.
We don't even think is going to happen.
But it does send the message that he's not for the people.
When he stepped down out of out of Congress in 2015, if he was for Michigan, why did you move to Florida to become a CNN analyst?
I'm sorry.
If you're for Michigan, you're going to stay with Michigan.
You're going to continue to help Michigan.
So the nonsense that he's for Michigan is just that.
It's nonsense.
And to your question, it is gaining some momentum that he's a carpetbagger, but he's not for the people.
And people are tired of the political rhetoric.
They're tired of recycled politicians.
They're ready for something in someone fresh.
And that's what I represent to the people.
Do you think Mike Rogers is in sync with today's Republican Party?
You know, he represented the South.
Absolutely not.
Why not?
He is a deep state.
And even Rand Paul had put out a scathing rebuttal hunter, if you saw his rebuttal.
But he put out a scathing rebuttal that Mike Rogers is a dangerous candidate and it was the worst endorsement that President Trump could have done.
And that's the message that's being sent.
Dave Ajama who has endorsed me, former state rep, he put out a rebuttal and he showed the house is, by the way, side by side and said he is not to be trusted.
The people do not trust him.
He was also an anti-Trump multiple times and even said that as recently as November of 23, that he's not presidential.
He doesn't think he's going to get the nominee.
He shouldn't be it.
He was just scathing against Trump.
So do I think he's to be trusted?
No.
What do you think, then, that the former president endorsed Mike Rogers?
You are a fan of the former president.
Your voting for him.
You are not a fan of Mike Rogers.
You would not be voting for him.
What is the disconnect there then Why did the former president make that endorsement?
I wish I could properly and justly assign his motivation.
I've heard several things and I was being presented to President Trump on five different ways.
So Tom Homans endorsement, General Flynn's endorsement, John Tate, who's running a PAC, he is on the administration team, Todd Lanphear, who's the chief of staff for Paula White.
I spoke with Kim Gulfoyle Kim Gulfoyle told me, Doc, we know you are the only upper level candidate that is a true MAGA candidate.
So I was being presented in five different ways.
Someone says that when Justin Amash got in the race because Justin Amash voted to impeach Trump, that Trump went rogue, taught them fear, texted me that day and said, and I've got it on my phone.
45 went viral.
I went rogue on this.
And he's being hammered.
I don't tell anyone.
What do you mean?
He went rogue on this and this.
Endorsement, too.
So would Todd.
Todd Sly texted.
Me that he was being hammered by the door.
Yes.
That is not who his advisory team suggested that.
Does it concern you, that a former president is basically going rogue about things.
And on his endorsement, he's 107 of his candidates had done.
I think you ought to stay out of Michigan politics.
He is preferred Republican president for the policies, not for some of the things that he says.
Well, and how do you what do you tell voters or you what do you tell Trump loyalist voters in Michigan who who trust what the president says, who supports their his policies, who support his endorsements?
How do you how do you reconcile?
So I would have to take that apart a little bit.
Yes, I trust Trump.
And yes, they Trump.
They trust they trust his policy.
They don't like his mouth and they don't like his endorsements.
And what I've been told time and time again is Trump doesn't vote in Michigan and the dollar doesn't vote in Michigan.
We vote in Michigan.
And I've got the voters, Katie from Salt and Light Global said, Doc, you are like a pinball.
You're going everywhere.
You're touching the voters.
That's what the voters are going to remember.
I'm boots on the ground.
I'm hands there.
The first debate that Mike would even come to was in second District.
He got there an hour and a half late.
The people did not think he was going to be there and he left as soon as he was through.
It really wasn't a debate.
It was three, many interviews.
And as soon as he was done, he left.
He has no connectivity with the people.
I'm the people person.
I'm the one that the voters are going to vote for.
Doctor, would you be so kind as to just share with us how much money you have raised in your candidacy to an.
I'd have to go back and actually look, because I am not one to keep tabs on that, but just shy of 300,000.
Of how much?
300.
With all due respect, that's probably not enough to win.
That's.
That is true.
We're meeting with some high end donors and some other donors.
People were very reticent to is and we can see why to put a lot of money behind the candidate until we made the ballot.
So now that the ballot issues have been settled, you know, even Glenn Wilson could have easily funded his own, but he didn't get on the ballot because his signature.
So people were already very reticent to put the money behind it until they saw what candidates were going to be on the ballot.
What's your assessment of the Michigan Republican Party currently?
What did you make of the ousting of Christina, Karamo, and the election of Pete Hoekstra?
So that was a mess that I tried very hard not to get into, because everywhere you heard, you heard a differing story.
I wasn't there to see the ousting of Christina and what was allowed and what wasn't allowed and the placement of Pete.
What I try to do, though, is at the state convention, I asked Pete Hoekstra, can we not credential can you not credential all of the county so that there would be one state convention?
Because I felt like the delegates were being disenfranchized when half the delegates, 24 counties, not half the delegates for 24 counties, couldn't go to the state convention.
That's when I got in the middle of it and said, Pete, let's bring unity to the party, because a party is very fractured right now.
Most counties right now, their GOP is fractured.
So when that really didn't happen, Pete said that he couldn't endorse them and couldn't credential them.
There were some that came to Grand Rapids and they did indeed get some credentialing, some did not.
So as a result, there are four different state conventions.
And of course, the state convention should be under one roof.
Did you play for her when she ran for chair?
When she ran for chair, I did.
Do you regret that endorsement?
I don't regret.
Not an endorser.
I voted for him.
So when with the fracture of the party, why, I started saying I need answers, Access the full question.
So the party's broken.
And my decision was I'm laser focused on winning my campaign.
And I wasn't going to get into the weeds of Christine and Pete Hoekstra.
Dr.. You called on a podcast, the COVID 19 Pandemic, a plaid plaid.
Demick Which is this, I guess, a conspiracy theorist theory that global elites are somehow behind COVID 19 to push a vaccine agenda.
Do you really believe that?
What I can you is that COVID was real.
I served in New York City and served by dying patients.
How we responded was absolutely surreal.
Herd immunity is the strongest immunity we have.
Should we have shut down the state?
Absolutely.
We should not have shut down the state.
Should we have vaccinated everybody?
Right now, the studies are out there and show the danger that the vaccines have done.
So do I think the vaccines were safe?
Absolutely.
Positively not.
And we're seeing that between the myocarditis, between the extensive clotting that's going on.
People are losing their lives because of vaccine.
So do I think that we responded very poorly and that can never happen again?
Absolutely.
Responding is different than the actual origins of the pandemic.
Do you really believe that it was somehow a planned pandemic so that vaccine manufacturers could make money?
You absolutely have to follow the money.
And I do think that there was a leak out of Wuhan, and there's evidence to show that as well, and that there was gain of function being done and emails that went from 42 others that were getting monies and grant money for that.
There were some very, very big absences and things that were not explained.
And we absolutely have to wonder why and how.
And do I think that the lies that we were being told to the American public were just that lies and misinformation?
Absolutely.
Because I went to New York City during COVID.
I get on the CDC and World Health Organization in their meetings as a physician, I could actually zoom into some of those meetings.
And what we'd heard on Tuesday would be very different than what we heard on Thursday and back again on Saturday.
The information was wrong.
The rhetoric was wrong.
And you have to ask why were the American people lied to and why did we lose hundreds of thousands of lives that did not need to be lost?
Why were medications that were on the market and safe for 80 years?
I myself had been on hydroxychloroquine because it is an anti-malarial medication.
I've been on that personally multiple times when I've gone overseas.
Why were these medications being disallowed?
You know, President Bush was president when all of this was happening.
He was he's not a physician.
He's a president.
Do you believe in QAnon?
I believe.
Q And on as far to know.
If you were a member of the US Senate after the 2020 presidential election, would you have voted to certify the results and the electoral votes that would, you know, made Joe Biden president based on his victories in enough states?
I would not have certified that until was validated.
We never had proper validation of that.
Well, every state certified its its results.
I mean, what more validation is that?
Right now, we're seeing there's a lot of that information was inaccurate.
And I would go back to the states and I would make them validate on a state level.
And so I would not have certified the vote.
What sort of validation would you need?
I mean, there were in Michigan, there were dozens of audits done of local elections.
I guess what sort of validation are you saying specifically would have needed to be done?
Are you familiar with David Clements or Dr. David Frank and some of the information that they've uncovered to say that, you know, it's not being handled accurately and the fact that we've had more voters vote than we're actually in Michigan, Michigan's elections were not honest and integrity.
But even the fact that we would have to question that tells us that there's a problem with it.
If our elections were fair and were full of integrity, then we wouldn't have to question at all the fact that we do have to question It leads no matter what side of that you're on.
So there's a problem.
And do I think we need to go back to paper ballots?
Yes, I do.
Do I think that there's problems with the machines and the algorithms that are put into the machines?
Yes, I do.
So does have paper ballots.
Which are fed into the machines.
And then they take their ticker and they're never cross-referenced.
They're never cross-reference.
We need to be able to cross-reference and validate that.
I'm a scientist, and you take it and you compare it, and you come up with the right answer.
All in one.
Hand, though, I mean, the hand count is the best anyone can explain.
Okay, then maybe I should ask you.
Explain to me how more voters voted in Michigan than WATTERS lives in Michigan.
I'm sorry.
Tell me then how how it is that more voters voted in Michigan than were lives in Michigan.
There is more people had voted than what the residents.
And the fact.
That there's 10 million people and there were about 5 million votes.
Now, go back and look.
I can't believe there's 10 million people in Michigan.
There's 10 million people in Michigan.
Right.
That's their population.
And there was 5 million votes.
So I don't I'm sorry.
Registered voters.
And if you go back and look at the.
Oh, yes.
Okay.
If you win on August 6th, will that be a fair election?
I'm hoping that that's also validated.
I'm not saying what's good for me is not good for everybody else.
What's good for everybody else is not good for me.
So if you win on August six, it's a it's a valid election.
It depends upon what the county clerk's do to validate that.
Do I think that the elections need to be validated?
Yes, I do.
So when Donald Trump won in 2020, those were validated elections that year.
In 20, but when he lost in 2020, they weren't validated.
I was not part of that initial process.
I've only gotten in the way.
You're saying.
Just just a second.
I'm I'm not I'm not changing what I'm saying.
I'm saying is that I was not privy to that.
What I can tell you is the research that I've done and looked at what I've done and people that I've looked at, what they've done as research.
Now I can tell you that I do not believe that the 2020 elections were valid and honest.
I didn't go back and look at the 2016, as I personally have done for the 2020.
So will the 2024 elections.
Be honest?
I sure hope.
So.
So do you believe the president today was fairly elected president of the United States?
I do.
So.
And you honor him as the sitting president.
To assert that Trump was elected.
I'm sorry about to say that again.
Mr. was a fairly elected president of the United States.
I do not believe he won that, honestly.
You don't?
No, sir.
Okay.
Despite the apparent wealth of evidence to the contrary.
Well, I think there's evidence to the contrary that he did not win.
That you're going to win this thing?
Yes, sir.
How much?
What are the odds?
You know, I'll go back to the horses.
That one of the Derby race in 2022, The odds were 80 to 1.
And this all came through.
What are the odds?
I've got the support of We the People.
And it is we, the people that vote.
And when you look at the candidacy, I am the best one right now on the ballot.
The people trust me.
They don't trust Mike Rogers.
The people trust me as an ordained minister and as a physician that stood up during COVID.
I can tell you I've got the back of the people and they understand that.
Doctor, thanks for doing the program.
Thank you.
It's good to see you.
Good to see you, Tim.

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Off the Record is a local public television program presented by WKAR
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