Whitmer, Trump Talk Couple Times A Month

(Source: MIRS.news, Published 02/27/2026) Fourteen months ago, when other governors were lambasting President Donald Trump on a variety of issues, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer sat peacefully in the executive residence living room. She decided she was going to take a different course with the GOP president.

The Governor disclosed, for the first time this week, that she wanted to strike up a working professional relationship with President Trump.

Soon after that, there she was standing in the Oval Office with House GOP Speaker Matt Hall (R-Richland Township) as the two laid the groundwork for several "gets" from the gentleman behind the Oval Office desk. And they eventually got those gets dealing with the Asian Carp threat to the Great Lakes and getting a new mission for the Selfridge Air Base.

Mission accomplished.

She and the President exchanged personal phone numbers and, the other day, she was asked for the first time how many calls they have shared?

"I don't know," she said. "I talk to him probably twice a month." And it's not a one-way street. He calls her and she calls him.

That means 28 phone conversations, give or take, in the last year and two months.

But the political landscape today is quite different than it was over a year ago. So, has the tenor of the relationship gotten worse, better or about the same?

"I think it's about the same," she reported.

This despite the fact that, according to the Governor, " … obviously we see the world differently on about 95 out of 100 things … We don't agree on tariffs. We don't agree on the ACA (Affordable Care Act) cuts. We don't agree on how we treat people or deploy troops within our states. There are a lot of differences … "

Nonetheless, she is not about to change her phone number.

"Neither of us pulls any punches, but at the same token, if there are five things that I can find common ground with and get something done for Michigan, then I'm going to take every one of those opportunities," Whitmer said. "I'm keeping the lanes of communication open because Michigan needs the federal government sometimes (and) that relationship has helped me deliver something for Michigan, and I'm not one to take all the credit" when that happens.

Most recently in her State of the State, she gave a shout-out to the president for helping to land that new fighter wing at the aforementioned Selfridge field.

"He's got a lot going on right now," she concluded.