“The reward you get for cozying up to Trump is him threatening to pardon the terrorists who plotted to kidnap and murder you,” wrote Attorney General Dana Nessel on X.
So marked the era of the girlboss era in Michigan. With a bang, a shot fired by a woman who rode to office on Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s coattails.
It was all good three years ago.
It was all smiles and bluster and finger guns three years ago, when Whitmer, Nessel, and Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson took their infamous “Charlie’s Angels” photo at the 2022 Democratic state convention.
That November, just as they had done in 2018, the trio swept the board. But this time it was even sweeter.
On the strength of Whitmer and a ballot measure allowing limitless abortion, just months after abortion policy was kicked back to the states, Democrats achieved a 40-year first: control of the Legislature.
Michigan Democrats entered 2023 holding all the gavels, a $9 billion surplus, and a friend in the White House.
Two years later, Michigan is broke, the damn roads aren’t fixed, and the damned schools are failing.
One might think that it’s these substantive issues that would pull Whitmer, Nessel, and Benson apart, especially with Nessel and Benson thinking about their next moves. But it’s not. It’s Trump.
Trump said this week he would consider pardons for two men convicted federally in the Whitmer kidnapping case.
“I did watch the trial,” Trump said. “It looked to me like somewhat of a railroad job, I’ll be honest with you. It looked to me like some people said some stupid things.”
If Trump does pardon Barry Croft and Adam Fox, Whitmer will lose the mystique that’s essential to her story. Nessel seems to grasp this more than Whitmer.
If Whitmer is not a political Helen of Troy, who inspired 1,000 kayaks to be launched to kidnap her… what is she? A governor who won re-election? Every governor wins a second term in Michigan.
With a pardon, Whitmer would be stripped of the victim status so prized on the Left. Come 2027, That Woman from Michigan will be free to do what she tried behind that folder in the Oval Office: hide.
Whitmer, queen of the Lansing girlbosses, got played by two old men.
For Joe Biden, she gave everything. She delayed the announcement of Covid until election night. She gave Biden his October Surprise with the kidnapping hoax, which was treated as Exhibit A in the case for regime change.
What did she get? Just a warehouse full of books, bought but never read.
From Trump, she got a nickname, prominence, and victim status.
But then she had them all taken back as soon as Trump returned to office. Whitmer is the biggest useful idiot in American politics. With everybody term-limited, Nessel has no problem saying so.
That Charlie’s Angels pic, the high-water mark of the girlboss era, hits different now. Now, Whitmer is checked-out and half-retired from politics. Election Night 2022 was as good as it will get.
When Benson shoehorned herself in as one of “The Women from Michigan” in her memoir, we were seeing the last ride ever taken on Whitmer’s coattails.
Nessel has no next move. Every other office after AG involves a primary, which would be a first. Extreme positions work in convention settings and wave years. Commercials that feature Nessel’s voice prominently aren’t likely to be effective.
Politics is a people business, ultimately. If Whitmer isn’t Nessel’s people, then Nessel has no people.
Where have all the girlbosses gone? Trump scattered them to the winds.
James David Dickson is host of the Enjoyer Podcast. Join him in conversation on X @downi75.
