People are very eager to let Whitmer off the hook for getting caught in an Oval Office photo op, so let’s take a quick look at the reason she was there
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Too bad Trump & his cult don't give two shits about bipartisanship, Gretch. Why run yourself into a brick wall & damage your credibility with this stunt?
They need to fire all the consultants who tell them to do this into the sun. Same with the firms doing their email marketing. I don't care what their data says about engagement and fundraising it's hurting the party.
Michigan is a purple state. The Republicans just took back the House; Dems control the Senate by one vote and it's only that much b/c Whitmer is holding off on scheduling an election for an open seat. You literally can't get anything done in the state without being bipartisan.
There's also a difference between touting bipartisanship as a virtue above the things you supposedly believe in and coming to the table with things you're trying to accomplish and eventually agreeing to compromises in order to get those done. Dems have seriously lost the story on this
Is there someone else she can go to keep an Air Force Base open? Or get federal disaster aid approved?
Sounds like you are saying she should just let her constituents in N MI fend for themselves & miss out on a chance for aid. I don't think that's a good idea.
Besides frankly it’s an unproven claim that even state level bi-partisan is worthy the trade off in this instance.What’s working down there that Trump won’t find some reason to oppose anyway?
Yes, she is term-limited. What is "swing right" about these positions that affect the 10M people she represents?
Air Force Base in MI threatened w closure;
Lake Michigan about to be invaded by Asian Carp;
FEMA aid for N MI;
tariff removal for auto & parts manufacturers (20% of MI economy)?
I’m sorry both sides need to strive for bipartisanship. Where we are now is getting us nowhere. I’m a D with many R friends. I can tell you they are not happy either and disgusted with polarization.
They’ve been fooled into thinking it’s something that they should strive for. GOP and their voters don’t want it, Dem voters don’t want it and the msm doesn’t really give a damn about it even if they say they do.
I wonder if this isn’t them reaching for the “virtue” of bipartisanship and is actually just acquiescing because they’re sick of losing but too weak to find their fight. Nothing more than a way of tepidly asking if there’s enough room under this garbage tent for them so they can keep power.
I suspect bipartisanship means different things to different people. As a broad term, it sounds fantastic. Once you get more specific, the idea likely breaks down.
well, she doesn’t need to bother with running ever again. bad judgment, bad reaction. if she falls for trump’s idiotic tariffs and then allows him to ambush and publicy humiliate her, what would she do on the international stage? no way.
this is stupid. you don’t need to know the perfect solution to be able to see what is wrong. she’s the one who believes she’s competent to be a leader, even president, and she proved she’s not. end of story.
I have historically been a Big Gretch fan, but her performance since November has definitely been lacking. We do her and us no favors by pretending otherwise.
The only person coming near the Democratic nomination is the person who wins over black voters (as always), not the person who wins over bluesky posters. Who that person will be, unclear so far!
I agree and should have said “VP pick”, as a shot at both of them, since Newsom (in addition to the horrid stuff he’s done in california, what he’s said about trans ppl, and more) decided to further the pursuit of his political aspirations by joining Steve Bannon and Charlie Kirk’s podcasts.
I mean I cut politicians a little slack for needing to appeal to other constituencies sometimes, even if I don’t like it. But this is, as you say, just a fundamental misjudgment.
Her and Gavin can start looking for a new future gig, no way no how, and I use to be a big Newsom defender, but after he went after trans folks and now her sucking up to the criminal, look at the pic of her covering her face in the Oval Office, she knew what she was doing was wrong, good riddance
if your not taking their framing why are you pushing their framing, he didn't go raid some ones house and catch it on fire, and your not talking about photo albums and family heirlooms, not the best look, but a far cry from trashing trans folks, keep trying, he will not get my vote any way
keep your day job, your ability to read the public is as bad as every other centrist dem consultant, constantly going to the right has proven to not be a winning gameplan for anyone but republiscams
You've clearly not talked to many people recently. I live in a red city in a red part of a blue state and people are pissed if you actually talk to them. They don't want capitulation. They want someone to stand up to Trump.
She isn't capitulating, that is just the narrative people are running with here because they can't resist compulsively canceling popular Democrats. Dems obviously already won over the "pissed off about Trump coalition." I want someone who can win over low-engagement clueless voters lol
there are plenty of publics, which one do you refer to, the voting one, which btw has been very close in all the past elections except for 2020, if the dems had stood for something instead of hiding from issues, they may have won more, the voting public can also be expanded by standing for something
In that case, I'm looking forward to voting third party again in 2028.
And I'm sure many leftists who voted for Harris just to get told to enjoy the camps for six months because they didn't unquestioningly polish her knob on top of voting for her will be happy to do so for the first time.
The conservatives weren't wrong about people on the left frantically canceling people and calling people Nazis over slight disagreements. The problem, of course, is that the Republican party is actually run by predators and bigots lol
I mean, she's not wrong.
I think more Democrats should find a way to directly work with Trump, if only to help curb some of the administration's worst impulses, and maybe find a way to shield a number of vulnerable populations.
This is Whitmer's vision? She has not been keeping up.
Voter's approval of congress has been the lowest in decades and they say they want "parties to work together."
That hasn't been the case since Bill Clinton. Only dreamers see room for compromise with Trump's idea of democracy.
Whitmer is at sea
By being there she acts like his BS is on the level. It isn't. He's a f'n scammer and he paints narratives that corrupt media already boost, so doubling down is full capitulation.
Biden actually helped pass infrastructure shit that the GOP opposed & Don now takes credit for. Whitmer: "Thanks, Don!"
was she actually trying to hide? or did the camera just happen to catch a split second moment? because i find it hard to believe she'd actually try to hide like that this isn't a cartoon lol
I was wondering that too—but it is a bit awkward if she was just looking at notes. Don’t know if we should hope for more pictures—but just the fact that the WH released this one speaks volumes. Why would they do that?
100%. Anyone suggesting she can come back from the and be a credible 2028 candidate is delusional. If she runs, the ads write themselves and her opponents will not let voters forget it.
It does amaze me what Dems try to do to "win over" GOP voters. No matter what they do, the other side won't like them and trying just makes Dem voters unhappy with them.
You may have forgotten but our president is a rapist 34 time convicted felon in a traitor to his country. This will be forgotten about before the week is done. More distraction.
It seems as though she's still figuring out the whole "object permanence" thing.
I'll help. Just because you can't see us doesn't mean we can't see you
Since 2022, Michigan-based stakeholders and State agencies have been awarded $16.7 B in funding from the BIL, IRA, and CHIPS acts with additional funding anticipated through 2026
She may be concerned about losing contracts like Microsoft backed out and another large contract ended in NC neciase of this bullshit….she has to protect her state I don’t think she was capitulating
She wasn’t there for a photo op, she was there for the people of Michigan. Perhaps it will do some good, perhaps not, but she kept her promise that she will never stop working for the people of Michigan
For liberal DC, NY, SF liberal elites, purity testing, canceling and scrolling are their favorite hobbies. You have to realize you are making a pretty big ask here, normal adult dude.
Maybe it'll dawn on you when you're older why all of your relationships are shallow and transactional but by then it'll be too late to become a better person
I was just as shocked as you were … but there‘s one sentence missing „but it has to be done right“. Doesn’t sound like she‘s a fan of Trump‘s policy to me.
My problem with her is that aligning herself with Trump pretty much guarantees that it *won't* be done right. He has zero interest in doing things right. He neither knows nor cares about making things better for anyone but himself.
Doing things in a shitty way that's only meant to benefit him is 100 percent his MO. The likelihood that she can shift that tendency is pretty much zero. Ask his advisers from his first term; it's been tried.
Let me just crop out the important context because I really just want Democrats to win so badly. I need to keep posting about this because we still have candidates that could win in 2028 left standing and who else is going to cancel them?
Bro they don't give a crap, they want to tear down people on their own side because that is way more of a thrill than defeating fascism. It is compulsive, like some kind of hivemind scroll disorder lol
Ah yes the golden age of factory workers, the jobs well known for being the best, most rewarding, safest, and that provide upward mobility. There is absolutely nothing out there to suggest factory workers hated working in a factory.
Yeah, so much bullshit, so little time. I hope she's happy with where she's at because I, for one, would never support her for running for anything on a national level.
Yes, your 6000 comments on this thread have made that perfectly clear. 😅 She will not survive the primary after this. So you may want to find someone who has better political instincts to support
Are they? Because all the fellow middle aged libs I know are done. Same with Newsom.
The election is far off. If I was her I would keep my head down and work hard for 18months, try again.
Problem is your Bookers are going to be campaigning that whole time.
im gonna be real i think this little stunt pretty much nixes any chance of her winning the nomination. the democratic base is not in the mood for bipartisanship and capitulation, and i have a feeling that attitude will not shift back the other way in the next 3 years
We are already in a recession and we may have a war with Iran and China, who knows what else in the three and a half years. You think people will seriously remember this vividly by then? Also it won't be bluesky users from Washington DC or San Francisco that will decide, it'll be black voters lol
i simply dont see democratic voters turning out for a candidate that wants to work with this administration. at this juncture, its just not a popular position to take. people are unhappy with the democratic party, and its not because they refuse to work with trump, quite the contrary really
and honestly i ESPECIALLY dont see black voters turning out for this sort of rhetoric when the admin is purging the government of black employees/appointees/history
Pritzker seems fine, I wouldn't not vote for him in the general. But that dude is incredibly boring. I find it hard to imagine how he would survive in the new age of Trumpism in a race where the modern voter is completely scroll-brained.
trump will never pass up a chance to burn her at the stake . This first time she takes her lips off his ass, it's game over .. He owns her, and she WILL DO AS SHE'S TOLD OR ELSE!!!
The golden age is all about the rich.
“Buy low. Sell high” is also about the rich buying up real estate & making housing unaffordable for most everyone. Their “golden age” is the gilded age in U.S. history. “Bringing back manufacturing” will take years. We need quality with competitive markets.
No, she is cancelled as a potential Democratic presidential nominee because she showed she has terrible judgement and chose to bow down to a racist and fascist.
She is canceled by the left on bluesky but she isn't canceled as a candidate lol. I have a feeling you may not have fully investigated this situation yourself.
Blue sky is a very good representation of the democratic party. Her favorable rating has dropped like a lead balloon since choosing to buddy up to Trump. I just wonder who's advising her.
If it was a good representation why are like 90% of all people with a big account on this website white people? (50% of whom have like PhDs or work for some big publication lol)
Ehhh... I hope this place is just an outlier in the same way r/politics is. The group-think and cult vibes are getting to be a bit much for me. Folks offline seem much more rational and sane though IME.
she was used as a prop to give Bipartisan cover for Trump and the MI House speaker to lie repeatedly about Obama and Biden not helping the state with asian carp
Quoting Trump while decrying partisanship is like serving poison with a side of kale and calling it healthy. You can’t fight division by echoing the Divider-in-Chief. Want a Golden Age? Start by rejecting the golden idols of hypocrisy and giving working people more than tired slogans.
"As President Trump says"? WTF. I know she is from a purple state and is anxious to protect the auto industry but there must be some limits to total appeasement
It’s a moot point because the Democrats can’t nominate a woman in 2028, because if there is one lesson from 2024, is that America is not ready to elect a woman.
My feelings, too. Hate to say this, but we need a Kick 'Em in the Nuts, Punch him the Mouth White Man Tough Guy. Just poisonous right now for ANY woman getting elected president. My choice would be IL Governor JB Pritzker. I now sadly believe I won't see a female president in my lifetime.
There is no male candidate in the Democratic party that can win. You do not fight misogyny by succumbing to it. Whitmer‘s probably out, but those with the courage to stand up right now, who don’t have some terrible baggage weighing down the future of the country are all women.
She could’ve turned a loss into a win in a snap — I count 3 possibly 5 deadly weapons within her reach. If this were a game of Clue, the solution would be, “Governor Whitmer, in the Oval, with the Fireplace Poker.”
Yes
And instead of condemning Trump's words ("Treason") and executive orders immediately afterwards, the statement put out made her sound weak and easily duped:
"The governor was surprised that she was brought into the Oval Office"
1. Trump is a fascist and Democrats are weak
2. Trump is not a fascist and Democrats have been gaslighting us
3. Trump is a fascist and so are Democrats
The Democratic consultant class came away from 2024 convinced Harris lost due to not appealing sufficiently to the centrists. Whitmer and Newsom clearly buying into their wisdom, will split centrist/GOPer votes in Dem primary. Walz will get lefties, Pritzker the rest
So disappointing, not sure she can recover from this but I'm hoping she can and adjusts to the reality that you can't curry favor from an autocrat and expect anything good to come of it.
“I’m tried!” Girl me too but uh they are gutting the government. Attacking trans people. Sending people to another country on “error” or I should say human trafficking and wanting to send citizens. She has no excuses. Lol.
Republican politicians: Empathy is a pestilence that women have unleashed on us, making us weak and unmanly.
Woman politician responds: What we need right now is more empathy.
🤦♀️
Hate has no place in a trueDemocracy so let’s knock it off with Whitmer. She did what she has to do representing her constituents. She is not MAGA for chrissakes
I was willing to try to see that whole thing in her favor, but now I’m even more appalled. The golden age of manufacturing? Now she’s using Trump language? She needs to get a lesson from Janet Mills about being a strong and unapologetic leader for her state without repeating fascist talking points.
I think it's a dangerous precedent to kick a Democrat to the curb when we don't know everything going on behind scenes.
Does it look bad? Hell ya.
Would I vote for her over ANY GOP? Hell ya
My curb-kicking (as a Michigander) is because she has been completely invisible for MONTHS. Also, her "Fix the Damn Roads" program is a never-ending nightmare of roads that crumble within a year of completion.
Fair enough.
I'm not a supporter or anything but don't know all the details. If she truly felt working w trump was the best way to help her state...
If we somehow get out of this mess, we will need to judge people on a scale. Not sure what that line is, but it's not clear
Sorry, not going to cancel her. She is the most charismatic candidate out of the lineup for 2028 and therefore extremely valuable in the age of scrolling.
If I had to hang out with a bunch of politics nerds from bluesky for an afternoon, I'd throw myself out a window. If Big Gretch asked me out on a date, I'd bring flowers.
I see we're ahead of schedule when it comes to disqualifying people. This seems good for the party. By 2028 we'll have found deal-breakers for all the primary candidates and we can just stay home.
You’re full of it! She was there seeking National Disaster Relief for the northern Michigan counties affected by the ice storm over 2 weeks ago. My area is still without power!
Did she, or did she not, give that speech? Did those words not come out of her mouth? I'd say it's worse that she felt compelled to say this if she's there for a completely different reason.
She was there to secure federal emergency funds for a major natural disaster in our state. What are talking about? Should she let people in the UP freeze to death?
I am sure that this time, Trump will keep his promise and give aid and support to someone who bent over and kissed his ass, even though he has not done so the last one billion times
Yeah dude. She should have pandered to politics nerds on bluesky instead of actual voters who she serves in her very critical swing state. She did not bend the knee appropriately to the left on bluesky and for that she must be canceled and forever banished.
Then she needs to have advertised that before, during, and after the meeting so that no one could spin up what they are now. Make the record crystal clear.
I swear, these big accounts from NY, MA, DC & CA taking 5 minutes out of their day to opine w/o knowing what's going on in Michigan, why we might need federal help, how our state govt is current divided (you literally need bipartisanship to get anything done, the point of her speech) is illuminating
Expecting these people to be in touch or pragmatic at all is hopeless. The fact she has been canceled by DC elites makes me think she is more likely to win tbh lol
So you think she should advocate for federal aid, removing tariffs on autos, keeping key Air Force base, getting required fed approval to protect the Great Lakes by phone instead of in person.
Sounds like that will work. Maybe a fax would be even better?
Heyyyyyyy Dems.....Please stop sharing consultants with Gavin Newsom. Unless you are looking for an insincere tv gig these will lead you off a cliff and at the very least shows one's complete lack of judgement.
If you think money makes pritzger a sure thing you sound like the trumpers who think Trump and Elon musk can't be corrupt because they don't need the money
There are also the veiled death threats happening to federal judges. Trump's threatening governors & judiciary, shakedowns, control of lawyers & judges is mafia rule
It's not about their political careers, it's about whether we will have elections, & when Trump will start assasinating journalists and political opponents like Putin does; how can our leaders prevent that & deflate/defeat fascist power? Trump wan't a legitimate candidate, unlikely he won fairly.
From what I understood of what she claimed. She was there to argue for funding for Michigan NG or military base. And to fight the invasion of carp into the Great Lakes. And she’d visited the WH 3 times so far on these issues.
Michigan had bad weekend 2 weeks ago. Ice storm in part of upper peninsula and upper lower peninsula, and several tornadoes in the south to middle part of the state. Several thousand people are still without power due to the ice storm, and there is a lot of clean up yet to do.
So, you think that explains why she was at the WH? Did she go uninvited? Bet not, and the press would be expected to be present no matter what was going on. Was it a setup by the Oval officials?
Not seeing a lot of eagerness. His economic policies are not popular. He likely held her off until after the Wall Street selloffs when she would be useful to him. Her career is over.
No matter the politics, she is our Gov and needs to advocate for Michigan. It seems people would be happier if she didn’t? We have lost a lot of funding and have a natural disaster we are trying to fix. You are all falling for the optics and rushing to cancel her out. It’s depressing.
Just the future of our country, nbd. I'd rather compulsively cancel a popular Dem politician than spent 5 minutes reading an article about the actual situation, sorry bro
There is no way to compromise with fascists & bullies. Do you select torture methods? It’s okay to stab adults, but only burn children? How would you make a bipartisan agreement over who gets to violate the Constitution? We are dealing with people who enjoy & espouse racism,misogyny, & cruelty.
the one single time i can remember hordes of leftish people screaming, begging democrats to be aggressive and get in their opponents faces and her idea is to say nice things about trump and thus was tricked. truly a fool of a politician
At first I was trying to give her the benefit of the doubt—that she was somehow tricked into the Oval. But Whitmer is politically astute enough to have realized this was bound to happen. The hiding her face photo was the last straw.
he spent the final 3 weeks of the 2020 Election - you can go back and watch his speeches - repeatedly calling for Whitmer to be locked up in Prison, too
A MI Democrat wanting to build more in the US is nothing new. She’d worked on establishing more manufacturing facilities during the Biden administration too.
She's got a bit of a point w.r.t this hyperpartisan era: it's dumb asf. Has too many folks unable to even talk anymore. Everyone's quick to paint one as an enemy, even if ya largely agree. Cult behavior tbh. I hope to see the two-party system cease to exist in my lifetime. It's plain toxic. ✌️
I’m torn abt Whitmer. As governor, her responsibility is to all the ppl of her state, so I get that working to get fed $ is a reasonable goal. However, her inability to expect an ambush doesn’t speak well of her or her team’s understanding of Trump. Not sure even begging would work in this case. /1
We know he hates women in power & hates Dems in power, & he’ll always do something to humiliate them publicly. This whole episode undermines any idea she’d be able to handle diplomacy on a global stage. Only women who dealt w Trump well—Pelosi & Merkel—treated him like an ill-behaved child. /end
Best case scenario—she was duped into serving as a propaganda tool for Trump. I doubt Michigan will get anything in return. Trump humiliates and then discards. Good job, Whitmer!
Comments
And she should have known better.
https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:klxrfdfgw46owgd4lbeezssm/post/3lmo37pz5xk25
If they don't know this, they're incompetent.
If they do know this, bipartisanship is a lie that normalizes the anti-Constitutionalism of Trumpism+Republicans.
Sounds like you are saying she should just let her constituents in N MI fend for themselves & miss out on a chance for aid. I don't think that's a good idea.
https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/michigan/2025/04/11/northern-michigan-ice-storm-gretchen-whitmer-trump-presidential-emergency-declaration-power-outage/83041465007/
Air Force Base in MI threatened w closure;
Lake Michigan about to be invaded by Asian Carp;
FEMA aid for N MI;
tariff removal for auto & parts manufacturers (20% of MI economy)?
But on this site, asking for help from the federal govt is considered boot licking.
Thanks for checking in dog.
This is the war we’re in, unfortunately. If you’re an elected Dem either fight or give your seat up to someone who will.
https://www.realclearpolicy.com/articles/2024/12/04/new_polling_shows_voters_still_want_to_see_bipartisan_collaboration_under_republican_trifecta_1076336.html
*Was
Everything I've learned about her since she her name started circulating in around 2020 has not been good.
She was one of those politicians that checks the boxes (midwest, white, Governor) But as soon as she encounters real life she wilts
That is the lane to nowhere.
Good to know. 🗑️
Trump recognized her growing appeal for 2028 and preemptively derailed her..
She needs to get rid of her campaign staff and stay on the left side of road.
I mean I cut politicians a little slack for needing to appeal to other constituencies sometimes, even if I don’t like it. But this is, as you say, just a fundamental misjudgment.
and dumb as a fencepost if she thought she could *secrectly* cozy up to trump in he wh
No way I’d vote for her in a national primary
And I'm sure many leftists who voted for Harris just to get told to enjoy the camps for six months because they didn't unquestioningly polish her knob on top of voting for her will be happy to do so for the first time.
I think more Democrats should find a way to directly work with Trump, if only to help curb some of the administration's worst impulses, and maybe find a way to shield a number of vulnerable populations.
Same ship that sunk Newsome. This is NOT the droid we are looking for
We Dems need to “see,” everyone who has accidentally fallen into our tent because the only other tent is emblazoned with Nazi and Confederate flags.
We don’t need to call ‘em buddies…we just need their votes.
That's more balls than half the Dems in Congress right now, because as people have pointed out they already tried to kidnap her.
Voter's approval of congress has been the lowest in decades and they say they want "parties to work together."
That hasn't been the case since Bill Clinton. Only dreamers see room for compromise with Trump's idea of democracy.
Whitmer is at sea
https://bsky.app/profile/notdred.bsky.social/post/3lmnc4hpsnk2q
Biden actually helped pass infrastructure shit that the GOP opposed & Don now takes credit for. Whitmer: "Thanks, Don!"
“Is this what she’ll do when Putin is in the room?”
she walked right into it
Never go Full Streisand.
Hiding your face while doing it makes you look like a traitor
I'll help. Just because you can't see us doesn't mean we can't see you
https://www.michigan.gov/whitmer/issues/michigan-infrastructure-office
https://www.mlive.com/politics/2025/03/michigan-ag-on-trump-no-common-ground-with-a-wannabe-king.html
And anything else that requires kissing.
https://www.playtyperguy.com/p/gretchen-whitmer-didnt-need-to-hand
Jumping when the Chump calls her?
nah, she is useless along with most of the established dems
The election is far off. If I was her I would keep my head down and work hard for 18months, try again.
Problem is your Bookers are going to be campaigning that whole time.
Just not in America.
“Buy low. Sell high” is also about the rich buying up real estate & making housing unaffordable for most everyone. Their “golden age” is the gilded age in U.S. history. “Bringing back manufacturing” will take years. We need quality with competitive markets.
If you can't see the obvious fascist state and fight them as an elected, you shouldn't be president in 2028.
https://www.playtyperguy.com/p/gretchen-whitmer-didnt-need-to-hand
And instead of condemning Trump's words ("Treason") and executive orders immediately afterwards, the statement put out made her sound weak and easily duped:
"The governor was surprised that she was brought into the Oval Office"
1. Trump is a fascist and Democrats are weak
2. Trump is not a fascist and Democrats have been gaslighting us
3. Trump is a fascist and so are Democrats
Woman politician responds: What we need right now is more empathy.
🤦♀️
Does it look bad? Hell ya.
Would I vote for her over ANY GOP? Hell ya
I'm not a supporter or anything but don't know all the details. If she truly felt working w trump was the best way to help her state...
If we somehow get out of this mess, we will need to judge people on a scale. Not sure what that line is, but it's not clear
Sorry, not going to cancel her. She is the most charismatic candidate out of the lineup for 2028 and therefore extremely valuable in the age of scrolling.
Sounds like that will work. Maybe a fax would be even better?
She shouldn't be elected to lead
We already did that (see graph).
Manufacturing *employment* is a different story.
Is the idea to throw the sabots into the machines? Good luck with that.
https://bsky.app/profile/silvy777.bsky.social/post/3lmo5dagogc2w
Forget her, Democrats. She just went Schumer.
Liberate Michigan, he posted.