Trump slams Michigan gov Gretchen Whitmer as state coronavirus cases hit 3,600+ with nearly 100 deaths
PRESIDENT Donald Trump took aim at Michigan’s governor on Friday, saying she “doesn’t have a clue” — after the Democrat repeatedly asked for federal help to combat the coronavirus crisis, which has killed nearly 100 people in her state.
Trump tweeted that he loves the state of Michigan, and credited that as “one of the reasons we are doing such a GREAT job for them during this horrible Pandemic.”
“Yet your Governor, Gretchen ‘Half’ Whitmer is way in over her head, she doesn’t have a clue. Likes blaming everyone for her own ineptitude! #MAGA”
Earlier Friday, he told reporters he advised Vice President Mike Pence, who is overseeing the Coronavirus Task Force, not to call “that woman,” referring to Whitmer, claiming she wasn’t being “appreciative” enough.
And he told Sean Hannity on Fox News: “We’ve had a big problem with the young, a woman governor. You know who I’m talking about, from Michigan. We don’t like to see the complaints.”
Michigan has more than 3,600 coronavirus cases and nearly 100 deaths.
On Saturday morning, Trump declared a major disaster declaration for Michigan after Whitmer requested it.
The declaration gives federal funding and help to the state and local recovery efforts.
Also on Saturday, Whitmer tweeted Michigan “received 112,800 N95 masks in our shipment from the strategic national stockpile w/8k more on the way.”
“Great news for our health care workers. We’ll keep working hard along with FEMA and the White House to get more of the PPE we need to keep Michiganders safe.”
Both the president and Whitmer have seemingly gone back-and-forth as she tries to get medical supplies for the state.
The governor told radio station WWJ on Friday morning the lack of assistance from the federal government is “concerning.”
“When the federal government told us that we needed to get [medical equipment] ourselves, we started procuring every item we could get our hands on,” Whitmer said.
“What I’ve gotten back is that vendors with whom we had contracts are now being told not to send stuff here to Michigan.”
Speaking to Hannity, Trump said: “I don’t know if she knows what’s going on but all she does is sit there and blame the federal government. She doesn’t get it done and we send her a lot.”
“Now, she wants a declaration of emergency and, you know, we’ll have to make a decision on that. But Michigan is a very important state. I love the people of Michigan.”
Whitmer said in a video posted to Twitter on Friday she and her team are working “24/7” to help the ill get what they need, and said there are “wonderful people” in the federal government trying to help them, including the White House.
But, she said Michigan is in need of crucial supplies to combat the virus.
“Right now, Michigan is a hotspot. Right now, we have got people fighting for their lives in our hospitals,” she said.
“We need more assistance. We need more masks, and more gloves, and more gowns. We need the [personal protective equipment] right now.”
Whitmer said she’s worried “about making it through this weekend.”
Governors throughout the U.S. are trying to get the urgent medical equipment and help they need from the Trump administration to fight the virus, which has infected more than 104,000 people in the country.
Whether Democrats or Republicans, governors are trying to figure out whether to fight or flatter Trump in their aim to get assistance for their states.
Masks, ventilators and protective gear are all at stake, and as Whitmer put it: “I can’t afford to have a fight with the White House.”
Trump said during a press briefing on Friday that he told Pence, who “calls all the governors,” not to contact certain ones.
“I tell him, I’m a different type of person, and I say, ‘Mike, don’t call the governor of Washington. You’re wasting your time with him.’”
“I say, if they don’t treat you right, don’t call,” Trump told reporters of all U.S. governors.
“I think they should be appreciative. Because you know what? When they’re not appreciative to me, they’re not appreciative to the Army Corps [of Engineers], they’re not appreciative to FEMA. It’s not right,” Trump told reporters.”
Trump often discusses government business like a transaction dependent on relationships or personal advantage — rather than a national obligation.
“We are doing very well with, I think, almost all of the governors, for the most part,” he said during a town hall on Fox News on Tuesday.
“But you know, it’s a two-way street. They have to treat us well.”
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Whitmer said she’s “been uniquely singled out” by Trump.
“I don’t go into personal attacks. I don’t have time for that, I don’t have energy for that, frankly. All of our focus has to be on COVID-19 right now.”
But, she said, she continues to have a “really good working relationship” with Pence.
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