Democratic Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer Now ‘Looking To Collaborate’ With Trump
'We do have a problem at our southern border'
Earlier this month, Blaze News took a deep dive into the left's reprehensible behavior toward fellow Americans who refused COVID jabs.
Now we're looking at the immense harm that COVID lockdown lunacy, tyranny, and hypocrisy brought upon us all.
'We will crash your party. You will pay a big fine. And we will name & shame you until EVERYONE gets this message into their heads.'
One of the curious parallels within numerous lockdown scenarios in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic was the number of officials, particularly governors, who used the phrases "save lives" and "saving lives" to explain why everybody had to stay home. It's uncanny — as if they were parroting a script. We've bolded such utterances in the forthcoming vignettes.
Then there was the hypocrisy of such elected officials who ignored their own edicts while enforcing them for the rest of us. Such as the Democrat governor who told people to "stay home except for essential activities" — and then was spotted at a wine bar without a mask. Or the Democrat Chicago official caught violating lockdown rules at his restaurant. Or the Democrat mayor of Austin, Texas, who apologized after sending a "stay home" message — from his Mexico vacation spot. Or San Francisco's then-Democrat mayor who said more severe COVID-19 restrictions were on the way after she was caught dining at a fancy restaurant. Or then-mayor of Philadelphia Jim Kenney — as far left as they come — getting called out after he was seen dining inside a Maryland restaurant while eateries in his own city "suffer" from his ban on indoor dining.
Can we go on? You bet we can.
Among the most egregious instances of political leaders' COVID lockdown hypocrisy occurred when then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was busted using a shuttered salon for services despite a lockdown in San Francisco. The far-left politician actually claimed she was "set up" by the salon, and that she was owed an apology rather than the other way around. In the same neck of the woods, photos emerged of far-left California Gov. Gavin Newsom dining unmasked with a large party at a ritzy Napa restaurant. And who can forget when then-Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot got a haircut after banning barbers and salons from opening during the early months of the pandemic. She defended the move by telling critics, "I'm the public face of this city." Then Lightfoot broke her own rules again — and again.
In the meantime, churches and business shut their doors — and many never reopened. Not being able to go outside and being prevented from earning a living and getting cut off from human interaction led to dire consequences. Young people seriously considered suicide. Some carried out the act. Parents' resources were stretched to the limit when their children no longer could attend school in person.
In the end, numerous experts gave lockdowns a failing grade. Johns Hopkins researchers concluded that lockdowns had "little to no effect" on COVID-19 deaths but "imposed enormous economic and social costs." A Stanford medical school professor declared that COVID-19 lockdowns were the "biggest public health mistake we've ever made." Then-U.S. Attorney General William Barr said COVID-19 lockdowns were the "greatest intrusion on civil liberties in American history" besides slavery.
All that said, get ready for more "fun" — and take a look back at some of the worst behavior by those in power against everyday people amid COVID-19 lockdowns.
Never forget.
Michigan state regulators suspended the license of 77-year-old barber Karl Manke in May 2020 after he reopened his Owosso shop in defiance of Democrat Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's stay-at-home orders. Manke had previously vowed to keep his business open until "Jesus comes," his attorney said the state's actions were out of "pure retribution," and it became a national story.
The elderly barber attracted a lot of defenders. Michigan militia members promised to guard him from arrest, and a Shiawassee County Circuit Court judge refused to sign a temporary restraining order against him without first holding a hearing.
When state regulators suspended Manke's license, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel argued that "it is paramount that we take action to protect the public and do our part to help save lives." Nessel later ripped Manke as "not a hero to me" and "not a patriot."
But Manke was undeterred. He told demonstrators on the steps of the state Capitol during "Operation Haircut" — a protest he inspired that featured barbers and stylists giving free haircuts in defiance of Whitmer's social distancing requirements — that the governor's lockdown was akin to Nazis tricking Jews to get into "cattle cars" during Holocaust.
Whitmer also was undeterred. In October 2020 she actually told Chuck Todd on "Meet the Press" that "if you're tired of lockdowns, or you're tired of wearing masks, or you wish you were in church this morning or watching college football or your kids were in-person instruction, it is time for change in this country, and that's why we've got to elect Joe Biden."
The day after Whitmer's campaign stop with Todd, criminal charges against Manke for reopening his barber shop were dropped. By March 2023, Whitmer admitted that her lockdown measures didn't "make a lot of sense" and that "maybe that was a little more than what we needed to do."
In April 2020, Dalton Farms in Swedesboro said in a Facebook post that "we were ordered to cease all operations by an Assistant Prosecutor from the State of New Jersey."
At issue was Dalton Farms' popular tulip tours at its 99-acre property, the Cherry Hill Courier-Post reported, adding that the Gloucester County Prosecutor's Office ordered the shutdown because the tours violated Democrat New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy's coronavirus executive orders.
Murphy defended his lockdown policy: "The fact of the matter is this is about saving lives, and we're going to do what we can to save lives."
A week prior to the tulip farm kibosh, Murphy told Fox News' Tucker Carlson that he "wasn't thinking of the Bill of Rights" when he issued an executive order banning gatherings of more than 10 people to stem the tide of COVID-19 — including religious services — which resulted in multiple arrests.
"We are really damned unhappy" about disobedient residents "and we're going to take action," Murphy declared earlier in April 2020, according to the Atlantic City Press. He added to the paper there are "too many people not paying attention" to his order and "we've about had it."
To wit:
Oh, and in November 2020, a pair of women cursed out Murphy — who just extended his executive order for COVID-19 restrictions — while he was dining with his family outside a restaurant.
In April 2020, members of Temple Baptist Church in Greenville, Mississippi, stayed in their vehicles with the windows rolled up in the church parking lot to listen to Pastor Arthur Scott's sermon on the radio.
They figured that counted as abiding by coronavirus social distancing guidelines — but one couple said police issued them a pair of $500 tickets for not leaving the parking lot. Yes, there's video of police laying down the law.
Democrat Mayor of Greenville Errick Simmons issued an executive order that all church buildings are to be closed for both in-person and drive-in services — and that the Temple Baptist parking lot service was in direct defiance of that order, the Delta Democrat-Times reported.
"It's all about trying to save lives," the mayor added to the paper. "If people continue to gather, it's going to spread."
A Malibu paddleboarder was chased down April 2, 2020 — among the earliest days of COVID lockdowns all over America — by patrol boats and arrested for defying California Democrat Gov. Gavin Newsom's stay-at-home order. You can view the rather over-the-top video here of the chase and arrest.
By October 2022 — well over two years later — Newsom was still saying that "throughout the pandemic, we’ve been guided by the science and data – moving quickly and strategically to save lives."
Pennsylvania State Police cited a woman in March 2020 for going on a leisurely drive amid the coronavirus outbreak. According to Pennlive, 19-year-old Anita Shaffer went for a drive just to get out of her house. On her way back, a pair of troopers stopped Shaffer.
During the stop — which the troopers initiated over a faulty taillight and dark window tint — Shaffer told the troopers she was just "going for a drive." The officers responded by writing her a ticket fining her more than $200 for violating Pennsylvania's stay-at-home order.
Then-Gov. Tom Wolf, a Democrat, said in May 2020 that “our actions, our collective decisions to stay at home and avoid social contact – we know that all of that saved lives."
"If you want to walk on the beach, fine," New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said during a May 18, 2020 news conference regarding the upcoming Memorial Day weekend. "But no swimming, no lifeguards, no parties, no barbecues, no sports." He also warned, "Anyone tries to get in the water, they'll be taken right out of the water."
It wasn't immediately clear why swimming, among all beach activities, drew the ire of de Blasio. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there is no evidence that COVID-19 can be spread to people through bodies of water. Though the mayor did add that swimming is dangerous because lifeguards won't be around.
During a March 2020 news conference on COVID-19, de Blasio said, "Our job is now to focus on what we need to do to save lives."
Shelley Luther, owner of Salon a la Mode, reopened her business on April 30, 2020, in violation of Texas' statewide lockdown of nonessential businesses during the early days of COVID-19. She argued that she was behind on her mortgage and that the government has no right to prohibit citizens from working to provide for their families. In the end she was sentenced to seven days in jail and fined thousands of dollars.
But things soon began to turn in Luther's favor in early May: A GoFundMe page for her received nearly $500,000 in donations after her jailing. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and Gov. Greg Abbott called for her release. Within days Luther was set free.
Soon after her release, Luther entered politics. After initial defeats, Luther — a Republican — won the Texas state House seat for District 62 in November 2024.
The city of San Clemente, California, filled a skate park — at taxpayer expense — with 37 tons of sand in April 2020 to prevent kids from skating amid the coronavirus lockdown.
"Some kids are very blessed and come from great homes, but on the flip side there are kids who don't come from good homes and there are some skaters who might fall into that category," said Stephanie Aguilar, president of the San Clemente SkatePark Coalition, in a follow-up interview with Blaze News. "For those kids, the skatepark was an outlet."
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Police in Meridian, Idaho, arrested a mother of two in April 2020 after she violated the city's ban against using playground equipment at a local park amid the COVID outbreak. The arrest was caught on cellphone video. Sara Brady was charged with one count of misdemeanor trespassing.
Blaze Media co-founder Glenn Beck interviewed Brady on his radio program, and she posed the following question: "How can someone like me be considered a criminal because I just wanted to take my kids to the park?"
Interestingly, while Republican Gov. Brad Little issued a stay-at-home order in March 2020, listed among "essential activities" — i.e., permitted — was "outdoor activities." However, gatherings of more than 10 people were not allowed.
New Mexico's Democrat Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham fined two churches $10,000 each in December 2020 for violating the state's social distancing requirements, and her communications director released a statement accompanying the fine implying that the pastors involved were "pro-virus."
Legacy Church and Cavalry Church — described as "megachurches" by KOAT-TV — both attracted attention after they posted videos on their respective social media sites showing hundreds of attendees gathered singing Christmas carols during Christmas Eve services. Those videos garnered significant attention on social media and ultimately led to news stories from local media outlets, which seems to have prompted the governor's actions.
In November 2020, Grishman stated in regard to her latest COVID stay-at-home order that "I want to save lives."
A pair of sheriff's deputies in Wisconsin got testy after they showed up outside a woman's home in the spring of 2020 and began lecturing her about the coronavirus — and for your entertainment, the rather unbelievable verbal sparring was all captured on cellphone video.
"Are you aware that we're in a stay-at-home order right now?" the first deputy asked the woman, addressing her as "Amy."
"Yeah, obviously," the woman responded, clearly astounded by the elementary question.
"By the government of Wisconsin?" he continued.
"Yes, I am aware," she replied.
"OK, you're aware of that? So I don't need to explain that to you?" he persisted.
"No, you don't need to explain that to me," she replied before the deputy cut her off and added, "OK, because I can if you need me to."
Soon she forced him to end his bullying Q&A by inquiring why he was with another deputy — neither or whom were wearing masks or gloves — in her driveway that was adorned with children's chalk drawings.
He replied, "'Cause your daughter is going to play at other people's home, and you're allowing it to happen."
The deputy's vocal tone soon got quite ornery as he informed the mother that she can either acknowledge that she's been warned or continue arguing. Smartly she said she'd acknowledge the warning.
"OK," the deputy replied angrily. "Stop having your kid go by other people's home!"
The other deputy asked the mother for her last name for their records, after which Amy wondered why that piece of information was necessary — and the first officer blurted out, "Because you're violating a state order."
But the mom wouldn't budge — and wasn't willing even to disclose her middle initial to the inquiring deputy. "Are we done here?" she asked.
"No, we're not," the second deputy shot back. "Your middle initial and last name."
After the first deputy appeared to extract the necessary information over his radio, the second deputy actually told the mom "that'll be documented, too, that you were uncooperative."
Democrat Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers said in an April 2020 news release about COVID-19 restrictions that "Safer at Home is saving lives."
The owners of embattled Atilis Gym in Bellmawr, New Jersey, were arrested on the morning of July 27, 2020, for opening in defiance of Democrat Gov. Phil Murphy's lockdown order. You can view video of the arrest here.
The arrests came after a Superior Court judge ruled that the governor had the authority to shut the gym down and that co-owners Ian Smith, 33, and Frank Trumbetti, 51, were in contempt of court for attempting to keep it open. Smith and Trumbetti were charged with one count of fourth-degree contempt, one count of obstruction, and one count of Violation of a Disaster Control Act, according to NJ.com.
The gym made headlines in May after the owners refused to shut down after Murphy's executive order called on all "nonessential" businesses in the state — including gyms — to close. Things heated up fast, particularly when five cops arrested one person outside the gym. But the owners refused to back down — and just a week after their July arrests, Smith and Trumbetti literally kicked down the government-installed barriers on their gym's doors to reopen again.
Things were far from over, though. Bellmawr's all-Democrat borough council revoked the gym's license. By December 2020 Smith said he'd received $1.2 million in fines, and ripped the "petty tyrant" governor. The following month Smith was sentenced to one year of probation for defying Murphy's lockdown orders. Finally, a New Jersey court in 2024 dismissed with prejudice all the municipal charges against Smith.
On May 14, 2020, Los Angeles County issued the following post on X: "We know that businesses are working hard to adhere to the #SaferAtHome orders, but if you need to report a business for non-compliance, please call 888-700-9995 Monday-Friday (8 am-5 pm)."
Here's a sampling of the mocking comments that followed:
By September 2020, the county health department decreed that trick-or-treating was unsafe and would be illegal for Halloween — along with all carnivals, festivals, and parties with "non-household members." In a guidance document published by KABC-TV, the health department added that "gatherings or parties with non-household members are not permitted even if they are conducted outdoors."
The week after Oregon's far-left Democratic governor Kate Brown declared strict new COVID-19 lockdown orders in November 2020, she then called on state residents to rat out their neighbors who might violate her new edict that limited social gatherings.
Besides limiting faith-based organizations to 25 people indoors and 50 people outdoors, Brown also banned groups of more than six people gathering together in private homes.
As for snitching on neighbors, Brown said in an interview that it's "no different than what happens if there's a party down the street, and it's keeping everyone awake. What do neighbors do? They call law enforcement because it's too noisy. This is just like that. It's like a violation of a noise ordinance."
Brown also said people should understand that her new commands were "about saving lives."
— (@)
In early May 2020, then-Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot threatened to issue citations and even arrest anyone who violated coronavirus stay-at-home orders.
"We will shut you down, we will cite you, and if we need to, we will arrest you, and we will take you to jail," Lightfoot said. "Don't make us treat you like a criminal, but if you act like a criminal, and you violate the law, and you refuse to do what is necessary to save lives in this city in the middle of a pandemic we will take you to jail, period."
The far-left mayor added, "If you host a party, promote a party, or go to a party, we are not playing games. We mean business, and we will shut this down one way or another. The time for educating people into compliance is over. Don't be stupid. We're watching you, and we're going to take decisive action."
Then-Police Superintendent David Brown said, "We have given enough warning. We're getting to the point where we're trying to save lives and if our message is not resonating with people who are promoting parties, or coming out to parties, we have to take that next level of enforcement to make sure that we save lives."
Lightfoot and Chicago police also encouraged residents to anonymously submit tips about anybody breaking the lockdown rules, including throwing house parties.
Speaking of overreach, the commissioner of Chicago's Department of Public Health in early August 2020 trumpeted that officials would use social media postings as evidence to issue fines against visitors violating the city's quarantine order.
In August 2020, then-Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti ordered utilities cut off at a mansion where large parties were being held in defiance of social distancing guidelines. The New York Times reported that the mansion belongs to TikTok stars Bryce Hall, Noah Beck, and Blake Gray.
Garcetti previously said that the city would consider shutting off the utilities for nonessential businesses that were found defying the coronavirus lockdown orders.
Critics of the Democratic mayor noted that he had been photographed without a mask with a crowd of Black Lives Matter protesters — despite stating in an April 2020 briefing that staying at home, along with other COVID restrictions, "is the way we will save lives."
A woman holding a "We Are Free" sign while sitting on the sand in Miami Beach in May 2020 was dragged away by police who arrested and charged her with violating an emergency order, trespassing, and resisting an officer without violence. Kimberly Falkenstine, 33, was protesting coronavirus-related beach closures and refused to leave after officers confronted her, WTVJ-TV reported.
The entire event was captured on video by a man speaking to Falkenstine as she walked to the beach with her sign. Approaching the beach's entrance, she marveled at the "ridiculous" number of officers patrolling the otherwise empty beach: "This is a power trip. This has nothing to do with the virus."
Other demonstrators at a South Beach park on the same day demanded that local officials reopen beaches.
The leader of a teachers' union in Washington state faced criticism in January 2021 after he said that coronavirus reopening efforts were fueled by "white supremacy" — and concerns over lockdown suicides were "white privilege."
"We must not ignore the culture of white supremacy and white privilege. We have seen it in the 'free to breathe,' reopen everything, rodeos and rallies that received county commissioner support. The same county commissioner directs our health," Scott Wilson, president of the Pasco Association of Educators, said at a school board meeting, according to the Tri-City Herald.
"No one wants remote learning, but it is the right thing to do. We know the equity concerns, virus transmission is high, heading higher, with so many ignoring and avoiding measures to stop the spread, remote learning is the right decision," he added.
A "Super-Spreader Task Force" — courtesy of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department — cracked down on 2020 New Year's Eve parties, resulting in hundreds being detained, arrested, and fined.
The coronavirus lockdown enforcers crashed five large NYE parties in Los Angeles, Malibu, Hawthorne, and Pomona. The "illegal" celebrations were held in speakeasy locations such as upscale homes, vacant warehouses, a DoubleTree hotel, and shuttered businesses.
One frustrated New Year's Eve reveler told KTTV-TV, "We're tired of closing this s**t down, my people have lost businesses and all that s**t, and we really just wanted some fresh air, man, that's what's going on we wanted some fresh air, they come out with the tanks and all, man, s**t is crazy."
A month prior, then-Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti told his constituents to expect more COVID-19 lockdowns, going so far as to say, "It's time to cancel everything."
Judges ordered at least four people in Louisville, Kentucky, to wear ankle bracelets for repeatedly refusing to isolate themselves after being in contact with coronavirus patients. CNN reported in early April 2020 that two of the people fitted with the monitors haven't tested positive for the coronavirus.
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A handful of left-wing female politicians sounded off in predictable fashion to women's magazine Harper's Bazaar about Donald Trump as he assumes the presidency for a second time Monday.
Indeed, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett of Texas, and other far-left Democrats expressed the disappointment this day brings for them.
'We have many progressive voices who have been re-elected to Congress who are not afraid to push back on the hateful policies that Trump and his allies will be driving through in the next few years.'
The magazine certainly gives itself away from the get-go by calling Trump "a convicted felon" in the very first paragraph of its story.
“When I saw that the American people chose an old white man with 34 felony counts over a qualified black woman who has served as California attorney general, U.S. senator, and vice president, I felt sadness for our country,” Crockett told Bazaar.
Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call Inc. via Getty Images
The magazine called Crockett a "passionate defender of reproductive justice, trans rights, and criminal justice reform" — and quoted her as saying the now-former Vice President Kamala Harris "has a beautiful family and a long career ahead of her — she’ll be fine. It’s the American people who are about to feel the consequences of this decision, and I think we’ll be feeling it for a long, long time."
Crockett added to Harper's that Trump and "his far-right friends at the Heritage Foundation and his oligarch buddies have openly admitted they plan on implementing Project 2025 policies — like banning abortion nationwide and gutting our public education system — starting on day one of his second term.”
Omar told the magazine she's full of “deep disappointment” over Trump defeating Harris in November: "This wasn’t just about losing an election — it was about seeing so many Americans choose a vision of our country that doesn’t align with our values of inclusion and justice."
Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images
Whitmer noted to Harper's that "people are exhausted" and they "want leaders to work on their problems and get things done. Where we agree, I am going to try to make progress. Where we diverge, I am going to stand up for Michigan, as I always have. I took office in the middle of the first Trump presidency, so I’ve been through this before.”
Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call Inc. via Getty Images
Omar told the magazine that she's hopeful because "we have many progressive voices who have been re-elected to Congress who are not afraid to push back on the hateful policies that Trump and his allies will be driving through in the next few years.”
Crockett noted to Harper's that "Republican Congress members know that their majority is hanging by a thread — so if your readers want to make a real difference, they need to find out who their members of Congress are and save their office number in their contacts. Stay engaged on upcoming legislation, let your member know how you’d like them to vote, and watch their votes on Congress.gov. Be polite but persistent. Remember, your representatives work for you — not Trump, and definitely not Elon Musk.”
Whitmer added to the magazine that "Michiganders expect me to keep fighting for and protecting women’s rights, LGBTQ rights, and so much more. As a mom of two adult daughters, one of whom identifies as a gay woman, I must stand up for their fundamental rights.”
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The Department of Defense added Chinese electric vehicle battery maker CATL—which Ford Motor Company has partnered with on a billion-dollar EV project in Michigan—to a list of companies that actively aid China's military.
The post Ford’s Partner in Billion-Dollar Michigan EV Factory Is a Chinese Military Company, Pentagon Says appeared first on .
Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, who is from Indiana, is weighing a run for governor of Michigan in 2026, multiple sources told the Detroit News.
The post Indiana Native Pete Buttigieg Wants To Be Michigan Governor: Report appeared first on .