An online petition calling for the removal of Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has garnered 200,000 signatures as of Tuesday morning. The petition started approximately one month ago in response to Whitmer’s tyrannical stay-at-home orders.
“Recall Governor Whitmer. Her failure’s during the COVID-19 Coronavirus is causing more Michiganders to get sick,” the petition reads. “Closing and banning various non-essential businesses and activities while leaving others open. Further promoting the pandemic.”
The petition calls out Whitmer for her inability to fix roads — an important issue to Michiganders — and fix problems she campaigned on.
“[Whtimer] has lied since day one with her #Fixthedamnroads which she has failed to do anything in this regard. The response to #PFAS was negligence and completely removing funding for #PureMichigan clearly shows her lack of anything positive for the State of Michigan,” the petition reads.
Whitmer issued the first stay-at-home order for the state of Michigan on March 23. On April 8, she extended the stay-at-home order until the end of April and put in place additional measures.
According to the Detroit Free Press, Michigan residents can no longer purchase paint, gardening seeds, or travel to their lake houses. However, they are free to purchase lottery tickets. Whitmer has suggested draconian strategies for reducing the spread of COVID-19 by blocking off sections of grocery stores so people can only purchase essentials.
Six Michigan Congressmen sent a joint letter to Whitmer expressing their concerns with her authoritarian-like executive order. The letter was signed by Republican Reps. Paul Mitchell, Fred Upton, Tim Walberg, Bill Huizenga, John Moolenaar, and Jack Bergman.
“Your latest order is far too restrictive and includes provisions that seem arbitrary and internally inconsistent,” the letter reads. “We believe there is a better approach.”
The group suggests Whitmer abide by the guidelines put out by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) instead of creating her own arbitrary guidelines.
Joined my colleagues in sending a letter to @GovWhitmer to express our concerns w/ her most recent executive order. We believe amending this order can achieve our shared goal of protecting public health while also beginning the slow process of resuscitating our economy. #MI06 pic.twitter.com/nAEzd2AWqZ
— Rep. Fred Upton (@RepFredUpton) April 14, 2020
In response to Whitmer’s latest executive order, conservative groups Michigan Conservative Coalition and Michigan Freedom Fund are staging a protest near the Lansing Capitol building. The group calls their protest “Operation Gridlock.” In their online Facebook group, 3,800 people are marked as “going” and an additional 15,800 people are “interested.”
The Michigan Freedom Fund has strong ties to Betsy and Dick DeVos, however, the Detroit Free Press noted Betsy DeVos has not contributed to the Michigan Freedom Fund since entering Trump’s cabinet as Secretary of Education.
During a press conference on Monday, April 13, Whitmer skirted addressing the reason why people plan to protest in Lansing. Instead, she blamed Betsy DeVos.
“This group is funded in large part by the DeVos family. And I think it’s really inappropriate for a sitting member of the United States president’s cabinet to be waging political attacks on on any governor, but obviously, on me here at home. I think that they should disavow and encourage people to stay home and be safe,” Whitmer said.
As Margot Cleveland at The Federalist accurately points out, Whitmer has put politics over people in her pandemic response. She was actively campaigning for Joe Biden on March 8 while criticizing the White House for their late response to the pandemic. She also purchased a personalized shirt that read “that woman from Michigan” for her remote appearance on Trevor Noah’s “The Daily Show,” a task which is deemed “non-essential” for regular Michiganders, but apparently not for the Wicked Witch of the Midwest.
