Another one bites the dust
By 
I don’t know whether Gretchen Whitmer’s attempts to “thread a political needle,” aka criticize the Trump regime, but in measured tones that suggest that maybe he’s sort of on the right track, are good politics in terms of trying to get re-elected governor of Michigan, but I do know that this is the exact opposite of the message that national Democratic leaders — and 2028 presidential aspirants — need to be hammering home at this moment of genuine national crisis:
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan, one of the Democratic Party’s most prominent state leaders, warned in a speech on Wednesday that President Trump’s trade war could have calamitous effects but was careful not to blame him directly as she embraced a bipartisan message.
“Tariffs need to be used like a scalpel, not a hammer,” Ms. Whitmer said in Washington, at an event space near the White House. “Unfortunately, it’s unclear how this is going to strategically benefit the American economy or the American consumer. And I think that’s the big problem.”
During her address and while responding to questions from Gretchen Carlson, the former Fox News anchor, Ms. Whitmer sought to thread a political needle, avoiding direct criticism of Mr. Trump or his administration — a notable contrast with the blunter attacks on the president made by other Democrats seen as potential presidential contenders in 2028.
She included encouraging anecdotes about a meeting she had in Michigan with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth as well as Vice President JD Vance’s visit to the state, even as she cautioned that the administration’s tariff policies could cause an economic collapse. Ms. Whitmer described Mr. Trump’s approach as unstable, unpredictable and damaging to corporations that rely on economic stability and steady governance.
But by day’s end, she was standing in the Oval Office while Mr. Trump — who hours earlier had announced a 90-day pause on most of his reciprocal tariffs — signed executive orders, mused again falsely about a rigged 2020 election, and praised Ms. Whitmer as “a very good person.”
I would have thought that after Jared Polis’s and Gavin Newsom’s similar efforts flopped so spectacularly with the Democratic party base, Whitmer would have reconsidered this particular gambit, but apparently the urge to find some sort of common ground with the people who are actively destroying everything worth preserving about this country was too strong to resist.
Next.