The former Republican Michigan governor progressives accused of poisoning black people has endorsed Joe Biden for president.
“I will continue to support and stand up for Republican policies and values, and support Republican candidates, but I will not support Donald Trump for reelection,” former Gov. Rick Snyder wrote in USA Today on Thursday.
Snyder claimed President Trump is “a bully who lacks a moral compass.”
“Not supporting Donald Trump for reelection is not the same thing as voting for Joe Biden,” Snyder wrote, before praising Biden.
Snyder’s endorsement does not come as a surprise, as he didn’t support Trump in 2016, either, the New York Times reported at the time.
In June, the Michigan Supreme Court ruled Snyder could face a civil lawsuit from Flint residents affected by contaminated water.
Via Mlive:
In a ruling Wednesday, July 29, the court held that Flint residents and property owners “sufficiently alleged a claim,” denying a motion to dismiss the case made by attorneys for Snyder and other defendants.
Filed in January 2016, the lawsuit claims Snyder, emergency managers and departments of state government violated Flint residents’ “bodily integrity” by exposing them to lead-contaminated water and hiding what they knew about it. It also claims that homeowners suffered financial losses due to diminished property values for which they weren’t compensated.
Snyder had appointed emergency managers who “made a series of decisions that led to that change in water source, which resulted in elevated levels of lead and bacteria in city water.”
The scandal became a rallying cry against Republicans in the 2016 election. WBUR called him “the man who poisoned Flint.”
The majority opinion said:
Viewed in the light most favorable to plaintiffs and accepting their factual allegations as true, the pleadings established that defendants’ actions were a substantial cause of the decline in plaintiffs’ property value. That defendants took affirmative actions directed at plaintiffs’ property, and that plaintiffs suffered a unique or special injury different in kind, not simply in degree, from the harm suffered by all persons similarly situated.
Progressive filmmaker Michael Moore criticized President Obama for visiting Flint and drinking the water, effectively undermining the residents’ claims and vouching for Snyder.
The governor was photographed greeting the president at the airport.
“To drink from a glass of Flint water when a number of experts are still saying this water’s not safe? It’s still going through the same corroded lead pipes? It was such a disappointing thing to see,” Moore said in 2016.
Kyle Olson is a reporter for Breitbart News. He is also host of “The Kyle Olson Show,” syndicated on Michigan radio stations on Saturdays. Listen to segments on YouTube or download full podcast episodes. Follow him on Twitter, like him on Facebook, and follow him on Parler.