At 15/1 she’s worth a punt

One of the features of the coronavirus crisis is that we are hearing a lot more from some American state governors. We’ve already seen the developments relating to Andrew Cuomo of New York and another one whose role in the crisis is getting a fair degree of national coverage is Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan.

You can tell she’s being effective because her approach is causing a lot of irritation from President who who refers to her as “that woman from Michigan”. His basic complaint is that she has been less than appreciative of the help that the Federal Government has been providing for her state.

In the current political context just seven months before the presidential election it doesn’t do any Democrat any harm to be seen to be attacked from the Oval Office especially in a manner that appears unreasonable.

Over the weekend the Karen Tumulty of the Washington Post wrote this piece headed “Why Joe Biden should pick ‘that governor’ to be his running mate”.

While Whitmer was waiting for Washington to approve disaster aid for Michigan, the president attacked her during a call-in interview Thursday on Sean Hannity’s show. His complaint: She was insufficiently obsequious at what is a life-or-death moment for her constituents. Servility is a condition of employment at the White House, of course. But there is something in particular about a woman who refuses to pay him homage that seems to drive Trump around the bend. ..Trump does not like having the federal government’s failures put under that kind of spotlight. “She is a new governor, and it’s not been pleasant,” Trump told Hannity. “We’ve had a big problem with the young — a woman governor. You know who I’m talking about — from Michigan. We don’t like to see the complaints….Don’t call the woman in Michigan,” he instructed his vice president during his news conference on Friday, adding: “I want them to be appreciative.”

You can get her at about 15/1 on Betfair. I’ve had a punt at slightly longer odds.

Mike Smithson