If the governor of Michigan falls in the German forest, and nobody reports on it, does she make a sound?
The hope of the Lansing media is that the answer is no.
They hope that if Craig Mauger (Detroit News) and Jonathan Oosting (Bridge) and whoever covers politics for the Detroit Free Press don’t report on Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s face plant at the Munich Security Conference, it didn’t happen.
They made the same calculation last November when Whitmer appeared on Caleb Hammer’s “Financial Audit” podcast. Hammer asked Whitmer about the silly contradictions of the Covid era, when diners could not eat inside restaurants but had to eat in makeshift tents outside.
“We were doing the best we could with very little or very bad information,” Whitmer told Hammer.
The story traveled widely online but was skipped by most of Michigan mainstream media. They attempted a similar black out after Whitmer’s stumble in Munich.
Unfortunately for the legacy media, in both cases (a) there was videotape, and (b) people are used to looking elsewhere for true stories.
Problem is, the Detroit newspapers can’t keep the truth from the public; they can only lock themselves out of the conversation.
You didn’t read this in the Detroit newspapers, but Whitmer just got Caleb Hammered again. This time, as last time, she was felled by another basic question.
When asked what winning would look like in the Russia-Ukraine war, Whitmer immediately panics. The deer is caught in the headlights and doesn’t know whether to back up, run forward, or stay frozen.
Whitmer then tried to defer to a Trump official, Matt Whitaker, America’s ambassador to NATO. Whitmer was on a three-person panel with Whitaker and New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
Whitmer’s deference didn’t owe to humility. If she were humble, she would not have been on a foreign policy panel in the first place.
“Ambassador?” Whitmer says.
But Whitaker doesn’t eat Whitmer’s humble pie and doesn’t let her off the hook.
“I’d love to hear your answer,” Whitaker says.
Whitmer stumbles through the mix of “ahs” and “uhs” that have become commonplace when a question requires thought.
Then she pivots to the “I’m only a governor” excuse.
Finally, Whitmer is able to force words from her throat. She says it would be nice if Ukraine could “keep their landmass.”
Thanks, Gretch!
Twice in two years, Whitmer has dipped her toe outside the kiddie pool that is Lansing. Both journeys ended in embarrassment.
Last April, Whitmer traveled to Washington to deliver the speech on tariffs and inflation meant to catapult her to the national stage. Trump asked her to stop by the White House, and after a short visit in the Oval Office, Whitmer became a meme: the awkward lady who covered her face with a folder.
In Munich, Whitmer reverted to the high schooler who hadn’t done her homework. She never studied for the pop quiz, even though she’d be taking it on the global stage.
Munich could have been Whitmer’s chance to pull the folder down from her face, to show that her skills finally match her ambition.
Instead, Whitmer choked. Because there is no there there. Ocasio-Cortez biffed a similar question on China and Taiwan.
On the global stage, Whitmer and Ocasio-Cortez were the blind leading the blind. Right off a cliff.
Humility could have saved either woman from embarrassment. Whitmer could’ve told organizers what she said on stage: I’m a governor, and foreign policy is outside my purview.
Or, she could have studied up on the first land war in Europe since the 1990s. Either tack would have worked. But Whitmer did neither. She decided to show up and just wing it.
Gretchen Whitmer is not a future president, as her Lansing fan club hopes. She is a party girl blessed with good timing and weak opponents who won two terms in the Michigan governor’s office but will go no further.
The Lansing gatekeepers had such high hopes for Whitmer, but she does not have the ability to realize them. Their protective Lansing cocoon is her strength inside of Michigan. Beyond it, the cocoon leaves Whitmer unprepared to face real reporters, real questions, and real scrutiny.
Every time Whitmer tries to do politics outside of Lansing, it ends in the governor covering her face with a folder, or Michiganders covering their faces in second-hand embarrassment.
It’s late for a pivot, but the Lansing media could help itself by telling true stories again. No fan clubs, no gatekeeping. Just report what occurred.
Stop trying to make Big Gretch happen. She’ll only lead you off a cliff.
James David Dickson is host of the James Dickson Podcast. Join him on X at @downi75.
