Well that didn’t take long.
In fact it was exactly 92 days. On March 13, 2025, a former wanna-be ESPN sports reporter walked into the power center of the free world and sat down with President Donald Trump in the Oval Office.
And just 91 days before that Gov. Gretchen Whitmer revealed for the first time that she wanted to find some common ground with Mr. Trump and basically turn the page on their nasty political relationship that had its roots in the COVID pandemic.
Certainly you remember at the time he called her that “woman from Michigan” after she had basically called him incompetent at delivering badly needed medical gear to anxious doctors and nurses in Michigan struggling to save lives including their own. But now she was on a mission to put that past behind them and forge a better personal relationship.
Suffice it to say when she sat around the dinner table with her Democratic mom and her Republican dad, none of them could have imagined that one day she would be chatting with a sitting president.
This story began last December as she sat in the living room of the executive residence for the annual Michigan Public TV Evening with the Governor.
Right out of the box the first question seemed about as off the wall as it gets.
Everyone one in town knew that the Donald and that woman from Michigan had no relationship other than the dysfunctional one they had. So why was she asked if she was working the back channels of Washington to lay the groundwork for a positive working relationship with the newly elected president?
Actually if one had followed closely what she was saying since he was elected, the question was not as off the wall as you might expect.
While remorseful other Democratic governors were forming anti-Trump coalitions to battle him at every turn.
Asked if she was signing up with those colleagues, she said no.
And when other Democrats began a steady drum beat of criticism aimed at some of the folks he was selecting to fill out the cabinet, like a good football player, the Michigan governor stepped back five yards and punted. She would not join the chorus and it was abundantly clear she was marching to a different drummer.
So the first question in that one on one exchange was on the table and she left her punting shoes in the locker room.
She reveals that she wanted to forget the past because she knew she might need his support in the future and if she was able to have his ear and not his fist, she’d have a better shot at helping citizens who elected her.
Because she was making news with her answer, just to be sure, the question was asked again.
So you are confirming these back channel efforts are underway?
Now seeing a chance to have some fun, she suggested, “Now if I told you there were back channel talks, would they still be back channel?” she smiled.
Good one. “Well that answers my question,” reporter returned the volley as she confirmed the whole new “get-to-know-the-president” strategy.
There were signals along the way that her efforts were paying off as the year 2024 rolled into 2025 and out of nowhere, the new president announced that he was reappointing the Michigan governor to the President’s Council of Governors.
It was former President Joe Biden who tapped Ms. Whitmer to the post years ago and President Trump was under no obligation to follow his lead. In fact given his disdain for the former president, no one would have been shocked had he stiffed the Michigan governor by booting her out. But he did not.
Then when all the governors were at the White House for a dinner with the president, who shows up sitting next to him to break bread?
Yep and there is a photograph to prove it. “Michigan governor rubs dinner elbows with the prez,” the headline could have read.
Now even a cub reporter could have put all this together that the signs of a new common ground relationship was blossoming.
And then on March 13 it bloomed. Word came out of the White House that he and she did huddle in the Oval and she called it a productive meeting on a variety of issues including tariffs, economic development and who knows what all.
Will she get everything she wants from the president?
Of course not. But she will get something the way which is more than she would have gotten had she slammed the relationship door closed.
Mom would have been proud and her Dad is.
Nice get, gov.
