Gretchen Whitmer’s Michigan is no state for old people.
If you read the mainstream news, this might come as a shock.
Lansing reporters trip over themselves to tell you how popular the governor is. Their fan-club reporting has kept Whitmer popular, but they never reflect on that.
In 2020, during Covid, Whitmer’s orders caused pain to many families. She kept old people who lived in nursing homes separate from their children and grandchildren—for their own good, she claimed.
At the same time, Whitmer’s executive orders forced sick old people into nursing homes with healthy old people.
Many more people died than would have, if not for the governor’s orders, which overrode history and common sense. My colleague, Charlie LeDuff, estimates a death toll in the thousands.
A March 16 report on WXYZ-TV in Detroit noted that a nursing home resident, after testing positive for Covid, was being treated off-site.
One nursing home resident gets sick, and the nursing home moves him elsewhere. Thousands get sick from Covid, and Whitmer’s executive order moves them into nursing homes. This was the bizarro world of the Covid-19 pandemic.
It was common knowledge that old people would suffer the most from Covid. About 75% of Covid deaths were people 65 and older. But as an NPR report noted, that doesn’t include those who died from isolation.
Isolation or forced cohabitation with the sick. Gretchen Whitmer’s Michigan offered no good choices for the old people who lived here.
LeDuff’s digging turned up an elder abuse story that seemed too perverse to be true: Michigan Democrat Party Treasurer Traci Kornak was bilking an elderly woman of her life savings. All of this allegedly happened while Kornak was serving as party treasurer, a role she only vacated recently.
Because Kornak was close friends with Dana Nessel, the attorney general was supposed to step aside and let justice take its course.
But that’s not how it went. Nessel broke the “firewall” immediately, and ultimately her office found no reason to charge Kornak. Only when the case reached Kent County Prosecutor Chris Becker were Kornak’s actions given the proper scrutiny.
Now, years later, Kornak is finally getting her day in court.
Also in Kent County, a man formerly employed by Adult Protective Services faces criminal charges for allegedly bilking little old ladies of more than $100,000.
News reports say the suspect, Derek Plumb, has already admitted to taking the money. Justice, if it comes, will arrive too late to be useful to the victims.
Michigan is an aging state. How much security can any of us expect as we enter our later years?
Getting old is tough, no matter where you live. But in Gretchen Whitmer’s Michigan, elder abuse is all but state policy.
James David Dickson is host of the James Dickson Podcast. Join him in conversation on X at @downi75.
