did prominent Republican politicians from Michigan and Pennsylvania act like this after Obama won their states by far, far more than trump did in 2008 and 2012???
Obama had won PA and WI by 10 and 15% in 2008 and both of Toomey and Johnson were elected Senator from those states just 2 yrs later - via the Tea Party, promising to stop every single thing Obama was trying
Having any amount of savy political instinct is a sure fire way to get excluded from the Democratic Party during your first attempt to run for anything.
They police low level local races that get people into political power extremely strictly and try to keep anyone who might question them out.
“They” being the entrenched leadership of the Democratic Party. I’ve worked on local races and even the regional dem party orgs are so incredibly hostile not just to left wing candidates but towards anyone with any kind of pragmatic ideas that don’t just suck off bankers and real estate developers.
she should have been the VP choice—it’s not like walz (shapiro or whoever) male VPs would reassure the voters who didnt want a woman president—and disclaiming any interest in it seemed like bad judgment to me at the time
i live in MI. voted against her in her first primary, because i thought she would end up like this, but supported her since then. was pleasantly surprised over the last few years. and now am back at, "i fucking knew it."
Great governor but she always gave me pause. Nothing in particular other than not understanding why she was constantly being elevated to the tippity-top of D politics without any national profile.
if you’re a Dem doing “anti-woke” posturing you’re an idiot, but at least there’s a logic to it. if you’re *speaking at Trump rallies* I really don’t know what to say
I'm thinking that photo op/presser in the Oval Office a few weeks ago, where she tried to hide her face with a clipboard- was not ay all what she tried to blow it off as.😒
I know she alone is responsible for her actions, but there wasn’t a single person on her team that suggested maybe this is a really freaking bad idea??????
that’s the problem. if she thinks that this is the time to “work across the aisle” and that she’d ever get anything from trump but humiliation, she’s an idiot. if she allowed him to get her flatfooted TWICE, she’s an idiot. I’m disappointed but I’m out of excuses for stupid dems.
Well she definitely got a new mission for Selfridge ANG. And if she is willing to trade her political future for the long term future of 30000 of her constituents… She is a term limited governor who has everything to gain and nothing to lose. Her tactic is make deals. While I disagree, it worked 🤷🏽♂️
I hate that I am sounding like a centrist here. I’m not. She’s getting played, it’s a bad look, she has wrecked her political future as a Dem. But that doesn’t invalidate what she has accomplished over her tenure. And it doesn’t negate anything she accomplishes now through bad strategy.
A "bad look"??? She's legitimizing someone who is literally trying to murder her constituents. I don't know how we've gotten to the point that renditioning random people to death camps, including citizens, based mostly on skin color, isn't the entire news cycle 24/7. We're past broken glass already.
Hey I will not vote for her either primary or ticket for president. But she has done some great work as our governor. She just is showing she isn’t the right person for the job right now. Which is a bummer and has absolutely tarnished her rep.
There's still no logic to it because conservatives, when given a choice between a red and a blue conservative, will never choose the blue conservative. This isn't even an original thought it's just the best way I've heard it.
Wapo reported she did not go to the rally. It appeared she was walking a careful line to get what her state needed. I have no doubt Trump is trying to sink her career. And I’m not sure she can save her political career.
No. Sorry. I liked her SO much… thought she’d be a great presidential candidate. Until a few weeks ago when she was in something at the WH Oval Office a tried to hide her face with a folder when the camera turned to her. Trump trying to discredit her but it worked… why was she there?!
She won't get it. No one who prostrates to him gets what they want. He see it as weak. This is not a new situation. She has had nine years to learn this.
Kind of prepared for this when her state of the state spent significant time talking about how "Michigan could show the country how bipartisanship is the way forward," but definitely feels like a combination of bad staff and losing the trifecta might have broken her
Yeah but they could have done it with literally anyone as governor including a repurposed Teddy Ruxpin that just had a tape in it that said yes on a loop.
Truly wild that a Dem presidential hopeful is willing to meet with a GOP president who is so unpopular that GOP members of Congress will likely spend an entire general election trying to find the maximum distance they can maintain without angering him.
Every time I see "woke" used I remind the person, woke means equal. We are all equal. You can see why it has so many upset, I mean, the horror of waking up to the notion its not enough to be born white and male.
I think she’s acting like Governor of the state of Michigan, with a big ask to get auto tariffs eased. That’s different than being a 2028 Presidential hopeful.
While this particular incident is unhelpful, in general we’d be better off is politicians served their constituents over their ambitions.
Which constituents, exactly? She's not fucking protecting the constituents he's going to deport without due process, or the constituents he's illegally fired from federal employment.
What does it matter if you save the auto industry if you do it by getting in bed with the man who is trying to send a huge chunk of the blue-collared auto employees to El Salvadoran death camps?
People also seem to forget that nearly the entire state of Michigan is under the jurisdiction of CBP.
She was NOT at the rally. This is Faux News spin, a misrepresentation.
Instead, Whitmer appeared at Selfridge Air Nat’l Guard Base, for recapitalization. That is, 20 newer jets were announced to replace A-10’s that were to be retired, and the base will remain open.
My theory is she doesn’t want to be in politics anymore and just wants a high paying consulting or TV job once she’s done as governor and I appreciate her doing this now instead of dragging it into a shitty presidential run
She didn’t attend the rally, that took place later. She attended the event at the National Guard base that was slated to be closed and she lobbied Trump to save it.
Oh but the above comment is right. It’s all optics here. And intentional on his part. That’s why he wanted her to speak. That’s why he played that video at the rally. He just made her part of his show.
Doesn't really matter, imo. In politics, if you are explaining, you are losing. Having to address this at all, let alone attempt to clarify a distinction between events, will absolutely kill her in a primary debate.
Getting cozy with the man 87% of your own party views as a "dangerous dictator" & another 56% of Independents agree is a bold choice and not a very good one. Really not surprised at how many closet Republicans are in the party.
Whitmer was working for MI and did the work to keep jobs and a base open.
Ever work at a job where you knew the CEO was a lecherous fk but you needed funding to help your crew? It's like that. She couldn't go Maryland on him.
Comments
No - of course they didn't
Obama had won PA and WI by 10 and 15% in 2008 and both of Toomey and Johnson were elected Senator from those states just 2 yrs later - via the Tea Party, promising to stop every single thing Obama was trying
They are fine where they are, but they are not geared for the national party.
See Slotkin, Elissa and Fetterman, John.
They police low level local races that get people into political power extremely strictly and try to keep anyone who might question them out.
there's "steering into the skid" and then there's "steering into a lake at 5 mph because the GPS told you to"
2. He called her up on stage impromptu. She didn’t have prepared remarks.
My take away isn’t “hurray big gretch” it’s definitely “I get you want to be bipartisan, but you keep putting yourself in position to get played.”
https://www.michigan.gov/whitmer/news/press-releases/2025/04/29/whitmer-secures-new-f15-ex-fighter-mission-for-selfridge-protecting-michigans-defense-industry
She’s an idiot. That’s not arguable.
"oh he'll violate the constitution and run again" he doesn't need a vote to hold onto power illegally!
And Gavin Newsom podcast, what is going on down there??
https://www.newsweek.com/gretchen-whitmer-selfridge-air-base-trump-2066002
She danced for nothing
While this particular incident is unhelpful, in general we’d be better off is politicians served their constituents over their ambitions.
DOES NOT
PROTECT YOUR CONSTITUENTS
IN THE SHORT TERM
OR THE LONG TERM
THEY LAUGH AT THE DANCE THEY MADE YOU DO
AND HURT YOU ANYWAY
People also seem to forget that nearly the entire state of Michigan is under the jurisdiction of CBP.
Instead, Whitmer appeared at Selfridge Air Nat’l Guard Base, for recapitalization. That is, 20 newer jets were announced to replace A-10’s that were to be retired, and the base will remain open.
Ever work at a job where you knew the CEO was a lecherous fk but you needed funding to help your crew? It's like that. She couldn't go Maryland on him.