Conservatives have struggled with the wildly inconsistent and often unconstitutional restrictions placed on Americans after the outbreak of COVID-19 early in 2020, and few states were more restricted than Michigan.
In addition to the restrictions on where citizens could go without their faces covered, there were even reports of stores being asked not to sell certain goods, so as not to encourage additional time in the store or activities that might lead to socialization.
Leading this charge was Michigan’s Democrat Governor Gretchen Whitmer. Whitmer soon became a villain to many Republicans who considered her tactics un-American and outright illegal. To make matters worse, according to a recent report in The Daily Wire, it appears as if what is good for the goose isn’t good for the gander; case in point, the governor seems to have been traveling more extensively than she was willing to admit.
The Daily Wire reported that “Gretchen Whitmer was allegedly caught making false statements in a recent interview where she claimed that she was ‘here in town the whole time’ despite having recently traveled to Florida.
According to the report, Whitmer claimed during a podcast appearance with MIRS News host Kyle Melinn on April 12 that she had been in her own state during the month of March, when, in reality, she had traveled to Florida Fox News even said the governor outright “lied” about her travels.
During the interview, Melinn posed the question “All right, so this was spring break, so I was able to get a few days off. Were you able to get a few days off? Have you had any days off for the last year? That’s the question I want to know, it seems like you’ve been on for an entire year.
Whitmer answered, “Yeah, like most people on my team, we’ve been working 14 months without much of a break. Um, my, my daughter had spring break. Um, I didn’t do much of anything, you saw me, I was here in town the whole time, but, um, you know, it’s, the weather’s getting nicer, so I’m moving some of my zoom calls outside, that’s the most exciting, ah, development. [nervous laughter]”
“If you could’ve gone anywhere for spring break, where would you have gone?” Melinn questioned further.
“Oh gosh, I don’t know. I haven’t really thought about it. I, you know I, my last, my first big trip as governor, ah, and the last trip I’ve taken was to Israel.”
The governor’s claims were reportedly not difficult to prove false, as news broke just days later that she had traveled to Florida to visit family during the time she claimed to have been at home. According to the Daily Wire, the governor’s office seemed to confirm a report from MIRS News which said the governor had traveled to Florida, before later attempted to change their answer, saying that they were not going to comment on where she went.
The office then changed their story again and confirmed the news the following day, and Whitmer apparently sought to downplay her travels by saying it was only a “two-day trip” and she “wasn’t partying in Miami.”
“The issue is not that Gov. Whitmer visited her father, it’s that she lied about it and continues to hide key facts,” said Ted Goodman, Communications Director of the Michigan Republican Party. “It’s also hypocritical as Michiganders were denied the same opportunity through her rules that locked people from visiting their loved ones in hospitals and nursing homes.”
However, the governor wasn’t the only person in her administration supposedly galavanting about while they push for COVID restrictions. The wire reported that two of Whitmer’s aides were caught traveling outside of their state, despite Whitimer’s public claims of concerns about travel.
“Whitmer’s chief executive officer, Tricia Foster, was confirmed to have traveled to Florida with her daughter during spring break, during a time when the administration was advising against spring break travel to that state,” WILX reported. “Director of the Department of Health and Human Services Elizabeth Hertel also recently traveled with her family to the Gulf Coast of Alabama, as cases in Michigan were on the rise.”
