The newest blogger’s edition of Tim Skubick’s show, aired on public television Friday night, turned into a battle within moments.
At the outset, Skubick never managed a true question for the panel of four, only asking that they each give their reaction to one word: “Trump.”
The fur began to fly and for several minutes the host was little more than a referee in a high-volume verbal brawl.
An occasional feature on “Off The Record,” the bloggers on this edition were, on the left, Tony Trupiano, radio host and blogger for Eclectablog.com; and Eric Baerren, writer and publisher of Michiganliberal.com. And on the right, Dennis Lennox and Kathy Hoekstra, both of whom blog for The Detroit News website.
The contentiousness began with Trupiano and Lennox going full blast, face-to-face, on the topic of who is the worst candidate for the White House, Trump or Hillary Clinton. Baerren then went at with Lennox, a non-stop agitator, over Sanders exposing some of Clinton’s weaknesses.
For some reason, the show spent several minutes on the prospect of Sanders as the Democratic nominee, which is little more than a longshot at this point. Hoekstra, pinned in the corner by Skubick’s questioning, offered perhaps the most intriguing answer of the half-hour session.
If faced with Trump vs. Sanders in the general election, Hoekstra said she might vote for Sanders. Her reasoning? While Trump is highly unpredictable, Sanders is surely unable to get his socialist “free stuff” through Congress. But he could lead a push for some libertarian-style ideas, such as criminal justice reform.
You can watch the entire video here.

Eclectablog and Brandon Hall are the only two real bloggers out there anymore. Eric Barren is the left’s Nick Deleeuw. Kathy Hoekstra is the right’s token woman “blogger.” Tony Trupiano seems nice but the rest of the Eclectablog crew is always ignored by Skubick. And why does Skubick keep giving Lennox any credibility whatsoever??? Next time better be a Chris Savage-Brandon Hall throwdown.
Brandon Hall bombed in his one appearance. Plus, he’s an ex-con who embezzled and committed election fraud. Didn’t he also do drugs, too?
Kathy Hoekstra doesn’t even blog. She was totally misinformed about politics. She even said she would vote for Sanders over Trump. That’s hardly a conservative position.
Lennox is Lennox. He’s good at rattling the left and throwing them off their playbook.
As for Eric, Michigan Liberal is a joke. It’s no where near what it used to be. He should keep his day job changing bed pans at the nursing home.