NEW YORK CITY, NY — U.S. Sen. Elissa Slotkin this week continued a high-profile July spent appearing on national media platforms, where she has called on Democrats to act more like Detroit Lions.
During an appearance on the Thursday, July 30, episode of “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” the Democrat from Holly weighed in on topics both comedic and serious, from a hot dog-centric debate to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
Since joining the Senate earlier this year, Slotkin is no stranger to spending time in spaces that elevate her message to national audiences. In March, Democrats selected Michigan’s freshman senator to respond to President Donald Trump’s joint address to Congress. Earlier this month, she was the focus of a New York Times profile piece.
The latter media appearance featured Slotkin calling on Democrats to rebrand and “bring back more alpha energy,” in part by following the example of Lions coach Dan Campbell’s style of hard-nosed leadership.
Slotkin repeated that message during her Colbert interview.
“We want people who have a gut, who are bold, who are going to put out an opinion and not try to mealy mouth it, and who are going to push when someone does something wrong and who are going to hug you when you do something good,” Slotkin told Colbert.
Slotkin said Campbell provided “the perfect example” of such leadership. She said other sports stars possess that style of leadership, including Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce; his brother, retired NFL lineman Jason Kelce; and Ilona Maher, the American rugby union player.
“We need to bring some of that gut, bold leadership,” Slotkin said. “It’s not progressive/moderate. It’s not old/young. We are in a dark place, we all know it, we don’t need to hide about that. So, how do we — certainly for Democrats — chart a path, not just to play defense, but to play offense? To show people who we are and to pull them back into the fold?”
During the exchange, Slotkin also quickly offered a prediction: The Lions will win the Super Bowl.
Colbert and the senator discussed the crisis at the Gaza Strip, a Palestinian territory where civilians have struggled for food and aid during the ongoing military conflict between Israeli and Palestinian forces. Earlier this week, The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification said Gaza has teetered on the brink of famine for two years, but recent developments have “dramatically worsened” the situation.
Colbert asked Slotkin how the U.S. should respond to the crisis.
Slotkin said she was approached this week by members of both American Jewish and Muslim populations, with both seeking solutions to help Gazans.
“People of many different faiths understand that humanitarian aid getting in to children is an American value, a Jewish value, and a Muslim value; it’s a requirement,” Slotkin said.
She compared the situation to her experience as a CIA agent during the U.S. military campaign in Iraq, when she said Americans were both engaging in military action in Iraq while providing humanitarian aid to civilians there.
Slotkin also answered questions about her former career as a CIA analyst.
Colbert asked Slotkin if there existed “a deep state” within the U.S. government, a claim made by leaders including President Donald Trump. That claim at times has tied the “deep state” to members of U.S. intelligence agencies.
“This idea that there’s some network of people that are running the world, it’s just, it doesn’t really match reality,” Slotkin said. “And these people in the dead of night are doing things to protect this country and make sure things don’t blow up here. And, for me, you know, the way that Trump is going after them is just, it’s particularly…first of all, it’s nasty. Second of all, it’s completely counter to our interests to be demoralizing the people that are protecting them.”
Slotkin’s two-segment appearance on “The Late Show” also included light-hearted banter about food categorization.
Colbert asked Slotkin to talk about her family’s connection to the popular Ball Park Franks hot dog brand. Slotkin’s great-grandfather in the 1950s contracted with the Detroit Tigers to sell hot dogs via his company, Hygrade’s Ball Park Franks, at Tigers Stadium. That brand evolved to what today is known as Ball Park Franks.
While Slotkin did not detail her family’s Ball Park Frank origin story on “The Late Show,” the senator engaged the comedian on his view that hot dogs are sandwiches.
“I prepared for this conversation because you have a really weird view of this,” Slotkin told Colbert. “It’s, like, definitively not a sandwich. It’s its own cultural category. It’s something else entirely.”
The audience clapped and Colbert’s band expressed agreement with Slotkin.
“Thank you,” she said. “It is not a damn sandwich.”
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