Michigan Republican says Cardi B and Billie Eilish are tools of Satan

Ariana Grande and Billie Eilish are tools of Satan. Beyoncé, too, is being used by the Devil in order to pull “Black Americans into paganism.” Cardi B? Same fate. They aren’t alone, though. Practicing yoga, watching Korean soap operas — these are all ways that Lucifer tries to snatch your soul, according to Kristina Karamo, the Republican candidate for Michigan Secretary of State, who has already received an endorsement from Donald Trump.

Karamo is clearly conspiracy-minded. She’s not only claimed that the 2020 presidential election was “stolen” from Trump, but she’s also pledged to go looking for evidence of electoral fraud that simply doesn’t exist. She’s also established ties with QAnon and attended events related to the conspiratorial movement. According to The Guardian, she claimed that the insurrection attempt carried out by Trump supporters on Jan. 6 was actually a false flag and was actually “Antifa posing as Trump supporters.”

But at the core of Karamo’s conspiracy-laden belief system appears to be her faith, and she sees Satan lurking around every corner. Media Matters found Karamo’s now-defunct podcast, It’s Solid Food, in which she lays out some of her beliefs — which, to be fair, do seem to be genuinely held. She truly believes that Jesus Christ is her Lord and Savior, and the only way to make it through this life is to have a relationship with God.

And, like, that’s totally fine! The issue is that Satan is getting really creative these days, according to Karamo. For example, the Devil has found his way into stretching, specifically through yoga. “People are thinking they're doing exercises, no, you’re doing actual, a satanic ritual and don’t even know it,” she said on her show. She also claimed that a Korean show that depicted people speaking to their ancestors was actually another trick pulled by the Devil. “It is so important to know that you’re not communicating with no ancestors. Sweetheart, you’re communicating with demons,” she said. Again, this is about a plot point on a TV show. Presumably, Satan is not listed as the showrunner in the credits, but who knows.

It’s usually easy to dismiss someone like Karamo as just having extreme beliefs and leave it at that, but there’s a problem here: She’s running for office in order to exert those views on the rest of Michigan, and she’s got a lot of support behind her. Per The Guardian, she’s raked in more than $228,000 in campaign contributions from more than 2,000 donors, blowing all of her competition out of the water.

She has real backing, including from the former president, and it’s probably not for her religious beliefs. It’s because hard-right conservatives view her as a useful tool to get what they want and potentially overturn an election. Hopefully Michiganders still have enough faith in democracy to vote for candidates who will protect it instead of threaten it.