{"id":18959,"date":"2025-04-12T10:47:06","date_gmt":"2025-04-12T10:47:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/whitmer-shows-how-democrats-are-playing-with-fire-in-cozying-up-to-trump\/"},"modified":"2025-04-12T10:47:06","modified_gmt":"2025-04-12T10:47:06","slug":"whitmer-shows-how-democrats-are-playing-with-fire-in-cozying-up-to-trump","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/whitmer-shows-how-democrats-are-playing-with-fire-in-cozying-up-to-trump\/","title":{"rendered":"Whitmer Shows How Democrats Are Playing With Fire in Cozying Up to Trump"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-6606220950177433\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- ItShrt World News -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-6606220950177433\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"1882483372\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\r\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-0\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Gov. Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan stood glumly in the Oval Office, hoping no one would take her picture.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">She had not expected to be there, standing in front of the cameras, as President Trump signed <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/04\/09\/us\/politics\/trump-executive-orders-law-firm-krebs.html\" title=\"\">executive orders punishing those who opposed his 2020 election lies<\/a>. Ms. Whitmer, a prominent Democrat seen as a possible 2028 presidential candidate, had come to the White House to discuss funding for an Air National Guard base near Detroit and aid for thousands of Michiganders who had just been <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/03\/30\/us\/ice-storm-michigan-ontario.html\" title=\"\">hit by an ice storm<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Then Mr. Trump\u2019s aides surprised her on Wednesday by ushering her into the Oval Office not for her scheduled one-on-one meeting with the president, but for a politically loaded appearance before the press corps. She found herself an unwilling participant in his unending reality show, with photos of her rocketing around group chats of Democratic strategists who wondered what on earth she was doing.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The episode was the result of a remarkable attempt at reconciliation between Ms. Whitmer and Mr. Trump, who dismissed her in 2020 as \u201cthat woman from Michigan\u201d during a clash over his administration\u2019s pandemic response.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-1\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The day after the inauguration, Ms. Whitmer penned a handwritten letter \u2014 which has not been previously reported \u2014 congratulating Mr. Trump, saying she looked forward to working together and praising his support for the auto industry in his first address, according to a person who relayed the text of the letter. Ms. Whitmer included her cellphone number and invited Mr. Trump to call her if she could be of any help to him.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The outreach worked for her, but it came at a cost.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Her whipsaw experience with Mr. Trump illustrates the political risks that Democratic governors face as a small group of them try to cultivate relationships with a president reviled by their party but in control of vast amounts of federal funding for states.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">These governors \u2014 exemplified by Ms. Whitmer but also including Gavin Newsom of California, Phil Murphy of New Jersey and Kathy Hochul of New York \u2014 have met with the president in the Oval Office, fielded his phone calls and toned down their language toward him.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-2\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Many Democrats see Mr. Trump as a transactional politician who is susceptible to flattery and are acutely aware of how he has sought to punish liberal states and groups. He has aimed to cut off billions of dollars to universities in states with Democratic governors and threatened funding for local public education and public health, leaving state leaders scrambling to find alternative sources of cash or cut spending in other areas.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-3\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But Democratic governors also have their own political ambitions to consider. Many in the party see their state leaders as the best hope to win back the White House in 2028, and the liberal base increasingly wants elected officials to aggressively fight Mr. Trump\u2019s actions.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">That is why a second group of Democratic governors, led by JB Pritzker of Illinois, Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania and Tim Walz of Minnesota, has been more publicly antagonistic toward Mr. Trump. Their tougher stance may reflect how they have one eye on their own re-election bids in 2026 and another on the 2028 Democratic presidential primary contest.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cDemocrats from the center to the left believe Trump is an autocrat who represents an existential threat to democracy and our rights,\u201d said Neera Tanden, the chief executive of the Center for American Progress, a top liberal think tank. \u201cThey expect their leaders to meet the moment by fighting his dictatorial attacks, not placate, negotiate or assuage because doing so makes him stronger and bully others more.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In an interview on Friday, Ms. Whitmer said she had no regrets.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cPublic service is about putting the people of Michigan before my own interest,\u201d she said. \u201cMy job was to try to get help for people who were suffering as a result of the ice storm, to land more investment at Selfridge air base, to protect the Great Lakes and to fight for the auto industry. And that\u2019s what I was doing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">She added, \u201cI\u2019m always going to show up for the people of Michigan, and that\u2019s probably why I got elected by double digits.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-4\">\n<p><h2 class=\"css-13o6u42 eoo0vm40\" id=\"link-3c414e88\">\u2018I Listen a Lot\u2019 to Trump<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-5\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Former President Joseph R. Biden Jr. dealt with Republican governors much differently, barely speaking with them except about disaster relief.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But with Mr. Trump in office, Democratic governors have found more opportunities.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Several beyond Ms. Whitmer, including Ms. Hochul, Mr. Murphy and Mr. Newsom, have had one-on-one meetings with Mr. Trump in the Oval Office, with one of Ms. Hochul\u2019s sessions lasting two hours.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The president also calls Democratic governors, and picks up calls from them, with some frequency. He has given several of them his cellphone number.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Murphy has a longstanding relationship with Mr. Trump, forged during the pandemic and bolstered by the president\u2019s frequent trips to his golf club in New Jersey. After the president was shot at a campaign rally in Butler, Pa., in July, Mr. Murphy and his wife, Tammy, visited him in Bedminster, N.J.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-6\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">With Mr. Trump back in office, Mr. Murphy has sought to find common ground with him in opposing congestion pricing in New York City and fixing sinkholes on Interstate 80 in New Jersey.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">When Mr. Murphy and his wife were at the White House in February for a National Governors Association dinner, the New Jersey governor invited Mr. Trump to an upcoming ribbon-cutting for the new Portal North Bridge over the Hackensack River. Ms. Murphy also invited Mr. Trump to come to an Ultimate Fighting Championship event in June in Newark.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Trump expressed interest \u2014 but the governor\u2019s outreach has not spared him the Trump administration\u2019s ire. The top federal prosecutor in New Jersey, a Trump ally, said on Friday that she planned <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/04\/11\/nyregion\/trump-justice-department-habba-immigration.html\" title=\"\">to investigate Mr. Murphy<\/a> over immigration policy.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In December, before Mr. Trump was inaugurated, Mr. Newsom talked himself up as a leading figure in the Democratic opposition to Mr. Trump. But his posture changed after fires ravaged greater Los Angeles in January, leaving the California governor in need of nearly $40 billion in federal aid.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">When Mr. Trump and his wife, Melania, arrived to review damage from the blazes, Mr. Newsom met them at the airport and kissed Mrs. Trump on the cheek. Shortly after, he traveled to Washington for a 90-minute meeting in the Oval Office. Mr. Newsom has also hosted Trump allies including <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/03\/12\/us\/politics\/gavin-newsom-podcast-steve-bannon.html\" title=\"\">Charlie Kirk<\/a> and <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/03\/12\/us\/politics\/gavin-newsom-podcast-steve-bannon.html\" title=\"\">Stephen K. Bannon<\/a> on his new podcast.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-7\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Ms. Hochul has had two Oval Office meetings with Mr. Trump and is in regular contact with him. She said in an interview that he had called her occasionally to check up on New York projects that interested him. Last week, on the day he announced far-reaching tariffs, she recalled, Mr. Trump phoned her to ask questions about Penn Station and Amtrak.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Asked to describe their lengthy conversations, Ms. Hochul replied, \u201cI listen a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">She went on: \u201cI\u2019m always willing to engage and talk and listen and find out areas where I can do what I have to do, which is, No. 1, to protect New York State. When you challenge our values or our policies, then we have a fight. But I can also be adversarial without being acrimonious, and work toward common areas.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Steven Cheung, the White House communications director, said in a statement: \u201cIt\u2019s no surprise every elected official in America \u2014 Republican or Democrat \u2014 wants a productive working relationship with President Trump. Because President Trump is the president of all Americans, he continues to work with anyone that is willing to help advance policies that benefit the American people.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"css-13o6u42 eoo0vm40\" id=\"link-dd5736a\">Tensions and an \u2018Emergency Cocktail Hour\u2019<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-8\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Plenty of other Democratic governors have kept their distance from Mr. Trump.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Aides to Gov. Maura Healey of Massachusetts, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham of New Mexico, Mr. Pritzker, Mr. Shapiro and Mr. Walz, among others, said each politician had yet to have a one-on-one meeting or phone call with Mr. Trump since he returned to power.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-9\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Shapiro, Mr. Pritzker and Mr. Walz, who are seen as some of the party\u2019s most ambitious leaders, have been among the more forceful voices pushing back against Mr. Trump.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">And despite Mr. Trump\u2019s more conciliatory approach with some Democratic governors, he has still lashed out at others, especially when it serves his political agenda.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In February, he hosted a bipartisan group of governors at the White House as part of a weekend of events coordinated by the National Governors Association. During the meeting, Mr. Trump <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/02\/21\/us\/politics\/trump-maine-governor-transgender-athletes.html\" title=\"\">attacked Gov. Janet Mills of Maine<\/a>, a Democrat, over her state\u2019s policies on transgender athletes\u2019 participation in sports.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">After the dust-up, Ms. Healey convened what three people with knowledge of the planning called \u201can emergency cocktail hour\u201d to discuss how to respond. Ms. Healey urged fellow governors to skip a dinner at the White House that night in protest.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cIt was appalling and shocking what happened to Governor Mills and the way she was treated during that business meeting,\u201d Ms. Healey said in an interview on Friday. \u201cI think there was a feeling coming out of it shared by a lot of us that was just really wrong and we needed to come together and process some of that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But many Democrats attended anyway \u2014 and after the dinner, Mr. Trump led a bipartisan group of governors and their spouses on a nearly hourlong, impromptu tour of the White House. The president took them through the residence, showing off the Lincoln Bedroom and the Yellow Oval Room while regaling the group with historical facts, and finished the jaunt in the Oval Office.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-6606220950177433\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- ItShrt World News -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-6606220950177433\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"1882483372\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\r\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/04\/12\/us\/politics\/gretchen-whitmer-trump-democrats.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Gov. Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan stood glumly in the Oval Office, hoping no one would take her picture. She had<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":18960,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[900,114,337,610,616,2997,3851,1948,2999,1949,2998,5933,615,5934,113,111,3850],"class_list":["post-18959","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-us","tag-democratic-party","tag-donald-j","tag-federal-aid-us","tag-federal-state-relations-us","tag-gavin","tag-governors-us","tag-gretchen","tag-hochul","tag-janet-t-1947","tag-kathleen-c","tag-mills","tag-murphy","tag-newsom","tag-philip-d-1957","tag-trump","tag-united-states-politics-and-government","tag-whitmer"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Whitmer Shows How Democrats Are Playing With Fire in Cozying Up to Trump - World News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/whitmer-shows-how-democrats-are-playing-with-fire-in-cozying-up-to-trump\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Whitmer Shows How Democrats Are Playing With Fire in Cozying Up to Trump - World News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Gov. 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