President Donald Trump complimented Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D-MI) Wednesday at the White House, despite criticizing the possible 2028 Democratic presidential candidate on multiple occasions over the years.
Whitmer was in the Oval Office for the president’s executive order signing ceremony Wednesday afternoon. She met with the president earlier in the day after delivering a speech in Washington, D.C., where she both criticized Trump’s sweeping tariff agenda and vowed to work with the White House on reinvigorating American manufacturing.
“We’re honored to have Gretchen Whitmer from Michigan, great State of Michigan,” Trump said at the top of the White House ceremony.
“She’s really done an excellent job. Very good person,” he continued, noting that the meeting focused primarily on keeping Michigan’s Selfridge Air National Guard Base open. “We’re trying to get the air base open, keep it open.”
Later in his remarks, Trump noted that one of the executive orders he signed, aimed at boosting American shipbuilding, “could be a good one for Michigan.”
Wednesday’s signing ceremony was not previously scheduled to be open to the press, and, according to reporters in the Oval Office, Whitmer smiled but largely did not react while Trump talked about her.
During her speech Wednesday morning, Whitmer accused Trump of busting out a “tariff hammer to swing at every problem without a clearly defined end goal.”
GRETCHEN WHITMER WANTS TO PUSH FOR ‘FAIR TRADE’ BUT URGES CONSISTENCY
“There’s no shortcut here,” she continued. “Strategic re-industrialization must be a bipartisan project that spans multiple presidential administrations.”
