Former Congressman Mike Rogers, who departed from his legislative role in 2015, has undergone a significant transformation in his political stance. Previously cautious of Donald Trump, Rogers is now fully embracing a MAGA perspective as he embarks on his second Senate campaign.
This shift in Rogers’ political views can be interpreted in two ways: either as a genuine move towards far-right ideologies or as a strategic maneuver to attract Trump supporters.
One clear indication of this transformation is Rogers’ view on James Comey, the former FBI Director. Although Rogers defended Comey from Trump’s criticisms in 2017, he now claims that Comey damaged the FBI. During the 1990s, Rogers served as an FBI investigator.
“When James Comey got in, he just destroyed 70 years of what was a culture of staying out of politics, being law enforcement,” Rogers stated in June, emphasizing that he had always “opposed Comey.”
Contrastingly, when Comey testified before Congress eight years prior regarding Trump’s alleged pressure to drop a campaign investigation, Rogers found Comey’s testimony “credible.”
“I do believe James Comey,” Rogers told CNN. “I think James Comey is a very good man. The FBI agents loved James Comey.”
Rogers’ stance on cryptocurrency mirrors his Trumpian evolution. In 2017, he penned op-eds expressing concerns about Bitcoin as a national security threat, citing its links to money laundering and the drug trade.
“Hackers collect ransomware profits in bitcoin to protect their identities and locations,” Rogers wrote in the New York Daily News. “Others use bitcoins to buy and sell illegal drugs and weapons on the deep and dark web. Terrorists can finance operations using digital currency. Why would an average person want to use bitcoin? Because it’s largely unregulated, and many people believe that’s a good thing.”
Similar to Trump, who once questioned cryptocurrency but later embraced it by launching Trumpcoin, Rogers has aligned his views accordingly.
“Making America the crypto capital of the world should be nonpartisan,” Rogers posted on Facebook in May. “But now, the same Democrats who claimed to support America’s crypto future are trying to tank it. Once again, Democrats prove that they would rather watch President Trump fail than America succeed.”
Rogers further demonstrated his newfound support by attending a Bitcoin conference in Las Vegas shortly thereafter.
Rogers’ policy reversals don’t always require years to manifest. In June, he initially stated that Trump should seek congressional approval before striking Iran but soon after supported Trump’s decision to act independently.
“I think this was exigent circumstances,” Rogers explained in a June 23 radio interview. “I mean, there was a unique window in order to do this. You can’t do that by committee. You have to be able to take action in that window.”
Despite 56% of Americans opposing Trump’s strikes on Iran, according to a CNN poll, Rogers continues to support Trump’s decisions.
Rogers narrowly lost the 2024 U.S. Senate race in Michigan by 19,006 votes. With Trump’s endorsement, he is now campaigning for the 2026 Senate race.
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