When Rep. Laurie Pohutsky sterilized herself for the sake of a headline, we prayed for her.
When Gov. Gretchen Whitmer hid her face from cameras inside the Oval Office, you wanted to cover your face too.
Then, this week, state Rep. Julie Brixie took it to another next level.
Brixie, wearing an Obama-inspired tan suit, Saran-wrapped the car of a Republican state Rep. Matt Maddock. The whole thing was caught on camera, along with a Brixie accomplice filming everything on her cell phone. I’m sure those girls had a nice laugh afterward.
If that wasn’t bad enough, Brixie then took to the House floor to tell a lie. A lie designed to pull Maddock out to his car to see what she’d done.
“Colleagues, colleagues, can I have your attention?” Brixie said. “Colleagues, I just came in from the parking ramp and there’s a black BMW with a license plate number, MMADD, your hood is open, your lights are on, and your engine is running. Thank you.”
None of that was true. What was true is that the Tan Suit Bandit had committed an act of violence against a colleague. Not very collegial. And it’s not nothing, either.
Vandalism is a form of violence. Malicious destruction of property is a felony in Michigan.
Maddock’s parking job wasn’t the problem. It was his existence as a rock-ribbed Republican who does not bend the knee or raise the fist on command. Maddock is a guy who will walk right through a Democrat protest. He’s not afraid to mix it up.
Brixie told Beth LeBlanc of the Detroit News that the Saran wrap was a “prank,” and, naturally, LeBlanc ran a headline saying so.
But it wasn’t a prank and it wasn’t a response to an alleged bad parking job by Maddock.
Here in America, we use our words in a dispute past the age of 3. We don’t take matters into our own hands. Someone who would Saran wrap your car today because you parked in their spot in a garage with plenty of open spaces might pull a knife tomorrow on a colleague who cut in the lunch line.
For years, we’ve been told of toxic masculinity in society, in politics, and in Lansing. But in 2025, it’s the girl bosses who have gone wild.
They mutilate themselves to draw attention. They hide like 2-year-olds from the attention they do get—attention they traveled to Washington to seek out.
And they’re violent toward anyone who votes wrong, or parks wrong.
House Speaker Matt Hall is now faced with his first test of strength.
If he does nothing, Democrats will continue to escalate, like a child trying to get their parent’s attention by getting in trouble at school.
If he punishes Brixie, either by seeking a censure or by pulling away her office staff, Hall will have to sit through many hysterical speeches on the House floor and might even be forced to endure that tan suit once again. Maybe the Democrats will all wear tan suits in solidarity.
Those are all worrisome scenarios. But inaction is the only dangerous path.
Julie Brixie is a joke. But she wasn’t joking. She could not be more serious.
James David Dickson is host of the Enjoyer Podcast. Join him in conversation on X @downi75.
