Gretchen Gretchen Whitmer from Michigan is betting that the photo was worth it.
When she went to the White House this month for her bad meeting with President Trump – the one where She hid her face From a New York Times photographer – she had tried to obtain funding for an expansion of the base of the National Selfridge Air Guard near Detroit.
Thus, when Mr. Trump went to Michigan on Tuesday to announce his 100th day of power that he did precisely what Mrs. Whitmer had asked, she had a cause for a victory tour – despite the possible cost for her political prospects. She welcomed him upon his arrival, creating another photo of them together, then standing briefly next to him to make remarks thanking him for having extended the base.
“The fact that we did – all the sorrow is worth it,” said Whitmer in an interview after the event on Tuesday. “The inhabitants of Michigan have elected me twice because they know if they are threats or experts ridicule me to go to the White House, I will always defend the inhabitants of Michigan.”
In Michigan, Ms. Whitmer and her allies consider the expansion of selfridge as a victory large enough to be worth the value of the personal humiliation it has endured. The Ministry of Defense will post around 20 F-15EX fighter planes at the base from 2028, according to a document which he disseminated to the Senators of Michigan.
The new group of jets is a small fraction of around 450 hunting planes in the National Air Guard, but many of these planes are old models. The F-15EX is the latest version of one of the most versatile fighters in the American army. And even 20 jets can have a significant economic impact on local communities, because in addition to bringing pilots, they can mean security, maintenance and logistics work scores. Studies published by the army note that the bases of the National Air Guard as Selfridge can contribute more than $ 100 million to the economy of a state.
“This is a huge bipartite victory for Michigan, from current decades, which will increase our economy and make our country safer,” said Whitmer. “I appreciate the president’s partnership on this new hunting mission which will protect jobs and show the world that Michigan is the best place for pioneer the next national defense innovations.”
If nothing else, Ms. Whitmer has become a standard bearer of the Democratic Party faction who prudently tries to work with Mr. Trump. She took a lot of trouble – a handwritten letter, two oval office meetings, telephone calls – to establish a constructive relationship with the president, which also means that she tended to avoid public criticism towards him.
Trump, during his remarks on Tuesday in Michigan, praised Ms. Whitmer and his plea for her condition.
“This is the reason why she came to see me,” he said. “To save selfridge.”
In his brief remarks by standing next to Mr. Trump, Ms. Whitmer did not say her name but expressed her appreciation.
“Thank you,” she said, turning to Mr. Trump. “I am so grateful that this announcement is made today, and I appreciate all the work.”
Other Democrats, such as Governor JB Pritzker from Illinois, call for mass demonstrations against Mr. Trump and his republican allies. Senator Chris Murphy du Connecticut has adopted a strategy to combat each Trump action at the Congress. Senator Chris Van Hollen of Maryland and several progressive members of the Chamber went to Salvador to protest the illegal expulsion of an undocumented immigrant from Maryland.
None of these Democrats won Mr. Trump’s White House concessions. Ms. Whitmer a.
She has sailed on the reality that Mr. Trump rewards those who seek his favor and punishes those who do not. Although his administration made Mr. Pritzker Chicago to focus on her anger, Detroit of Ms. Whitmer escaped a similar examination.
The expansion of selfridge has an economic and symbolic meaning for Ms. Whitmer and the Democrats of Michigan. He is in the county of Macomb Swingy, who since 2000 has supported Al Gore, George W. Bush, Barack Obama twice and Trump three times in the presidential elections. The base has 5,000 military and civilian employees, with 30,000 other civil jobs related to its operations, according to data from Ms. Whitmer’s office.
This decision is not the first time that Trump has changed military resources to reward a state he has won. During his first mandate, he moved the registered office of the United States Space Command in Huntsville, Alberta, of Colorado Springs. President Joseph R. Biden Jr. canceled this decision in 2023. Representative Mike Rogers, republican of Alabama, said on a recent podcast That he expected that Mr. Trump again ordered that the headquarters of the space command will be transferred to Huntsville.
Ms. Whitmer, who is prohibited by the limits of the mandate of the re -election of next year, will demand the credit for the expansion of the base. Whether Mr. Trump shares one of these credits, or if the Macomb voters who supported him saw Ms. Whitmer as the instigator of his move on Tuesday, is another matter.
Michigan ambitious democrats showed little interest on Tuesday to discuss if Ms. Whitmer did the right step by visiting the White House to put Mr. Trump. Of the six main democrats who present themselves to the governor or the Senate in 2026, only Jocelyn Benson, the Secretary of State who is Go for the governorAnd Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, who has lost a 2018 primary race against Ms. Whitmer and is now Run for the Senateagreed to discuss the subject.
Benson said it was difficult to trust any promise made by Mr. Trump given his long, poor direction.
“If there are good things today that happen for the Michiganders that the governor has asked, great, I will believe it when I see it-when it will materialize and stick,” she said.
Dr. El-Sayed said that his objective according to the Senate was to keep Mr. Trump responsible, not to conclude agreements with him.
“What I really focus on is to resist this president to remind him that he is an elected president, not a king and not a tyrant,” he said. “I think it is essential that we are focusing on these problems at the moment.”
Beyond Michigan, a wider question remains: if Ms. Whitmer presents herself to the presidency in 2028, how will her cooperation with Mr. Trump play with the primary democratic voters?
But neither she nor anyone else said they were running. And so far, it seems to continue the White House less actively than, say, Mr. Pritzker, whose Speech fiery on Sunday evening in New Hampshire made him The first person to win Graphic “Campaign 2028” of C-SPAN.