President Trump slammed Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer during a rally on Thursday, saying that she “doesn’t have a clue.”
“Michigan has already gained and regained more than half of the jobs that it lost — and if your state was ever allowed to safely reopen by your governor, who doesn’t have a clue, just like Joe [Biden], you would have gained far more than that,” Trump said in a rally in Saginaw County, according to FOX 2.
He then called on her to “open up your state.”
Trump’s criticism follows Whitmer calling Trump the “biggest threat to the American people” earlier on Thursday.
Whitmer said that the Trump administration had been “reckless and not particularly well informed.” She also slammed Trump for audio recordings that surfaced earlier this week that revealed Trump had downplayed the severity of the coronavirus pandemic so as to not incite panic.
“I wanted to always play it down,” Trump told journalist Bob Woodward on March 19, shortly after declaring the pandemic a national emergency, according to CNN. “I still like playing it down, because I don’t want to create a panic.”
Woodward’s book on Trump, “Rage,” is set to publish September 15, CNN said.
Whitmer criticized Trump downplaying the impact of COVID-19 during a press conference.
“They knew; they didn’t tell us, and I think the biggest enemy of the state right now is the misinformation that is coming out of the head of the state,” Whitmer said. “I think the biggest threat to the American people is the American president right now. It’s devastating — and I do not relish saying that — but the fact of the matter is there’s been so much more loss of life because we haven’t had accurate, consistent medical information just coming out of the chief executive of our nation.”
Trump shot back during his rally, saying that Michigan would be better off if it “had a governor who knew what the hell she was doing,” Fox News said. He also said Whitmer is a “liberal hypocrite who lives by a different set of rules,” referencing a scandal earlier this year when Whitmer’s husband appeared to attempt to use his position to sway a dock owner to bend coronavirus regulations.
Trump appeared in Michigan just one day after Democratic nominee Joe Biden. Whitmer said that Trump’s rally was “distressing,” because she doubted his supporters would take proper precautions in regards to the coronavirus, Fox News reported.
Michigan currently has more than 110,000 confirmed cases of the coronavirus and more than 6,578 deaths, according to the Michigan Department Health and Human Services. There are more than 80,000 considered recovered.
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Jordyn Pair is a reporter at The Michigan Star and Star News Digital Media. Follow her on Twitter at @JordynPair. Email her at [email protected].
