Whitmer's Defining, Embarrassing Moment

The nation saw she's not ready for higher office

Gretchen Whitmer was probably at her best during the worst of the Covid-19 epidemic, when she stood up to Donald Trump’s irrationality and did everything she could to keep Michiganders safe. This caused him to contemptuously call her “that woman from Michigan,” something her supporters proudly wore on T-shirts.

But that was then and this is now, and since Trump took office for a second time, Whitmer has been disgracefully sucking up to him. She is clearly attempting to run for president, despite her denials, and evidently figured she could enhance her electability by making herself acceptable to at least some of the MAGA crowd.

Which proves decisively what those who closely follow politics in this state have long known: Gretchen Whitmer is by no means ready for prime time, and the nation got solid proof of that. For weeks she’s been courting Trump shamelessly, and was apparently thrilled that she got to sit next to him at a White House dinner.

Then, yesterday, she showed up in the Oval Office, where Trump held a press conference that she said she didn’t know would happen. He used her as a prop, calling her “Gretchen,” and, as the Detroit Free Press’ Nancy Kaffer noted, signed a series of executive orders “at odds with her political positions and moral values.”

To their credit, many of her fellow Democrats bashed her. State Rep. Laurie Pohutsky of Livonia said “There is no middle ground to be found with an administration that is wiping its ass with the Constitution,” which is exactly right. And her colleague, the impressive Betsy Coffia of Traverse City, added “Normalizing an authoritarian is bad.”

Whitmer’s office then issued a whimpering statement saying that she was “surprised that she was brought into the Oval Office during President Trump’s press conference without any knowledge of the subject matter.”

Well, that she let this happen is eminent proof that she’s not a major leaguer. She also whined that “I stayed in that room because I needed to make the case of Michigan … that’s my job.”

Apparently bowing and scraping to this fascist is what she thinks making the case for Michigan should look like. This whole tawdry event should send a signal to the national media, who have often touted Whitmer as a potential ideal Democratic presidential candidate. She isn’t ready. She has lived virtually her whole life, including college and law school in and around Lansing and East Lansing. Her foreign policy experience is the IHOP near the Michigan State University campus.

What she logically should have done now is run for the open U.S. Senate seat, which she would have been the odds-on favorite to win. But she evidently thought that was beneath her.

In fact, it IS possible to negotiate with an authoritarian; responsible U.S. administrations have done that for years. But Trump is far worse than that. Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel gets it. “Why I refuse to normalize this president: Appeasement is not workable strategy with a fascist,” she said.

Sadly, Michigan’s governor had to learn this — if she indeed has learned it — the hard way.

By the way, I am illustrating this column , not with a picture of Whitmer and Trump, but one taken on January 6, 2021, for those who, like the governor, need reminding of who these people are.