Hanging out with and grabbing ideas advocated by President Trump seems to be a thing that Democrats in the great state of Michigan seem to be adopting. Last year's Senate campaign race here that had new Senator Elissa Slotkin vs. Republican Mike Rogers had the democrats sneaking Trump-like rhetoric into her spiel to be elected as she did right HERE.  

Slotkin has criticized Rogers for having briefly moved to Florida before he launched his Senate campaign. He has in turn slammed her over her record on electric vehicles. 

Slotkin has recently gone on offense on the issue, assuring voters in campaign ads and during the first debate that she herself drives a gas-powered car and isn’t in favor of electric vehicle mandates, even though she voted for the Biden administration’s rule that would shift the U.S. auto economy to two-thirds electric by 2032.

Trump bought a Tesla, but he is all for keeping gas-powered engines in the mix.

Slotkin loves those gas-guzzling Detroit-made monsters, except when she voted for the Biden mandates to phase out gasoline-powered vehicles. Bless her heart. 

Governor Whitmer, meanwhile, is following the lead of playing nice not only on the rhetoric but also in meeting with POTUS 47 himself at the White House. The conversation went well, which you can read about HERE.

President Trump met with Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) on Thursday at the White House for what the Democratic governor described as a “productive meeting.”

“I had a productive meeting at the White House today with President Trump where we discussed bringing good paying jobs to Michigan,” Whitmer told NewsNation.

“We also discussed tariffs, the importance of keeping our Great Lakes clean and safe, and additional defense investments in the state,” she added.

Whitmer is termed out in 2026 but she is playing the role that she has until January 1st of 2027.

Trump and Whitmer’s meeting is a rare show of bipartisan efforts between the White House and a Democratic swing state governor.

“I’m grateful for his time today and I’ll always work as hard as I can with anyone for the state of Michigan and its people,” Whitmer said.

Thankfully I remember that our governor has had a track record that sucks, even if now she is willing to work across the aisle with a Republican president.

Though she will not be running for re-election for Governor ever again, who knows if she will try to run for another statewide office; however, I think it's important to remind people that those Democrats who want to follow her need to be grilled on what her record was, particularly during COVID.

COVID-19 and Whitmer's executive orders were a disaster, which I covered here at RedState Remember When Gretchen Whitmer Issued All Her Misguided COVID Orders Five Years Ago? Some Michiganians Do

Back in 2021, LeDuff was digging into the actual numbers of nursing home deaths during COVID-19, and he teamed up with the Mackinac Center, and what they found was slightly shocking. Report: Michigan Nursing Home COVID Deaths Could Be Underreported by 40% or Higher

From that story...

LeDuff and his show the No Bullshit News Hour joined up with Mackinac Center for Public Policy to force the State of Michigan to release the data for the actual numbers of people who died in care facilities. From their initial find, Michigan looks like it failed in collecting the numbers that could have helped steer policy and possibly save lives.

From Deadline Detroit…

It appears that Michigan wildly under-counts Covid deaths in its long term care facilities.

A joint investigation by the “No BS News Hour” and the Mackinac Center for Public Policy reveals that the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) does not do a thorough job of scrubbing vital records to determine whether people who died of Covid were nursing home residents, as its own guidelines require.

Moreover, our investigation found that DHHS did conduct a limited review of those vital records last summer, and found that 44 percent could be traced to nursing homes.

Don’t expect the nursing home data to get better or more accurate. DHHS has abandoned the practice of thoroughly scrubbing records because it is considered too “time-consuming.”

Why does this matter?

As I said above, we have been told that state officials were basing all the decisions they were making on science and data. So all the closures and restrictions we experienced here in the Great Lakes State were supposed to be based on the best data possible.

According to LeDuff’s Deadline Detroit story above, they reviewed records after having to sue to have an FOIA request honored and found this: From March to June of 2020, the state audited 1,468 death records and of those 648 deaths were traced back to long-term care facilities. Taking that 44% as an average and applying it to the near 7,000 other vital records deaths recorded would be close to another 3,000 deaths for those who are being cared for in care facilities.

Why do I feel the need to remind people of how the elderly and their family members were treated during COVID by the Whitmer Administration? We watched in horror as people were shoved into nursing homes and isolated from their families even when they were dying. Looking through a pane of glass as somebody passes away has to be a Twilight Zone definition of cruel and unusual punishment.

Whitmers' Lt. Governor has announced his intention to replace her Getting Started Early: MI Lt. Gov. Gilchrist Announces His Intention to Replace Gretchen Whitmer in 2026 and the Democrat secretary of state is also running to the democrat nominee Democrat Jocelyn Benson Announces Run for Michigan Governor, and She Is the Favorite to Win So Far.

Both of these individuals just sat by and watched what Whitmer did during the COVID crisis and you should please take a moment to remind yourself -- if you live in the Great Lake State -- why you should never consider these individuals for your vote. They just nodded along with Whitmer's enactments and were cheerleaders for it.

We need to make sure that we keep reminding ourselves of the past so as not to commit the same mistakes in the future. The idea of electing those who are aligned with the failed policies of Gretchen Whitmer should be discarded immediately for any positions of statewide office in the future.

As George Santayana said, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." 

So let's not make the mistake of the past six years (eight years when it is over with) and elect those with the same overall bad judgment that the current governor of this state has had.

Michigan can do better.