Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) is set to join President Trump during a Tuesday visit at the Selfridge Air National Guard Base in the Great Lakes State, the White House said.
The appearance comes just a couple weeks after Whitmer took heat from both sides of the aisle for a White House visit earlier this month, her second since the inauguration. After Trump brought the governor into the Oval Office during an executive order signing involving her state, a photo of Whitmer appearing to cover her face with folders garnered ridicule and underscored the tough political terrain of the Democrat’s working relationship with the president.
One of the topics she aimed to discuss with Trump during that trip was funding for the Selfridge Air National Guard Base, where the president will make his first stop in Michigan on Tuesday.
The trip marks Trump’s first visit to the battleground state, which he flipped red in November, since a rally in Grand Rapids a day before the election. It also marks his first major domestic trip of his second term.
Trump is then set to stop by Macomb County’s Community College Sports Expo Center and hold a rally to celebrate hitting the benchmark of his first 100 days back in office.
Michigan has been rocked by Trump’s dramatic tariff moves, as the state boasts a big automobile industry and borders Canada to the north.
“There’s a lot of reason for the American consumer, the American CEO, the American small business owner to be confident and optimistic about this president and where we’re headed,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a briefing with reporters ahead of Trump’s trip.
“You will hear more from the president himself later this evening … He’ll make a stop a the air force base with Gov. Whitmer and then we will head to a rally later tonight where we’ll hear more from him directly.”
