Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer (D) tried to hide her face during an Oval Office meeting with President Trump.
In a photograph that went viral, Whitmer was caught blocking her face with a stack of binders - creating an image of shame and capitulation that infuriated her fellow Democrats.
“Just a f–king disaster,” one Democratic operative told NBC News anonymously. “It feels like it removes some of the momentum she had as a politically savvy swing-state Dem.”
Democrats have been in a leadership crisis ever since Trump's triumph in November, and the field is wide open for ambitious Democrats like Whitmer to seek the presidency in 2028.
Her party's historic unpopularity has left Whitmer performing a delicate dance of seeming bipartisan without looking too friendly with Trump.
Clearly, Whitmer is struggling to find that balance. Prior to her meeting with Trump, she gave a speech in which she cautiously embraced Trump's "Liberation Day" tariffs, which have faced nearly universal criticism from Democrats and even some Republicans.
A photographer captured the moment Whitmer apparently regretted appearing with Trump.
The image shows the governor reaching for the nearest object in sight, a stack of binders, to hide her face.
It's rare when you get a shot of the EXACT moment a politician's career ends, but there you go pic.twitter.com/wugOGW1aRI
— Keith Olbermann (@KeithOlbermann) April 12, 2025
After the Oval Office meeting, Whitmer's team said the governor was not expecting to be invited into the room.
“The governor was surprised that she was brought into the Oval Office during President Trump’s press conference without any notice of the subject matter,” a Whitmer spokesperson said in a statement. “Her presence is not an endorsement of the actions taken or statements made at that event.”
In another photograph taken by Reuters, Whitmer was seen standing awkwardly next to Trump's Cabinet Secretaries as Trump smiled at his desk - where he signed executive orders and ordered the DOJ to investigate some of his political opponents.
For many Democrats, Whitmer's Oval Office appearance was a shameful surrender to a president Democrats have repeatedly compared to Hitler.
Meanwhile, Trump offered a fresh reminder of his more sober and pragmatic outlook, as he shared praise for Whitmer, a former rival of his. The two previously clashed over COVID restrictions during Trump's first term.
“We’re honored to have Gretchen Whitmer from Michigan, great state of Michigan, and she’s been, she’s really done an excellent job, very good person,” he said.
