Democratic Governors are in a tight spot. A notoriously vindictive man is in the White House, a man whose presidency every day imperils the future of American democracy. He has control of vast federal funds, which he uses to punish people (and whole states) he sees as ‘against’ him, while rewarding loyalists and toadies. And those governors also have an obligation to secure funding and support for their states.
Opposition to Donald Trump for opposition’s sake is not the answer. But real leadership is necessary in what is clearly a crisis moment—as Trump walks squarely into authoritarian territory, violating long-held democratic norms and the Constitution itself—and is something Democrats should be raising hell about, not ignoring, and certainly not enabling.
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has not raised hell. Instead, she has cautiously, and sometimes covertly, worked with Donald Trump—in an effort to get what she needs for her constituents, yes. In doing so, she’s raised the ire of a great many Democrats. And while she is getting some wins for some Michiganders, Americans as a whole are losing because of Trump.
In April, Whitmer traveled to Washington to meet with the president in an effort to get funding necessary to expand Selfridge Air National Guard Base, and to secure support for Michiganders devastated by an ice storm. Trump cunningly exploited the moment, keeping Whitmer in the Oval Office as he signed a serious of odious executive orders targeting people and institutions he feels wronged him. Whitmer was apparently so (rightly) embarrassed to be caught in the Oval that she tried to hide her face from a New York Times photographer.
(“The governor was surprised that she was brought into the Oval Office during President Trump’s press conference without any notice of the subject matter,” Whitmer spokesperson Kaylie Hanson—and, full disclosure, a personal friend—said in a statement. “Her presence is not an endorsement of the actions taken or statements made at that event.”)
Whitmer’s play for federal dollars isn’t her first attempt to make nice with the president. She reportedly wrote Trump a congratulatory letter when he won re-election last November. As Trump’s tariffs were roiling the global economy and turning America into some combination of a pariah and a laughingstock, Whitmer took to the stage at an event in Washington, D.C. and argued that, while these particular ones aren’t working, tariffs can actually be a pretty good idea. (“I can tell you, here’s where President Trump and I do agree. We do need to make more stuff in America,” Whitmer said.) That’s a message that immediately undermined Democrats’ efforts to organize a unified front against Trump’s dangerous experiments with the American economy.
Later that same day, Trump complimented her as “a very good person” who, he said, has “really done an excellent job.”
And her overtures, though, seem to be working more broadly on a president notoriously receptive to flattery: To mark his first 100 days in office, Trump traveled to Michigan and announced the expansion of the base that Whitmer had championed. For Whitmer, this was clearly a win—until Trump called her up on stage, and she was again stuck with a moment of uncomfortable optics.
And so really, it was a triumph for Trump: A moment of bipartisanship he can point to when he faces justified criticism for eroding American democracy and posing an acute threat to the nation’s very character and its democratic future.
To be clear, I think Gretchen Whitmer is one of the most talented leaders the Democratic party has seen in recent years. She’s smart, polished, and approachable; she is both an advocate for the working class and for women’s rights, refusing to fall into the trap of pitting race, class, and gender interests against each other. She is ambitious—a good thing—and has, until recently, been someone who sticks to her principles even when it’s politically inconvenient. I would love for her to run for president in 2028.
And again, I sympathize with the grim position Whitmer is in. Michigan is vulnerable to Trump’s whims if he decides she’s persona non grata; she needs to weight that concern first, well ahead of her own political future. And when criticized for her relationship with Trump, that’s what she says, too.
“It doesn’t mean I’ve abandoned any of my values. It doesn’t mean that I’m not going to stand my ground,” Whitmer said of her position in a Pod Save America interview released Thursday. “This is one of those moments where as a public servant, you’re reminded your job is to put service above self, and that’s what it was all about.”
Whitmer added, “One of the things that I’ve learned is I’ve got to put the people in Michigan first over my self-interest, over maybe what people assume are going to be my political interests.”
It can be easy to slip into the trap of negative polarization, where liberals have a knee-jerk “Trump bad” response in opposition to everything the president does. When Democrats get wins, we should take them, wherever they come from. But Democratic leaders also have to lead. Giving cover to a truly dangerous man may mean short-term wins, but big losses for the nation as a whole.
Trump and those around him believe in an expansive vision of executive power, of a president who is more a king—or a dictator—than a democratic leader. This is not a normal presidency, and this is not the normal push-pull of a two-party political system. It’s crucial to take a stand against Trump, with whom differences are not simply about policy so much as the fundamentals of the American democratic system and our constitutional rights.
Refusing to cooperate with Trump may also in Whitmer’s best interests. Trump boasts a long line of past allies and collaborators—and a shocking number of those people have wound up disgraced, imprisoned, ripped off or all of the above while Trump laughs all the way to the bank—and to the White House. Despite her overtures, she could very well see the president turn on her too.
Negotiating with him is, in other words, a profoundly risky endeavor, and one that is rarely mutually beneficial. When Trump is the deal-maker, his ideal outcome is that he wins and you lose. Whitmer and every other state leader would be wise to keep in mind that with Trump, what you’re promised is rarely what you get.
The post Opinion: Sorry Gov. Whitmer, But You’ve Got to Cut Trump From Your Dance Card appeared first on The Daily Beast.
