'Build a bridge with President Trump': Top MI Republican lavishes praise on Whitmer

House Speaker Matt Hall (R-Richland Township) is defending Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s meeting with President Donald Trump in the Oval Office.

The speaker told the Lansing Regional Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday that Michigan is better poised to work with Trump than other states with Democratic governors as a result of Whitmer’s approach to his second term.

“The governor got a lot of criticism for the way she handled some things, but I think we should applaud the fact that she was there and she was engaging and helping us build a bridge with President Trump,” Hall said.

Whitmer was photographed during the meeting holding up folders to cover her face.

The Eric Lee/ @nytimes.com photo of Gretchen Whitmer reminds me of the old @mattgertz.bsky.social saying: If you try to work with Trump, he will humiliate you. www.nytimes.com/2025/04/12/u…
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— Eric Michael Garcia (@ericmgarcia.bsky.social) April 12, 2025 at 7:50 PM

But Hall said her overall approach to working with Trump is “one of the smartest things” she has done.

“Whitmer is embracing Trump, she’s complimenting Trump, she’s investing time in building a bridge with Trump,” Hall said. “And I think as a result of that, our state is going to benefit, because we’re going to be in a position we were not in in the first Trump administration, where Whitmer can be an asset to help us get things done with President Trump.”

Whitmer has defended her Oval Office visit, saying she “stayed in the room because I needed to make the case for Michigan, and that’s my job.”

Whitmer wasn’t the only Democrat praised by Hall; he also said he has good working relationships with Lansing Mayor Andy Schor and Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, who is currently running for governor as an independent.

But when he was asked about his approach to working in a bipartisan manner with those leaders, Hall went on a three minute tangent attacking Senate Majority Leader Winnie Brinks (D-Grand Rapids), state Sen. Sarah Anthony (D-Lansing) and Michigan Democratic Party Chair Curtis Hertel.

“All Sarah Anthony does is try to wake up and say ‘what can I do for Lansing?’” Hall said. “And I know you guys all like her because of that, but me, I’m the opposite. The problem is, when you get outside of here, there’s not a lot of common sense in Lansing.”

Hall said that Senate Democrats have a “negative governing philosophy.”

“We decided that we were going to actually try to have a positive vision,” Hall said. “Rather than just complain about the other side, like Winnie Brinks and Sarah Anthony and the Democrats in the Senate, we said what if we compared that with actually doing positive governing.”

Hall said one priority he shares with Schor is getting state employees back into the office in Lansing.

He committed to using the budget to get state employees back to Lansing.

“We’re going to do some things to get that going,” Hall said. “I think we’re going to push pretty hard on that to get the state workers back to work in person.”

Hall pointed to California Gov. Gavin Newsom as an example of states requiring government employees to return to working in-person five years after the COVID-19 pandemic.

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