Gretchen Whitmer became governor after promising to “repair the fucking roads” in Michigan.
The question of whether it goes further depends on the way it can navigate in some of the first bumps on surface while it is positioned for a possible offer from the White House.
On Wednesday, during a trip to Washington, DC, which highlighted its perspectives in 2028, Whitmer struck what many of his democratic colleagues considered as two major group nests.
First, in a political speech describing a “coherent national strategy”, Whitmer expressed common ground with President Donald Trump. And although Whitmer has criticized Trump’s roller coaster’s roller coaster rate deployment – and subsequent prices of – she said that she was not against “pure and simple” prices and expressed her understanding of Trump’s “motivation” behind them. This attracted a reprimand on the social networks of the Democratic Governor of Colorado, Jared Polis.
“The prices are badly badly because they lead to higher prices and destroy American manufacturing,” wrote Polis, another potential candidate in 2028 who also sought means to find a common cause with Trump, wrote on X. “Trade is intrinsically good because the two parties are better emerging from a consensual transaction.”
Then, later Wednesday, Whitmer joined Trump in the oval office. She had to meet him in private and discuss Michigan’s problems. It wasn’t that it was finally played.
Instead, it was held when it signed several decrees, two of which calling for the probe from the Ministry of Justice to civil servants who served in its first administration and called it to falsely affirm that the 2020 elections were stolen. He made the false claims on the “fake” elections on Wednesday.
Whitmer was invited to the oval office alongside the president of Michigan State House Matt Hall, a Republican, while Trump held the court with journalists and signed the decrees. Photos showed Whitmer standing uncomfortably against a door while the cameras were rolling.
“She really did a great job,” said Trump about Whitmer when the impromptu media availability. “Very good person.”
Although Trump committed himself to her on questions she came to discuss, the fact that she was present to what was equivalent to an opportunity for BartiTitis photo when he took steps targeting angry and confused political criticism.
“Just an F — ING catastrophe,” said a democratic agent who admires Whitmer and, like others interviewed for this article, has obtained anonymity to share frank reflections on his day. “It looks like this removes part of the momentum that she had as a DEM in the state of politically informed swing.”
Whitmer’s team moved quickly to contain the repercussions and countercritics of his party’s criticism.
“The governor was surprised that she was brought to the oval office” at the press conference of President Trump without any notice of the subject, “he The spokesperson said in a statement. “His presence is not an approval of the measures taken or the declarations made during this event.”
Democrats have long considered Whitmer to be one of the most formidable personalities of the party – a governor with two mandates of a battlefield state who won the re -election in a landslide and was almost exploited to be Joe Biden’s running mate in 2020 after having considerably raised his public profile during the cocovid pandemic. Whitmer is part of a handful of eminent democratic governors considered as potential presidential contenders in 2028.
But unlike some of his contemporaries, Whitmer chose to seek a stronger working relationship with Trump during his second term. Trump won his condition last fall, and Whitmer considers himself more moderate in a center -left with a riding in the middle of the road and the midwest – the one that is receptive to Trump’s message, including and especially on the manufacturing and pricing policy.
In his Washington speech on Wednesday, Whitmer called to cut administrative formalities and build more in the United States. She also kept “partisanary”, saying that she apparently “infected all aspects of our life, and it’s exhausting”.
“Let’s give more people who work hard in a decent life,” she said. “And inaugurate, as President Trump says, a” golden age “of American manufacturing.”
She broke with Trump on the most substantial prices he announced last week and partially took a break later Wednesday afternoon, describing them as a “triple blow: higher costs, less jobs and more uncertainty”.
“I understand the motivation behind the prices, and I can tell you here where President Trump and I agree,” she said. “We have to do more things in America – more cars and fries, more steel and ships. We need a fair trade. “
His position on the prices contradictions her with other potential democratic presidential hopes, such as Polis and the governor of Pennsylvania, Josh Shapiro, who offered a strong criticism of Trump’s “false” measures in a speech in his state on Wednesday.
During a session of questions and answers with journalist Gretchen Carlson after his speech, Whitmer sympathized with the many Democrats who do not want Democratic officials to work with Trump. But she said that she had to be collaborative because “I took an oath to the residents of Michigan to try to do the same for the state.”
Whitmer also said that she had not “thought” about the way she would manage the prices differently from Trump, only that they should be used as “scalpel”.
A national democratic strategist said: “This is a massive accusation act on Whitmer and the judgment of his team for, first, not to have an answer on the tariff question, then to make the White House and to play absolutely by Donald Trump to the point that she is taken in the oval office when he signs one of his executive commands of revenge and retribution and said that 2020 was rigged.”
About prices, his spokesperson has focused on the areas of disagreement with Trump rather than the ways of which the two overlap.
“This morning, the governor made a speech in Washington, DC, on the devastating effects that prices have had on Michiganders – companies increasing prices and losing workers in retirement accounts,” said Whitmer’s spokesperson. “This afternoon, the 90-day break was announced, and it is a step in the right direction and will relieve so many companies through the State, but we remain concerned about the prices that will harm American automobile companies.”
Whitmer and Hall were supposed to chat with Trump Federal Investment at the base of the Michigan National Selfridge Air Guard, a recent devastating ice storm in the state and a plan to cope with the invasive Asian carp in Lake Michigan. Whitmer’s team and its allies described Reunion as a success on these questions.
“Governor Whitmer thanks President Trump for his thanks on the protection of the Great Lakes against the invasive carp, his work on Selfridge and his opening at our request for help in northern Michigan,” said his spokesperson.
A democratic official who worked with Whitmer said that his relations with Trump show that she “was very good to defend his state”.
“And President Trump clearly listens to what she says and what he does,” said that person. “You have seen this today on the prices, on the progress they have made on Selfridge and on the other questions it has led to discuss.”
Whitmer’s Day also offered political nuances. His visit to the Oval Office did not only annoy the Democrats. The Republicans complained that it was an unnecessary boost to a leader whom they have long tried to demonize in a crucial electoral battlefield.
“Trump literally just f — Ed Republicans of Michigan saying that Whitmer does an excellent job,” wrote a republican strategist from Michigan in a text message. “I mean, WTF, she runs to replace him in 2028.”
The Trump -Whitmer in grass – Wednesday’s meeting was their second in less than two months – would have been unthinkable not so long ago. Trump appeared prominently in the political memory that Whitmer published last year, with a longtime quarrel with each other representing a large part of the first chapter: “Do not let the intimidators shoot down.”
Whitmer wrote about how Trump responded to his criticism of his leadership at the start of the pandemic by marking her with disdain and derisory as “this Michigan woman”. Whitmer and his team embraced the insulting nickname, which has become a must for progressive merchandise.
“This is the secret to managing the intimidators: you take their weapon and make your shield,” wrote Whitmer. “Whenever Trump gave me a nickname, I got mine.”
This story had observers struggling with cognitive dissonance on Wednesday.
“Whitmer has harmed his candidacy today,” said a democratic strategist. “She looked and sounded nervous in the oval office. This visual will stick. The image of Trump congratulates her when he signed decrees to target his criticism. ”
A second democratic agent who worked with Whitmer previously declared that his speech was today as an “opening salvo” for a presidential offer.
“In a way, there is this absolutism among the Democrats where you are either everything against him, or you are not against him, right?” This person said. “And I think that if you are governor of Midwest, there are certainly appropriate moments for prices.”
This person was surprised by the hindsight she obtained from Polis after his address, adding that criticism showed that “2028 is activated”. But the person was also perplexed by the appearance of the Whitmer oval office.
“Overall, that didn’t seem great,” said this person. “The photo of her stood there in the area, the uncomfortable air. Strange jokes. The whole thing didn’t make much sense. Why did it happen?”
However, this person said that Whitmer, who is committed to working in the aisle, including with Trump, to provide results for their condition, can indicate tangible results of their trip to Michiganders.
But at the national level, the conversation around its visit will be very different.
“Overall, hey, good visit, right?” This person continued, shaking the local problems that Whitmer discussed – before pivoting the show of the executive order. “It was like, Saint-S —, what did it just happen?”
