In mid-April, thousands of citizens gridlocked the Michigan state capitol for miles unleashing a cacophony of noisemakers and car horns for nearly seven hours protesting Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s stay-at-home order. “Operation Gridlock” was dotted with red “Make American Great Again” hats and yellow “Live Free or Die” flags. President Trump cheered the protesters on, tweeting “LIBERATE MICHIGAN!”
Despite polls showing longstanding approval of Whitmer’s handling of the coronavirus, she faced loathsome criticism at protests like these staged by conservative political groups and tacitly supported by Republicans in the state legislature.
And at the same time, Whitmer’s political star was rising. She earned a national reputation and place on Democrat’s vice-presidential shortlist for her management of the COVID-19 crisis in Michigan. Under her leadership, Michigan moved from the state with the third-highest number of COVID-19 cases per 100,000 people in April, to the bottom third in October.
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