President Trump on Thursday accused Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) of having a “very bad double standard” between her own family and the rest of the state when it comes to restrictions on local businesses due to the coronavirus pandemic, seizing on a controversy involving the governor’s husband and a local marina.
In a tweet, Trump took aim at Michigan’s stay-at-home order while linking to coverage of Whitmer’s defense of her husband, who was revealed to have asked a marina owner over the phone if his relationship with the governor would allow him to jump ahead in line and put his boat in the water in time for Memorial Day.
“Yet she doesn’t let people even breath in Michigan. A very bad double standard!” Trump tweeted.
Whitmer’s husband was called out by the marina owner in a Facebook post earlier this week. In speaking with The Detroit News, the owner accused Whitmer’s husband of asking if his relationship to Whitmer would “make a difference” in getting his boat in the water in time for the holiday weekend.
The governor’s office initially refused to address the story, but Whitmer acknowledged its veracity during a Tuesday press conference, saying it was an “attempt at humor.”
“My husband made a failed attempt at humor last week when checking in with a small business that helps with our boat and dock up north,” she said, according to Fox News. “Knowing it wouldn’t make a difference, he jokingly asked if being married to me might move him up in the queue. Obviously, with the motorized boating prohibition in our early days of COVID-19, he thought it might get a laugh. It didn’t.”
Michigan has been the site of numerous protests amid Whitmer’s lockdown orders during the coronavirus pandemic.
The protesters have been joined by calls from some state lawmakers and the state Chamber of Commerce in saying that some of Whitmer’s measures have been too restrictive.
Trump weighed in on the orders earlier this month, pressing the governor to “make a deal” with those protesting the stay-at-home orders.