Whitmer Weighs In
MICHIGAN GOVERNOR GRETCHEN WHITMER says she’s been in a pensive mood lately, having spent time recently writing a victim-impact statement ahead of the sentencing of an anti-government extremist who took part in a plot to kidnap and kill her last year. Her statement, which will be revealed in federal court on sentencing day this month, has forced her, she says, to take stock of what she’s been through over the past year and what it portends for the country going forward. “We’ve come to a dangerous moment in our nation where it’s not just about disagreement, it’s about threats of violence,” she tells Newsweek.
A one-time short-lister for vice president on the 2020 Democratic ticket, she’s especially sensitive to the intense, angry and personal attacks visited every day upon the actual person who became the first female veep, Kamala Harris. “This is the horrible, destructive climate we find ourselves in,” Whitmer tells Newsweek. “Certainly, the vice president is treated differently because of racial politics and gender politics—and it’s just not fair.”
Indeed, Whitmer, who turns 50 this month, views many of the political dramas she and others have faced in recent
