by
TTFN, John. (Campaign photo)
Opinion column
It looks like failed Senate candidate John James will finally be out of the spotlight . . . at least for now.
Donald Trump has passed over the Farmington Hills businessman for UN ambassador, selecting former Fox News anchor Heather Nauert for the role.
James had no apparent qualifications for the position beyond having served in Iraq. Nauert also seems pretty unqualified, though she does currently parrot foreign policy talking points as spokeswoman for the State Department.
James was an especially scary prospect to have representing U.S. interests on the global body because he is best known for having run a Senate campaign that served as a proxy battle for Trump's culture war.
This summer, James told a group of male Christian businessmen that the world should operate on Christian values, that Christian men must fight those who "seek to tear down families," and that — though "it's not politically correct" — it is the duty of Christian men to lead because "women want men who've been tested." In the midst of the sexual assault controversy swirling around the confirmation of then-Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, James told a crowd in Macomb County, "I don't want to go to Washington, who would right now? I mean, you'll see what I was doing 36 years ago. Well, I was one, so I was breastfeeding... so I guess I was grabbing boobs."
In October, James' campaign ran an ad that included a Nazi German swastika. James claimed not to know where the symbol came from and the ad was taken down. Then there was the ad accusing his opponent, incumbent Debbie Stabenow, of supporting "black genocide." Then, on Election Day, it emerged that James had accepted campaign contributions from white supremacists.
James lost the election to Stabenow, 52-46 percent.
Ta-ta for now, James.
