On Monday morning, Detroit local media reported on assassination threats made by members of rightwing Facebook groups against Michigan’s governor, Gretchen Whitmer. That afternoon, Whitmer addressed the tense situation by taking aim at largely silent Republicans in the legislature. “This could be avoided if Republican leadership in the legislature would step up and denounce that…
A few times each week, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer delivers a clear, forceful summary of the changes she’s implementing to keep Michiganders safe from COVID-19 on a state-run livestream. Later, she delivers a similar message on national television. For Michiganders used to hearing from the governor mostly about how to ‘fix the damn roads,’ it’s not…
She ran on the slogan “Fix the damn roads,” the kind of platform that emphasizes practical thinking over partisan politics. So how did pragmatic Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer find herself in the middle of several of Donald Trump’s most recent tirades? Well, like others who have ended up in a similar position, she happens to be a woman—with a…