Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said Monday she regrets briefly placing file folders in front of her face as cameras clicked at a White House meeting with President Donald Trump last week, but she doesn’t regret showing up there to help Michiganders, including those Up North who have gone more than two weeks without electricity.
“What was going through my mind at that moment?” Whitmer said during a question-and-answer period with business leaders, following a speech to the Detroit Economic Club.
“I don’t want my picture taken.”
Whitmer’s White House visit Wednesday with Trump has placed her at the center of a national debate over whether, and to what extent, Democrats should try to work with Trump to achieve policy goals for their constituents or fight him and call him out as what many critics see as a destructive autocrat who can’t be appeased.
Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer discusses the U.S. economy, and domestic and foreign policy priorities during a speech in Washington, D.C. on April 9, 2025.
Scrutiny of Whitmer, viewed as a potential Democratic candidate for president in 2028, intensified over the weekend after her appearance at an Oval Office news conference at which Trump signed executive orders initiating investigations of perceived political enemies but also praised Whitmer and made encouraging comments about White House support for the Selfridge Air National Guard Base in Macomb County and Michigan’s fight against an invasive carp species that threatens Great Lakes fisheries and tourism.
Immediately, photos circulated of Whitmer looking uncomfortable at the event as she stood in front of a gilded fireplace. Then, on Saturday, the New York Times published a new photo of Whitmer, from the same event, in which she holds file folders in front of her face as camera shutters click.
On NBC’s “Meet the Press” Sunday, Politico senior political columnist Jonathan Martin described that phot as “instantly iconic” and “Dukakis in the tank” referencing a 1988 photo of then Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis grinning while wearing an oversized military helmet, that was widely credited with torpedoing his presidential hopes. “It’s an error for the ages,” Martin opined.
But other pundits have jumped to Whitmer’s defense. On ABC’s “This Week” Sunday, ESPN sports commentator Stephen A. Smith, who has also been mentioned as a potential Democratic candidate for president, said Whitmer, as a governor, has “no choice” but to engage with Trump. “You need to do business with the federal government,” Smith said. “He’s the president of the United States. You don’t get to circumvent him.”
Earlier Monday, Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, a former Democrat who is running for governor as an independent, said at a breakfast event sponsored by the Free Press that Whitmer deserves enormous credit for her White House trek.
At lunchtime Monday, Whitmer, gave a 22-minute speech at Motor City Casino about the importance of certainty in roads funding and manufacturing, where she first made light of the high-profile debacle.
“One minute you’re certain you’re at the White House for a meeting, and the next minute you’re at a press conference,” Whitmer said.
She later said she regrets momentarily hiding her face between file folders she was carrying.
However, “I’ll continue to do my job, even showing up in places I’m not necessarily expected to be showing up,” she said.
Whitmer said the reason she was there was to try to get a federal emergency declaration for Michiganders suffering Up North after a severe winter storm, plus to try to get a new mission for Selfridge and to seek federal help in the fight against invasive carp.
She did criticize President Donald Trump’s current tariff policy, though without mentioning Trump by name.
In terms of major auto suppliers and other large Michigan businesses, “it’s really hard to understate how much harm the current economic strategy will cause,” Whitmer said.
Contact Paul Egan: 517-372-8660 or pegan@freepress.com.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Whitmer makes light of Oval Office photo in speech to business leaders