Gretchen Whitmer: I'm Gretchen Whitmer, the forty ninth Governor of the Great
Gretchen Whitmer: State of Michigan.
ETS: Welcome back to She Pivots, the podcast where we talk
ETS: with women who dare to pivot out of one career
ETS: and into something new and explore how their personal lives
ETS: impacts these decisions. I'm your host, Emily Tish Sussman. This
ETS: week we had a very special live episode with Michigan
ETS: Governor Gretchen Whitmer from our conversation at sixth to nine
ETS: in Washington, DC. When we began planning this season, I
ETS: knew I wanted to have someone on the show who
ETS: could speak to the political climate that we're in while
ETS: also providing insight on how progress is possible. And Governor
ETS: Whitmer is no stranger to challenge. From navigating a plot
ETS: to kidnap and kill her to facing a global pandemic,
ETS: the governor has led through difficult times. Now in the
ETS: midst of a mini plot twist, Governor Whitmer has taken
ETS: on a new title New York Times best selling author
ETS: with her book True Gretch and the new young adult edition.
ETS: During our conversation, she shares key pieces of wisdom from
ETS: the book that have shaped her trailblazing career, while merging
ETS: our favorite topic, the personal and the professional, as she
ETS: shares her experience as part of the Sandwich generation taking
ETS: care of her newborn and her own mother, all while
ETS: starting her political career in the Michigan legislature. Plus, she
ETS: answers one very important question, will she pivot again, perhaps
ETS: to one important office. This is an episode you don't
ETS: want to miss. Thank you so much to sixth and I,
ETS: a center for arts, entertainment, ideas and Jewish life in Washington,
ETS: d C, for hosting this amazing conversation. Let's jump right in.
ETS: Oh my god, Welcome Governor to d C. Thank you.
Gretchen Whitmer: It's good to be here, the good people of d C.
Gretchen Whitmer: Oh an Alliance fan there. Nice to see you. All right,
Gretchen Whitmer: I have.
ETS: To feel that we have more than one Lions fan
ETS: in the room here, or at least a big Gretch
ETS: fans for sure. Okay, so we're gonna back it up.
ETS: We're gonna jump right in. All right, it's back it up,
ETS: little gretch. Give me, little gretch, what did you want
ETS: to be when you grew up?
Gretchen Whitmer: Little Gretch? Wanted to be a sports broadcaster. Actually, I
Gretchen Whitmer: could have met another life. Actually that would have been fun.
Gretchen Whitmer: But I'm glad to be here with you now that
Gretchen Whitmer: you know. When I went to Michigan State, I thought
Gretchen Whitmer: I was going to be a sports broadcaster. All right,
Gretchen Whitmer: go green, go white. I heard someone, and I see
Gretchen Whitmer: you go blue people out there too, And I went
Gretchen Whitmer: to Michigan State. It was right down the street from
Gretchen Whitmer: the state Capitol. And my dad, who saw that I
Gretchen Whitmer: was taking all my communications classes and a couple of
Gretchen Whitmer: elect is like Bowling, suggested that I do an internship
Gretchen Whitmer: down at the capitol. And one of the things he
Gretchen Whitmer: said was, there's so few people. And I think it's
Gretchen Whitmer: really true today, even more today, So a few people
Gretchen Whitmer: understand how state government works or how government works, right civics.
Gretchen Whitmer: They said, go down and do an internship at the capitol,
Gretchen Whitmer: and maybe you hate it, maybe you love it, but
Gretchen Whitmer: you'll you'll come away understanding state government better and it'll
Gretchen Whitmer: carry you into wherever you go, put you on stronger footing.
Gretchen Whitmer: And I fell in love with public policy. And that's
Gretchen Whitmer: kind of when I when I pivoted the early pivot.
ETS: Do you think that you use anything from that early
ETS: sports journalism passion in the work that you do today?
Gretchen Whitmer: Oh that's a good that's a good question. Yeah. I
Gretchen Whitmer: think teams. I think team sports is really a great way,
Gretchen Whitmer: especially for women, to learn about leadership and teamwork and
Gretchen Whitmer: how to take a loss and dust yourself off. And
Gretchen Whitmer: so definitely the sports background I think informs a lot
Gretchen Whitmer: of how I show up today. Yeah.
ETS: Well, since I'm now dying to wade into this Michigan
ETS: State University of Mission, now I will tell you both
ETS: my mother went to DUM and my grandparents met there. Wow,
ETS: so we actually have some deep Michigan ties.
Gretchen Whitmer: And I was just on this side. He asked a
Gretchen Whitmer: couple of questions. Everyone's got some link back to Michigan.
Gretchen Whitmer: I think I am a Spartan who spawned Wolverine. So
Gretchen Whitmer: my one of my daughters is right there, and she's
Gretchen Whitmer: graduating in a few months from University of Michigan.
ETS: So look, nothing creates unity like a good rivalry. So
ETS: we're going to get the audience up here in it. Anyway.
Gretchen Whitmer: Yeah, I mean, how was that basketball game the other night, Sydney.
ETS: So once you decided politics, I mean, you you did
ETS: the internship, you got into it was that it you said,
ETS: okay now I'm in Or did you ever even consider
ETS: anything else.
Gretchen Whitmer: At that point, you know, I fell in love with
Gretchen Whitmer: it because I saw the difference. So I was as
Gretchen Whitmer: a junior, your staffer, you do the hard work of
Gretchen Whitmer: the community, the constituent work, and so I learned about
Gretchen Whitmer: so much about the people of Michigan who were reaching
Gretchen Whitmer: into state government, who needed help with this or that.
Gretchen Whitmer: And I was someone who was able to help connect
Gretchen Whitmer: people at times or give them, you know, information that
Gretchen Whitmer: they were seeking. And it was really about people. It's
Gretchen Whitmer: why I love this work. Even on the hardest day,
Gretchen Whitmer: and Lord knows, I've had more than my share of
Gretchen Whitmer: hard days in this job the last seven years. But
Gretchen Whitmer: even on the hardest day there I get joy out
Gretchen Whitmer: of knowing that I'm helping people or I'm doing something
Gretchen Whitmer: that makes a difference in people's lives. So that part
Gretchen Whitmer: of the job I really, I really love and I
Gretchen Whitmer: learned that early on that that was public service. That's
Gretchen Whitmer: what it's all about.
ETS: Yeah, you had an early formative experience at the beginning
ETS: of it something that so many people of our generation
ETS: are dealing with. The Sandwich generation of caring for your mother,
ETS: your newborn, and in a new job all at the
ETS: same time. I mean, how what were your coping mechanisms
ETS: and what was your decision making look like at that point.
Gretchen Whitmer: So you know, in the year two thousand, I was
Gretchen Whitmer: running for the State House, was the first office that
Gretchen Whitmer: I had run for. I was elected, got married, and
Gretchen Whitmer: my mother had fallen ill with glioblastoma multiform, which is
Gretchen Whitmer: the worst kind of brain cancer you can get, and
Gretchen Whitmer: she was told she'd have maybe four to six months
Gretchen Whitmer: to live. I was pregnant with my first child and
Gretchen Whitmer: a new member of the Michigan Legislature. They say the
Gretchen Whitmer: five hardest things that you'll do in the course of
Gretchen Whitmer: your life is to have a child, the death of
Gretchen Whitmer: a loved one, a new job, moving your home. All
Gretchen Whitmer: of these things happened to me in that first that
Gretchen Whitmer: first year I was in the legislature.
ETS: And yet I.
Gretchen Whitmer: Think I learned that during that period of time really
Gretchen Whitmer: forged who I am today. They have no patience for bs,
Gretchen Whitmer: and I don't have time to try to be something
Gretchen Whitmer: I'm not. I don't have energy or time to do that,
Gretchen Whitmer: and so it's helped me show up I think as
Gretchen Whitmer: I am, and certainly a lot of women who came
Gretchen Whitmer: before me made that easier for me, and women in
Gretchen Whitmer: my generation to be our authentic selves and to feel
Gretchen Whitmer: like we can show up as we are. But I think,
Gretchen Whitmer: you know, I often talk in sports analogies, now you
Gretchen Whitmer: know why, But you know, instead of looking at the
Gretchen Whitmer: one hundred yards down the field, looking at the next ten,
Gretchen Whitmer: And I think that's how I manage through that time.
Gretchen Whitmer: What do I need to do today or this week
Gretchen Whitmer: or this month to get through all of the pressures
Gretchen Whitmer: that I'm navigating as a member of the Sandwich generation,
Gretchen Whitmer: a new legislator.
ETS: Yeah, Otherwise it would just feel overwhelming.
Gretchen Whitmer: Yeah, I mean when you think about how where am
Gretchen Whitmer: I going to be? You know, how do I get
Gretchen Whitmer: that full one hundred yards? And you should always have
Gretchen Whitmer: a plan, but you got to focus on the now,
Gretchen Whitmer: and that's that you can take small bites and that's
Gretchen Whitmer: the easiest way to do it. And I think I
Gretchen Whitmer: definitely tapped into those that skillut the pandemic, especially when
Gretchen Whitmer: everything felt so overwhelming, but to do the next right thing.
Gretchen Whitmer: And I talk a little bit about doing the next
Gretchen Whitmer: right thing in the.
ETS: Book Oh Don't Why We're definitely the pandemic. That topic
ETS: we will cover. So a large part of this show
ETS: and the way we tell stories is the intersection of
ETS: the personal and professional, So trying to open up how
ETS: these personal things that happen in our lives end up
ETS: impacting our professional decision making. So at that time, how
ETS: did your version of success change or was it the same?
Gretchen Whitmer: Yeah, it's interesting. People often ask you, know what, when
Gretchen Whitmer: you had kids, did your opinions change? Did you change
Gretchen Whitmer: your values at all? And I would say no, not
Gretchen Whitmer: at all. My patients did I have zero patients for boloney?
Gretchen Whitmer: I because I don't have time to wait for someone
Gretchen Whitmer: else to fix an issue. I want to do it
Gretchen Whitmer: because I think about the world that my kids are
Gretchen Whitmer: growing up in, and that people their age are growing
Gretchen Whitmer: up in, and so so as I as I think
Gretchen Whitmer: about how we are navigating, you know, the chaos today
Gretchen Whitmer: or the crises of the last few years, Centering on
Gretchen Whitmer: that is what helps me stay true to who I
Gretchen Whitmer: am and why I'm doing this job, but also to
Gretchen Whitmer: keep me grounded. And nothing keeps you more grounded than
Gretchen Whitmer: kids who do not think you're cool, even when other
Gretchen Whitmer: people might.
ETS: I mean impressive that you even got her to come
ETS: with you.
Gretchen Whitmer: I begged her. We were at the White House for
Gretchen Whitmer: dinner last night, so she was my date and I
Gretchen Whitmer: begged her to come right.
ETS: Care to elaborate on that dinner.
Gretchen Whitmer: No, we'll leave it at that.
ETS: You went on to become the first woman to be
ETS: chosen a Senate minority leader in your state's history. Were
ETS: there moments during that time you thought, I mean there
ETS: must have been we were like, Okay, I'm super good
ETS: at this, like I'm nailing this. Like what were those
ETS: moments for.
Gretchen Whitmer: You when I felt like I was nailing ass?
ETS: Yeah, like I am amazing at being the state SENI
ETS: majority of the never you know, I remember my mom,
ETS: who I talk a lot about in the book.
Gretchen Whitmer: She was really a glass ceiling breaker. She was this blonde,
Gretchen Whitmer: blue eyed like little woman with this big personality, this
Gretchen Whitmer: large laugh. She just exuded such confidence and she was
Gretchen Whitmer: one of the she wrote all the book awards in
Gretchen Whitmer: her year. She graduated law school while she was raising
Gretchen Whitmer: us three. Like, she was just this powerhouse of a person.
Gretchen Whitmer: And I'll never forget her telling me that sometimes she
Gretchen Whitmer: was as one of the top people in the Attorney
Gretchen Whitmer: General's office in Michigan, she sometimes would sit there and think,
Gretchen Whitmer: I wonder if they're going to figure out that I'm
Gretchen Whitmer: not supposed to belong here. You know, that kind of
Gretchen Whitmer: imposter syndrome thing that that I think we all feel
Gretchen Whitmer: at certain points.
ETS: In time, and we done it right now.
Gretchen Whitmer: I mean, we don't come out of the womb thinking
Gretchen Whitmer: that we deserve to be, you know, the leader of
Gretchen Whitmer: the free world.
ETS: Right.
Gretchen Whitmer: We all put these criteria on ourselves. And that's not
Gretchen Whitmer: necessarily a bad thing. It keeps you humble. But it also,
Gretchen Whitmer: I think, is why I never during the time did
Gretchen Whitmer: I still marvel and people like governor. You know, it's
Gretchen Whitmer: just I feel really lucky to be where I'm at,
Gretchen Whitmer: and I know I'm not better than anyone else. And
Gretchen Whitmer: I talk a little bit about my dad. When I
Gretchen Whitmer: first got elected. He did an interview and he said,
Gretchen Whitmer: you know, Gretchen knows she's not special. And I saw that,
Gretchen Whitmer: and Brent, I thought, oh my god, people must think
Gretchen Whitmer: my dad hates me or something, or I have really
Gretchen Whitmer: low self esteem, or but he raised us to so
Gretchen Whitmer: that we didn't think we were better than anyone else.
Gretchen Whitmer: That's what he meant, and we don't. And I think
Gretchen Whitmer: I never felt like, Okay, I'm really killing it. I
Gretchen Whitmer: saw a job that needed to be done. I didn't
Gretchen Whitmer: see anyone stepping forward who wanted to take it on
Gretchen Whitmer: or who was going to be, you know, able to
Gretchen Whitmer: jump in and do what I thought needed to be done. So,
Gretchen Whitmer: like a lot of women, I think I just rolled
Gretchen Whitmer: up my sleeve and said, all right, there's a job
Gretchen Whitmer: that needs to be done, I'm going to do it. Yeah.
ETS: I do want to ask about your decision to run
ETS: for governor at the time that you did, because you
ETS: had passed on it in twenty fourteen and then you
ETS: decided to run. So what was that timing decision for you?
ETS: And again, like, what was your decision making process.
Gretchen Whitmer: Well, in twenty fourteen, you know, I was in the
Gretchen Whitmer: state Senate and some had asked if I might consider
Gretchen Whitmer: running for governor, and it just wasn't the right time
Gretchen Whitmer: for me. I was, you know, I was already the
Gretchen Whitmer: Senate Minority leader. I have two little kids at home
Gretchen Whitmer: as a divorce at that time, and I knew that
Gretchen Whitmer: it wasn't the right time. I had a big job
Gretchen Whitmer: and I wanted to see a focus on that. I
Gretchen Whitmer: left the legislature in twenty sixteen. We have term limits
Gretchen Whitmer: in Michigan. I served three two year terms in the
Gretchen Whitmer: House and then two four year terms in the Senate,
Gretchen Whitmer: and I was term limited out. It's lifetime ban, so
Gretchen Whitmer: you can't go back. And I really thought I was
Gretchen Whitmer: going to go into the private sector. And I taught
Gretchen Whitmer: both at the University of Michigan and Michigan State, which
Gretchen Whitmer: tells you I can bridge some divides or the biggest
Gretchen Whitmer: the biggest divide. And the Flint water crisis became public
Gretchen Whitmer: what had happened in Flint, decisions of government that had
Gretchen Whitmer: catastrophic impacts on people. And I was looking at the
Gretchen Whitmer: field of folks that were considering running and I thought,
Gretchen Whitmer: you know, none of them have been in state government.
Gretchen Whitmer: I know how to do this, and this needs to
Gretchen Whitmer: be fixed. And so that's really kind of what inspired
Gretchen Whitmer: me to run. But then Donald Trump won the state
Gretchen Whitmer: of Michigan in twenty sixteen, and I looked, you know,
Gretchen Whitmer: I couldn't believe that my state was played a pivotal
Gretchen Whitmer: role in that, and I thought, I got to get organized.
Gretchen Whitmer: I got to get out into this state and talk
Gretchen Whitmer: to people and find out what's on their minds, because
Gretchen Whitmer: it just was so hard to believe at the time,
Gretchen Whitmer: here we are. And so I got out. I got
Gretchen Whitmer: all across Michigan. Michigan's a big state, all right, I'm
Gretchen Whitmer: gonna get out my Michigan map. You're ready, Okay. So
Gretchen Whitmer: Michigan has two hands, and this is the lower Peninsula,
Gretchen Whitmer: this is the Upper Peninsula. I know people in Michigan
Gretchen Whitmer: or in Ohio who don't realize we have an upper Peninsula.
Gretchen Whitmer: It's not Canada, the fifty first state. It's still a
Gretchen Whitmer: part of Michigan. Okay, So I see we're really writing
Gretchen Whitmer: off Ohio anywaytisicadding. But when you're in Lansing, Michigan, the
Gretchen Whitmer: state capital, you're as close to Washington, d c. As
Gretchen Whitmer: you are to the western end of the Upper Peninsula.
Gretchen Whitmer: It's a big state. And so I figured I just
Gretchen Whitmer: got to get across the state and talk to people.
Gretchen Whitmer: And so my favorite thing to ask people was, if
Gretchen Whitmer: I'm fortunate enough to get elected governor, what could I
Gretchen Whitmer: do that'll make your life better? And the thing is
Gretchen Whitmer: when you ask people, they'll tell you you just got
Gretchen Whitmer: to listen. I don't think enough people do that, not
Gretchen Whitmer: just in political life, but anywhere, and over and over
Gretchen Whitmer: again people would say, I need you to fix the
Gretchen Whitmer: damn roads. Whether I was in the Upper Peninsula or
Gretchen Whitmer: downtown Detroit or on the West Side. That was the refrain,
Gretchen Whitmer: and I heard it over and over again, and so
Gretchen Whitmer: I started talking about the roads that way, and we're
Gretchen Whitmer: still working on fixing the damn roads in Michigan. But
Gretchen Whitmer: it was a conversation with a woman from Flint of
Gretchen Whitmer: actually I'm talking about Flint again. She I met her
Gretchen Whitmer: at the Detroit Children's Hospital, and you know, I was
Gretchen Whitmer: there and it's awkward to be a politician in a
Gretchen Whitmer: place where people don't expect you, and I wasn't sure
Gretchen Whitmer: people would want to talk to me at all. But
Gretchen Whitmer: this woman seemed, you know, friendly, and so I said,
Gretchen Whitmer: I got to ask you a question. So I asked
Gretchen Whitmer: her my question. If I'm fortunate enough to get elected,
Gretchen Whitmer: what could I do that I'll.
ETS: Make your life better?
Gretchen Whitmer: And she looked me there and she said, I just
Gretchen Whitmer: need you to fix the damn road. And I was
Gretchen Whitmer: taken aback a little bit, like we're going to children's hospital.
Gretchen Whitmer: I thought we're going to talk about healthcare or childcare education.
Gretchen Whitmer: So I said, okay, tell me more. I wanted to
Gretchen Whitmer: find out why is this the number one issue for you?
Gretchen Whitmer: And she explained she's three kids, driving back and forth
Gretchen Whitmer: from Detroit and Flint to see her one child in
Gretchen Whitmer: the hospital, hit a pothole, It damaged the room on
Gretchen Whitmer: her car. It took her off the road for a
Gretchen Whitmer: whole day, took a ton of money out of her
Gretchen Whitmer: rent and childcare that she wasn't planning to spend fixing
Gretchen Whitmer: her car. She missed the day with her son in Detroit,
Gretchen Whitmer: had to pay for childcare for the others who were
Gretchen Whitmer: at home. And so it was for me crystallized why
Gretchen Whitmer: the fundamentals are the most important thing, Because anyone who's
Gretchen Whitmer: on the margin gets failed if they can't drink the
Gretchen Whitmer: water coming out of their tap, or they have to
Gretchen Whitmer: be sidelined for a day because their car's not work,
Gretchen Whitmer: or have to find a new school or a tutor
Gretchen Whitmer: for a child if the schools aren't work. And that's
Gretchen Whitmer: why the fundamentals, the kitchen table issues, is what I've
Gretchen Whitmer: tried to stay focused on. And that's what I learned
Gretchen Whitmer: from the people in Michigan, getting all across the state
Gretchen Whitmer: and asking that question, well do.
ETS: You think that concept of fixed the damn roads? How
ETS: did you have success with that as a fundamental? I mean,
ETS: to your point, we still need to fix the roads,
ETS: something that I think that Democrats have really struggled with
ETS: is owning success in a way they can talk about it.
ETS: How have you been able to own that success when
ETS: dens acknowledgment there's still more work to be done.
Gretchen Whitmer: Yeah, so I ended up having to do a bond
Gretchen Whitmer: so that we could keep fixing roads. I'm still working
Gretchen Whitmer: on getting my legislature to help me get a real
Gretchen Whitmer: long term plane over the finish line. The thing about
Gretchen Whitmer: roads is that you have billboards everywhere because they're called
Gretchen Whitmer: orange barrels, and so when you're fixing roads, people see
Gretchen Whitmer: the orange barrels and they know that the work is
Gretchen Whitmer: being done, and that helps kind of advertise itself. But
Gretchen Whitmer: to your point about Democrats failing on the messaging front,
Gretchen Whitmer: I think that that's one of the big takeaways from
Gretchen Whitmer: this last cycle, and I think that that's getting away
Gretchen Whitmer: from taking ownership of the things that we did get done.
Gretchen Whitmer: I think it was a real you know, we did
Gretchen Whitmer: allows your job of that in this last cycle.
ETS: Yeah, I'm going to give that.
Gretchen Whitmer: At I think that's a great one.
ETS: How do you think, how do you think it could
ETS: have been done differently?
Gretchen Whitmer: You can't tell people how to feel, you know, and
Gretchen Whitmer: so I think around the economy, we can't tell people Okay,
Gretchen Whitmer: look at what's going on, and you know, in the market,
Gretchen Whitmer: look at the how much better our inflation is than
Gretchen Whitmer: European countries. You know, that doesn't fix the problem that
Gretchen Whitmer: people are having when they see their prices up and
Gretchen Whitmer: guess what prices are still up? Everybody right. I know
Gretchen Whitmer: we're talking about Greenland, but we should still be talking
Gretchen Whitmer: about groceries because that's that's where the rubber hits the road.
Gretchen Whitmer: And so it's peers that there's a disconnect between what
Gretchen Whitmer: people are really feeling and need and how we're talking
Gretchen Whitmer: about it. It's not that we have to change our values.
Gretchen Whitmer: It's not that we have to change you know, what
Gretchen Whitmer: we have been able to do, but how we've talked
Gretchen Whitmer: about it has been completely missing the mark. And I
Gretchen Whitmer: think it's being disconnected from people and spending time with
Gretchen Whitmer: real people and asking them what's going on in your life?
Gretchen Whitmer: What can I do that'll make your life better, and
Gretchen Whitmer: then doing it.
ETS: After the break, we dive into what pivoting on the
ETS: spot is all about. As Governor Whitmer recounts one of
ETS: the most difficult and formative years twenty twenty. She dealt
ETS: with a global pandemic, catastrophic flooding, a racial reckoning, and
ETS: a plot to kidnap and kill her more after the break.
ETS: So the show's all about pivoting, meeting the moment where
ETS: you are, how you change, what changes in yourself to
ETS: rise to that occasion and adapt in that moment. Twenty
ETS: twenty was a real year for you, So can you
ETS: tell us about your mindset, like how you worked through it,
ETS: how your work shifted through the ups and quite frankly
ETS: mostly downs of twenty twenty.
Gretchen Whitmer: Remind me what happened in twenty twenty. You know, when
Gretchen Whitmer: I had my kids, they're like eighteen months apart, and
Gretchen Whitmer: when I realized, oh my gosh, one's going to graduate
Gretchen Whitmer: in twenty twenty and the other's going to be the
Gretchen Whitmer: class of twenty twenty one. What great classes to graduate
Gretchen Whitmer: literally the worst two classes to graduate from high school
Gretchen Whitmer: for their whole generation. You know. As the pandemic hit Michigan,
Gretchen Whitmer: we were one of the earlier places. Detroit, New York,
Gretchen Whitmer: Chicago and New Orleans were kind of the hot spots
Gretchen Whitmer: for a long time. Had just an incredible amount of
Gretchen Whitmer: loss of life, overwhelmed hospitals. It was really, really hard,
Gretchen Whitmer: and I know none of us wants to relive it,
Gretchen Whitmer: but just to kind of remember what was happening. We
Gretchen Whitmer: had refrigerated trucks outside of our hospitals because there were
Gretchen Whitmer: so many corpses, you know, people that lost the battle
Gretchen Whitmer: to COVID that couldn't be buried or cremated right away,
Gretchen Whitmer: but it had to be you know, refrigerating. It was awful,
Gretchen Whitmer: and it was really challenging because we did not have
Gretchen Whitmer: help at the federal level, and navigating that was I
Gretchen Whitmer: think one of the trying to do the right thing
Gretchen Whitmer: for people. That's why I do this work. I love people.
Gretchen Whitmer: My instinct always is to run to where the problem
Gretchen Whitmer: is and to see how can I help. And that's
Gretchen Whitmer: the worst thing you could do in a pandemic, because
Gretchen Whitmer: you just add to the problem. Have to let the
Gretchen Whitmer: you know, experts do the work, but give them the
Gretchen Whitmer: supplies that they need. And we were really struggling to
Gretchen Whitmer: do that. And I remember we were on a call
Gretchen Whitmer: with the White House and we were told to go
Gretchen Whitmer: find all the supplies ourselves. And I went on television
Gretchen Whitmer: and I said, I'm not getting the supplies I need
Gretchen Whitmer: from the federal government. There's no federal strategy here, and
Gretchen Whitmer: I need masks for my doctors and gloves and etc. Nurses,
Gretchen Whitmer: respiratory therapists, and you know, I got I've made someone
Gretchen Whitmer: really unhappy with my observations. But we started getting help.
Gretchen Whitmer: People were reaching in and starting to help, and so
Gretchen Whitmer: it was worth it. But I think it was just
Gretchen Whitmer: one of those moments where every time I saw a
Gretchen Whitmer: tweet or me getting singled out, my heart sank. Not
Gretchen Whitmer: because it hurt my feelings, but because I was worried
Gretchen Whitmer: that it would impede my ability to get assistance for
Gretchen Whitmer: the people of Michigan. And that was all I cared about.
ETS: Will you now that again we are we are right
ETS: back here, Will you approach the relationship with the federal
ETS: government differently? Now?
Gretchen Whitmer: I stand by what I did. I don't regret what
Gretchen Whitmer: I did. If I could go back in time with
Gretchen Whitmer: the knowledge I have now, would I and any governor
Gretchen Whitmer: have done something different? Of course. But I was fighting
Gretchen Whitmer: for the people in Michigan and I'm never going to
Gretchen Whitmer: apologize for that. That's my job when it comes to
Gretchen Whitmer: the moment that we're in. Now, you know I am.
Gretchen Whitmer: I'm going to be the governor of Michigan for the
Gretchen Whitmer: next two years. The State of Michigan elected the president again.
Gretchen Whitmer: They elected me again, and if I can find common
Gretchen Whitmer: ground on things, I'm going to try to do that.
Gretchen Whitmer: But I'm also not going to shy away from fights
Gretchen Whitmer: that matter when when I need to. That's my job
Gretchen Whitmer: as Michigan governor.
ETS: You did elicit quite a response in that moment, not
ETS: just on the federal side, but within Michigan. Do you remember,
ETS: I imagine you do remember, you know what was going
ETS: through your head at that moment as you looked outside
ETS: your office in the capitol, you saw they were protesters
ETS: and they began to storm into the Michigan State Capitol.
Gretchen Whitmer: Yeah. So there was this group that came together during
Gretchen Whitmer: the pandemic who were mad that, you know, I had
Gretchen Whitmer: told them to wear masks and that we were trying
Gretchen Whitmer: to keep people safe, and they created this group called
Gretchen Whitmer: Project Gridlock, bankrolled by the DeVos family in Michigan, by
Gretchen Whitmer: the way. And I was down at my office in
Gretchen Whitmer: the Romney Building and sitting there. The State Capitol was
Gretchen Whitmer: across the street, and I was giving my press conference,
Gretchen Whitmer: which we did multiple, you know, two or three times
Gretchen Whitmer: a week, depending on what was happening, and they didn't
Gretchen Whitmer: the protesters didn't know that I was in the building.
Gretchen Whitmer: So my office is not actually.
ETS: In the Capitol. It's across the street.
Gretchen Whitmer: I think most people think that the that the office
Gretchen Whitmer: is in the Capitol. And so I could stand in
Gretchen Whitmer: the window one floor away from people, and what I
Gretchen Whitmer: saw was really shocking. I knew that there was going
Gretchen Whitmer: to be a protest. We weren't trying to stop the protest.
Gretchen Whitmer: We said, just wear a mask day six feet apart,
Gretchen Whitmer: you know, you could, you have the right to protest.
Gretchen Whitmer: But when I looked out the window, people had showed
Gretchen Whitmer: up with Confederate flags and Nazi symbols. There were signs
Gretchen Whitmer: that said Hyle Whitmer, and there was a dark haired
Gretchen Whitmer: barbie hanging from a noose, and it was really stunning.
Gretchen Whitmer: It took my breath away. There was there's a picture
Gretchen Whitmer: in the book I took with my phone from the
Gretchen Whitmer: window that said it said something like, Gretchen Whitmer is
Gretchen Whitmer: the reason we need the Second Amendment, you know. And
Gretchen Whitmer: this was the stuff that I saw from my office window.
Gretchen Whitmer: And I remember taking the picture and looking and seeing
Gretchen Whitmer: this so clearly, and then realizing, oh my god, I
Gretchen Whitmer: better get out of this window, you know, like hello,
Gretchen Whitmer: you know, they were had their guns and so it
Gretchen Whitmer: was one of those moments I'd taken all these pictures.
Gretchen Whitmer: I was looking and then I thought, what am I doing,
Gretchen Whitmer: you know, and then went down and gave my press conference.
Gretchen Whitmer: But it's you know, we saw the capital of Michigan
Gretchen Whitmer: get overtaken by protesters with guns before January sixth. Happened here,
Gretchen Whitmer: and I remember watching January sixth, and everyone said, how
Gretchen Whitmer: could this happen? We're so surprised, and I'm like, well,
Gretchen Whitmer: this happened here about nine months beforehand. So I think
Gretchen Whitmer: the rhetoric and the the willingness of leaders to encourage
Gretchen Whitmer: people to take up arms and threaten their fellow Americans
Gretchen Whitmer: is so dangerous. And that's why when when Donald Trump
Gretchen Whitmer: was shot in Pennsylvania, I put a statement out right
Gretchen Whitmer: away because it's not okay, you know, no matter who
Gretchen Whitmer: the victim is. I think there's a.
ETS: Lot to be learned from in this moment when you
ETS: came into the governor's office, Republicans held both houses, and
ETS: yet you still pushed through and forged on. How do
ETS: your objectives change if you're in that moment? How does
ETS: your strategy change if you're in that moment? What is
ETS: potentially applicable to us. Now, that's a good question.
Gretchen Whitmer: So you know, my first term it was completely Republican
Gretchen Whitmer: controlled House and Senate. In my second term, I won
Gretchen Whitmer: by almost eleven points and we flipped both the House
Gretchen Whitmer: and Senate for the first time in forty years, which
Gretchen Whitmer: was amazing. So while I was in the legislature it
Gretchen Whitmer: was all Republican controlled. Then as governor it was Republican legislature,
Gretchen Whitmer: democratic governor. Then it was all Democratic controlled. Now we're
Gretchen Whitmer: back to fifty to fifty that the House is Republican controlled,
Gretchen Whitmer: the Senators a credit controlled. And I think part of
Gretchen Whitmer: being of that woman from Michigan is Michigan is a
Gretchen Whitmer: state that is always in the national eye during our
Gretchen Whitmer: presidentials because we are the most diverse swing state in
Gretchen Whitmer: the country. We go back and forth. We have this
Gretchen Whitmer: tendency to do that, and I think that's not a
Gretchen Whitmer: bad thing because it forces you to make a seat
Gretchen Whitmer: at the table and to try to hammer things out.
Gretchen Whitmer: But now that we've got fairly drawn districts, it will
Gretchen Whitmer: continue to go back and forth instead of being one
Gretchen Whitmer: party controlled at the state level for so long. My
Gretchen Whitmer: strategy in this situation, similar to how it was with Democrats,
Gretchen Whitmer: in All Control and Republicans in All Control is to
Gretchen Whitmer: continue to host the quadrant leaders coming together, try to
Gretchen Whitmer: find common ground, pull people in and build bridges. You know,
Gretchen Whitmer: I've love to the Mackanaw Bridge is the symbol of
Gretchen Whitmer: my campaign. It stretches between the two peninsulas. Right. Five
Gretchen Whitmer: mile long suspension bridge was the longest built at the time.
Gretchen Whitmer: And you know, I'm proud that my focus is building bridges,
Gretchen Whitmer: not walls. We want to create opportunity to connect people
Gretchen Whitmer: and I'm always going to come at any problem with
Gretchen Whitmer: that mindset.
ETS: You've said that to be a successful politician you need
ETS: to have a thick skin and a short memory, and
ETS: you tell a great anecdote about sending cake with a
ETS: bat to someone who had given you made some disparaging comments.
ETS: I really prefer a long grudge hold myself. How can
ETS: I overcome that? Like you know, it's a blessing to
ETS: have a short memory.
Gretchen Whitmer: And in this business, everyone in my family seems to
Gretchen Whitmer: you know, we do our thing and then we move on,
Gretchen Whitmer: and that's been helpful. The worst thing is a politician
Gretchen Whitmer: with a long memory and thin skin, because they're always
Gretchen Whitmer: out for retribution or looking for a battle. So I'm
Gretchen Whitmer: not sure how to help you cultivate thicker skin, but
Gretchen Whitmer: I'll think on that. Oh no, no, I have thick skin,
Gretchen Whitmer: but a long.
ETS: Memory a bad thing, though. I'll come back when you're
ETS: least expecting it.
Gretchen Whitmer: Well, they say, bury the hashet, but keep the handle
Gretchen Whitmer: sticking up right that.
ETS: We were just talking about this backstage. You know, people
ETS: keep coming up and saying what do we do? Like,
ETS: how do we stay optimistic? What should we be doing?
ETS: How are you staying optimistic in this moment?
Gretchen Whitmer: Well, you know, and I confessed in the back it's hard,
Gretchen Whitmer: you know. After the election, I like, I think a
Gretchen Whitmer: lot of people wanted to turn the TV off for
Gretchen Whitmer: a while and escape it. I hunkered down in December
Gretchen Whitmer: and Lancing. We had a lot of snow and my
Gretchen Whitmer: family was all around, and I might have watched a
Gretchen Whitmer: few seasons of Dexter. It got to a point where
Gretchen Whitmer: my kids are like, are you okay? Are you onto
Gretchen Whitmer: this season's Traders yet? No?
ETS: But I've heard it's great.
Gretchen Whitmer: But you know, one of the things I know about
Gretchen Whitmer: myself is if I isolate, I get more anxious. I
Gretchen Whitmer: need to be doing something. I need to feel like
Gretchen Whitmer: I'm doing something that matters. And I was on a
Gretchen Whitmer: flight the other day and the flight attendant came up
Gretchen Whitmer: and she said, I'm so worried and I'm I'm talking
Gretchen Whitmer: to my therapist. What can I do? You know? And
Gretchen Whitmer: I said, well, you know, my my advice is to
Gretchen Whitmer: find something.
ETS: That you can do in your community.
Gretchen Whitmer: We can make a difference. Whether it's a small thing.
Gretchen Whitmer: I'm watching some of these town halls in Georgia, people
Gretchen Whitmer: are speaking out. It's making a difference. And if it's
Gretchen Whitmer: volunteering at your you know, at a women's health clinic,
Gretchen Whitmer: or it is simply helping, you know, people who need,
Gretchen Whitmer: you know, some help, reading to you kids, are visiting
Gretchen Whitmer: with you know, people who don't get visitors. I mean,
Gretchen Whitmer: I think that's there's ways that each of us can
Gretchen Whitmer: do something right now that will help us feel like
Gretchen Whitmer: we're making a little bit of a difference, will keep
Gretchen Whitmer: us activated and wear us outsort we go to bed tired.
ETS: I was sharing with you that I live in a
ETS: Republican district and my member of Congress isn't holding town halls,
ETS: so we have to get a little more creative that way.
Gretchen Whitmer: Yep, but I believe you can.
ETS: I appreciate that he'll come back eventually, and I won't
ETS: forget she.
Gretchen Whitmer: Has a long memory. You know.
ETS: The chasm feels so large between the parties right now,
ETS: and I actually feel in some ways it's less about
ETS: political affiliation and more about information versus non information. As
ETS: someone who won in double jeds in twenty twenty two,
ETS: how did you break through to those people?
Gretchen Whitmer: Like?
ETS: How do you you obviously want over people who are
ETS: more than just democratically affiliated. How do you break through
ETS: when there's not there's not a clear information path.
Gretchen Whitmer: Right now, we've been really analyzing how people get their information,
Gretchen Whitmer: and we've kind of reconfigured our all of our efforts
Gretchen Whitmer: toward toward information dissemination. One of the things that we
Gretchen Whitmer: do is, you know, someone asked me, do you visit?
Gretchen Whitmer: Do you think of yourself as an influencer because we've
Gretchen Whitmer: got like a great social media game. I think it's
Gretchen Whitmer: not me bragging because it is not me. I don't
Gretchen Whitmer: even know.
ETS: The passwords, trust me.
Gretchen Whitmer: I just do what the young people on the staff suggest,
Gretchen Whitmer: and most times it hits. Sometimes it's a miss. But
Gretchen Whitmer: you know, I think that it's important to meet people
Gretchen Whitmer: where they are, and that's I think podcasts are really important.
Gretchen Whitmer: I think that non traditional ways to reach people is
Gretchen Whitmer: the way that we can cut through a lot of
Gretchen Whitmer: the noise. But it's very challenging. There's so much misinformation
Gretchen Whitmer: out there. There's so many I think companies and interests
Gretchen Whitmer: that are keen on redirecting people into places where they
Gretchen Whitmer: don't intend to be or aren't really looking for. And
Gretchen Whitmer: so we've gotten really creative. We've been I think, relentless
Gretchen Whitmer: about getting our message out and creative. You know, Big
Gretchen Whitmer: Gretch was a nickname that I got during the pandemic.
Gretchen Whitmer: It's I'm named after both my grandmothers, Gretchen and Esther
Gretchen Whitmer: grandma Gretchen always said, never let anyone call you gretch.
Gretchen Whitmer: Gretch rhymes with wretch and that ain't pretty, and so
Gretchen Whitmer: I always had this aversion. If you called me gretch,
Gretchen Whitmer: was I just oough? And I don't know many women
Gretchen Whitmer: who like the big on the front of their nickname, right,
Gretchen Whitmer: so I was. I was in the office, we were
Gretchen Whitmer: getting ready to do one of my press conferences during
Gretchen Whitmer: the pandemic, and someone said, you, you know this big
Gretchen Whitmer: Gretch thing that everyone's calling you in Detroit And I'm like, huh,
Gretchen Whitmer: And they said, I said, what does this mean. And
Gretchen Whitmer: so this woman on my staff is Shaquila Myers, who
Gretchen Whitmer: I've worked most of the last twenty five years with her.
Gretchen Whitmer: She's like, oh, no, Governor, you don't understand Big Gretch.
Gretchen Whitmer: It's trending in Detroit. It's your new nickname that detroiters
Gretchen Whitmer: have given you. And it's like they've given you the
Gretchen Whitmer: key to the city. You've got the nickname. And then
Gretchen Whitmer: this rap came out. But so Big Grutch became this
Gretchen Whitmer: thing and it's hilarious, and now it's my favorite nickname,
Gretchen Whitmer: which most of my family members are like, I cannot
Gretchen Whitmer: believe that this is your favorite nickname now, Big Grutch.
Gretchen Whitmer: But before the movie, the Barbie movie came out, this
Gretchen Whitmer: woman on my team, who's young and creative and brilliant, said,
Gretchen Whitmer: let's grab a Barbie. We'll grab the America Ferrera Barbie
Gretchen Whitmer: and give her a haircut like yours, and we'll call.
ETS: Her a little Gretch.
Gretchen Whitmer: And I mean, we got awards for this campaign. It's
Gretchen Whitmer: a wildless thing, a little Gretch in her pink GM
Gretchen Whitmer: corvettes made in Detroit with little pink traffic cones, fixing
Gretchen Whitmer: the damn roads, giving a speech at a little podium
Gretchen Whitmer: that Julia whittled. She whittled a little podium for little
Gretchen Whitmer: gretch to give a speech at. But we call it
Gretchen Whitmer: like giving people their vegetables with the little fun social media.
Gretchen Whitmer: So we talked about the budget with a barbie and
Gretchen Whitmer: like people saw it and they understood they learned something
Gretchen Whitmer: at the same time. So you know, I'm not cool,
Gretchen Whitmer: Like I said, I don't know the passwords, but I
Gretchen Whitmer: got a phenomenal team and I trust them and ninety
Gretchen Whitmer: nine out of one hundred times that's great. And every
Gretchen Whitmer: once in a while I get totally roasted because I
Gretchen Whitmer: did something. Cringe right, honey, we.
ETS: Got a big nood on that one. Thank you the way.
ETS: I love the fact that someone asked if you're an influencer,
ETS: and you're like, I'm the govenor this new form of
ETS: media of meeting people where there are, where they are,
ETS: people are choosing what they consume. That's what I think
ETS: the hardest part of it is that you have to
ETS: actually get in front of them when they're choosing similar
ETS: forms of media. That's what I think the hardest part is.
ETS: So I feel like most of the conversations of I
ETS: guess what we'll call like the persuadables or uninformed or
ETS: differently informed. I guess because of term we can use now.
ETS: But you know, it's happening with people that are close
ETS: to us. Yeah, Like it's a face to face conversation,
ETS: it's family, it's in our table, Like we really got
ETS: to get in there. How do we give us advice?
ETS: Like how do we have those conversations right now without
ETS: just a massive eye roll and say, I don't know
ETS: where you're getting your information from.
Gretchen Whitmer: I think it's it starts with asking the question. You know,
Gretchen Whitmer: I really do think that listening is a superpower and
Gretchen Whitmer: it's really important no matter what walk of life, but
Gretchen Whitmer: especially important if you're going to be a public servant.
Gretchen Whitmer: Your job is to represent the people. How can you
Gretchen Whitmer: do that if you don't know what the what they're thinking,
Gretchen Whitmer: what's on their minds, what's what's standing between them and
Gretchen Whitmer: whatever goal they have or need that isn't yet met.
Gretchen Whitmer: And so I you know, even with with people who
Gretchen Whitmer: are on the other side of the aisle, if you
Gretchen Whitmer: can connect on something by showing some genuine interest in them,
Gretchen Whitmer: it opens up a possibility for common ground that you
Gretchen Whitmer: can build off of. And I really it sounds maybe
Gretchen Whitmer: sophomoric to be that simple. But I think that's a
Gretchen Whitmer: that's a good start. You know, My goal, of course,
Gretchen Whitmer: is to find common ground on my side of the fence, Right,
Gretchen Whitmer: come on over. But you can't you can't be persuasive
Gretchen Whitmer: if you don't have and you can't have credibility if
Gretchen Whitmer: you don't have something to start from.
ETS: Yeah. Well, I think this question of what is authentic
ETS: for women in power, and it's not just in politics,
ETS: it's across the board that what is authentic is really challenging,
ETS: and I think we're still unpacking it. I'm actually so
ETS: glad that I saw Jennifer Palmery here because what she
ETS: said to me after twenty sixteen. We were in the
ETS: office one day, and she said that it was too
ETS: hard for voters to find Hillary what they considered authentic
ETS: because she had spent her entire life being qualified to
ETS: be at that table and proving that she was qualified
ETS: to be at the table. So I think that she
ETS: in many ways broke that glass ceiling for many of
ETS: us of the generation of women who had to come
ETS: up in a different kind of environment. And I think
ETS: it gave Vice President Harris an opportunity to be a
ETS: different kind of world's leader. But I think it's still
ETS: a I think we still don't know what it means.
ETS: So you know, you're this this version of this book
ETS: is specifically for young women, for young men, for young adults.
ETS: And you talk about being authentic, and you are very
ETS: authentic in this book, and really you really give us
ETS: some great stuff out there. But how do you think
ETS: that we can both honor that part of ourselves it
ETS: feels authentic, but lead and be chosen to lead in
ETS: this moment where we're still not one hundred percent there.
Gretchen Whitmer: We're not. We've made We've come a long way, though,
Gretchen Whitmer: And you know, I'm always very mindful that the only
Gretchen Whitmer: reason I can show up as I am is because
Gretchen Whitmer: there are so many women who walk through this fire
Gretchen Whitmer: before me and made it easier for me. I think
Gretchen Whitmer: about Hillary Clinton. I think about you know, Jennifer Granholm
Gretchen Whitmer: was our first female governor in the state of Michigan,
Gretchen Whitmer: and she wrote I think in one of her books,
Gretchen Whitmer: or maybe it was just an interview that I read,
Gretchen Whitmer: but about how you know she didn't say this, but
Gretchen Whitmer: I'll say he's a very attractive woman and she always
Gretchen Whitmer: felt like she needed to wear her hair very short
Gretchen Whitmer: and wear pants suits you know, to be taken seriously.
Gretchen Whitmer: And you know what, I show up in a leather
Gretchen Whitmer: jacket now, and I can show up and talk like
Gretchen Whitmer: a normal person, not have to be have everything feel
Gretchen Whitmer: like it's absolutely perfect and sanitized the way that Hillary
Gretchen Whitmer: Clinton had to just just to have some credibility in
Gretchen Whitmer: a room. So I feel really lucky that I can show.
ETS: Up that way.
Gretchen Whitmer: I still have to worry about things that my male
Gretchen Whitmer: counterparts don't. I still give a State of the States
Gretchen Whitmer: speech and people talk more about the dress that I
Gretchen Whitmer: wore than the words that I uttered, and that's maddening.
Gretchen Whitmer: But I'm mindful that when I own my space, it
Gretchen Whitmer: makes it easier for other women to do that too.
Gretchen Whitmer: We saw that in the pandemic with my Secretary of State,
Gretchen Whitmer: who was under the gun with all of the pressures
Gretchen Whitmer: around the election. My Attorney General who was in court
Gretchen Whitmer: battling on all of our behalfs every day. We're all women,
Gretchen Whitmer: and when each of us took heat, it made it
Gretchen Whitmer: easier for the other to stand in the breach. And
Gretchen Whitmer: I think that that's something that as I think about
Gretchen Whitmer: how I show up and the women who are coming
Gretchen Whitmer: in or might think about going into this work. I
Gretchen Whitmer: hope that I'm making it easier for them to show
Gretchen Whitmer: up as they are and to be their authentic selves, because, gosh,
Gretchen Whitmer: if we've not learned anything over the last ten years,
Gretchen Whitmer: it's that people, for whatever reason, need to see something
Gretchen Whitmer: real that they feel like lots of politicians don't give them.
Gretchen Whitmer: And showing up as you are is the most powerful thing.
Gretchen Whitmer: I think, Anne Frankly, who's got energy to be something
Gretchen Whitmer: you're not anymore? It sounds exhausting, it is.
ETS: We're going to take a quick break before we hear
ETS: about Governor Whitmer's latest book, release, True Gretch Young Adult edition.
ETS: We'll talk about why she felt compelled to release a
ETS: different version and get her insights on the important things
ETS: like is America ready for a woman president? And who
ETS: will win the Super Bowl next year? Stay tuned.
Gretchen Whitmer: This book is the.
ETS: Young adult version of your book? Why a young adult
ETS: version and why now? What are you hoping to deliver
ETS: to this audience that was different than the first edition.
Gretchen Whitmer: So when I wrote the first book, one of the
Gretchen Whitmer: things that happened is I was kind of getting around
Gretchen Whitmer: talking about it. Was people would tell me I bought
Gretchen Whitmer: copies for my kids or my grandkids. It's a quick read.
Gretchen Whitmer: It's ten chapters, short vignettes, but real and humor, but
Gretchen Whitmer: also lessons that have helped keep me positive when I
Gretchen Whitmer: ran for reelection, you know, after a pandemic, after a
Gretchen Whitmer: plot to kidnap and kill me, after demonstrations for racial justice,
Gretchen Whitmer: in the wake of George Floyd's murder, and the incredible
Gretchen Whitmer: crises you know of flooding and polar vortex, all the
Gretchen Whitmer: things thirty two recall attempts. I was counting that one.
Gretchen Whitmer: After so short on that heavy stuff. People would understandably say,
Gretchen Whitmer: why do you want to run again? And why do
Gretchen Whitmer: you still feel optimistic? And so I wrote that book
Gretchen Whitmer: to put some light out into the world. I knew
Gretchen Whitmer: the presidential election year would be hard, That's why the timing.
Gretchen Whitmer: But when people said I bought this for my kids,
Gretchen Whitmer: I thought, you know, maybe we can do one that
Gretchen Whitmer: is geared toward young people. So this book's a little
Gretchen Whitmer: bit different. It's not vastly different. I still have the
Gretchen Whitmer: real stories that I shared about some of my bad
Gretchen Whitmer: choices in life, some of my embarrassing moments are It's
Gretchen Whitmer: all still in there. But we added some more story
Gretchen Whitmer: from my youth, like losing my first election when I
Gretchen Whitmer: ran for secretary in fifth grade. There's a Q and
Gretchen Whitmer: A at the end of the book with my daughters
Gretchen Whitmer: that is fun and funny and I think good for
Gretchen Whitmer: young people to be able to see. And there's a
Gretchen Whitmer: bunch of resources in the back of the book for
Gretchen Whitmer: young people if they're dealing with mental health crisis or
Gretchen Whitmer: sexual assault, or a variety of resources so that young
Gretchen Whitmer: people can access the help they need. And then there's
Gretchen Whitmer: just a little special thing. Shark is embossed on the
Gretchen Whitmer: front of the cover because they like to put those
Gretchen Whitmer: little hidden things in for the young adult versions. So
Gretchen Whitmer: there's some fun things in this version, and we wanted
Gretchen Whitmer: to gear it for young people.
ETS: This is a question I ask of all of my guests.
ETS: What is something that it can be something we discussed,
ETS: or it can be something different. What is something at
ETS: the time you thought was really a negative but now
ETS: you see it as having really launched you to who
ETS: you are now.
Gretchen Whitmer: I mean, one of the people that I saw for
Gretchen Whitmer: counseling over my life said this, and I talk about
Gretchen Whitmer: in the book, but every one of us is like
Gretchen Whitmer: a ball of clay, and over our lifetimes, things will
Gretchen Whitmer: get taken away from us, no fault of our own
Gretchen Whitmer: in many occasions, but something will be taken away. And
Gretchen Whitmer: I think about that a lot whenever there's a hardship
Gretchen Whitmer: or something that I'm struggling with, and that every one
Gretchen Whitmer: of those things. Sometimes a ball that's been hollowed up
Gretchen Whitmer: can become a cup, and so it has purpose, and
Gretchen Whitmer: so every hardship can give you purpose, and I think
Gretchen Whitmer: about that a lot. I gave a speech on the
Gretchen Whitmer: Senate floor and revealed that I had been raped when
Gretchen Whitmer: I was in college, and I had never shared that publicly,
Gretchen Whitmer: and I knew sharing it probably wasn't even going to
Gretchen Whitmer: change the outcome of the legislation that was before us,
Gretchen Whitmer: but I felt like it was important for women who'd
Gretchen Whitmer: been shut out of the conversation there was no ability
Gretchen Whitmer: to testify on bills. I felt like I needed to
Gretchen Whitmer: put a face to who was going to be impacted
Gretchen Whitmer: by this, and I shared that, and sure enough, it
Gretchen Whitmer: didn't change a vote I lost. I went home really depressed.
Gretchen Whitmer: Had to call my dad on the way home to
Gretchen Whitmer: tell him this because I'd never told him, and this
Gretchen Whitmer: was going to be in the press.
ETS: I knew it would be in the press.
Gretchen Whitmer: And you know, I felt really horrible the next day,
Gretchen Whitmer: like why did I do this? But then I got
Gretchen Whitmer: into the office and I heard from so many people
Gretchen Whitmer: who had also gone through an assault like that, or
Gretchen Whitmer: knew someone thanked me or shared their story with me,
Gretchen Whitmer: and I realized what that pain that I had had purpose.
Gretchen Whitmer: And now I've been able to tell that story and
Gretchen Whitmer: we've been able to in Michigan codify women's reproductive rights
Gretchen Whitmer: ten years and so that was kind of a big one.
Gretchen Whitmer: But it was something that happened that was taken away.
Gretchen Whitmer: It took a long time twenty years for me to
Gretchen Whitmer: be able to talk about it. Now I talk about
Gretchen Whitmer: it without getting choked up, but it took a long time.
Gretchen Whitmer: And not every person who survives something like that can
Gretchen Whitmer: find their voice, and I was able to and being
Gretchen Whitmer: able to use it has helped me find purpose in it.
Gretchen Whitmer: And so I share that as something that was horrible,
Gretchen Whitmer: but now I think is something that gives me, helps
Gretchen Whitmer: motivate who I am today. I love that.
ETS: Do you think you'll pivot again, maybe to one particular thing.
Gretchen Whitmer: Well, January one, of twenty twenty seven, I will be
Gretchen Whitmer: pivoting because we have term limits in.
ETS: Michigan, so I'll keep you a posting on what's next.
ETS: We asked the audience for some questions which we have
ETS: and we're going to get into. As a point of
ETS: personal privilege, I read the book on a snow day,
ETS: so my kids are eight, six and four. We're home
ETS: with me. Wanted to know what I was reading, so
ETS: first we read the chapter titles and then we read
ETS: some of the book. So my kids have some questions
ETS: for you. Okay, I'll read them all. You can decide
ETS: what you want to answer. When you were really young,
ETS: did you let all the bullies get you down? Have
ETS: you ever done anything embarrassing in public? Do you have
ETS: any brothers or sisters? Have you ever met the president?
ETS: Have you ever made a fire? What is your pivot?
ETS: And why are you on this show? What is your
ETS: favorite podcast? Shed better say, mommies. Have you ever been
ETS: to the hospital for an unknown reason? Have you ever
ETS: flown an airplane? Have any of your dogs ever died?
ETS: And did you get another one? What school did you
ETS: go to? What did you want to be when you
ETS: were a little kid? Have you ever been ice skating
ETS: on a little pond on your shoes? Have you ever
ETS: jumped in a bucket of mud. I did that once.
ETS: We'll say your question, Evelyn, one of my kids is here.
ETS: I love those questions. I can't remember any of them, though.
Gretchen Whitmer: You can take the bucket of mud question. I love
Gretchen Whitmer: the bucket of mud. I would love to jump in
Gretchen Whitmer: a bucket of mud. That sounds a good great We'll
Gretchen Whitmer: let your social people know. Okay, that sounds like a
Gretchen Whitmer: really good one. Okay, So I loved this. This is
Gretchen Whitmer: from I believe a Michigander. What is your proudest professional
Gretchen Whitmer: accomplishment as governor ps GHO Spartans.
ETS: That's from Nathaniel.
Gretchen Whitmer: All right, thank you, Nathaniel go Green. You know, in
Gretchen Whitmer: this after my re election, when we had full democratic
Gretchen Whitmer: control of the legislature, we did a lot of things
Gretchen Whitmer: that were long overdue. So to say one, you know,
Gretchen Whitmer: is very difficult. But we codified women's reproductive rights. We
Gretchen Whitmer: were able to ensure all the kids in Michigan get
Gretchen Whitmer: free breakfast and lunch every day at school. We did
Gretchen Whitmer: a billion dollars of tax relief for working families. Yeah,
Gretchen Whitmer: but I signed into law finally getting Michigan on the
Gretchen Whitmer: right side of history, full civil rights protections for the
Gretchen Whitmer: LGBTQ plus community. Yeah, and my oldest daughter is a
Gretchen Whitmer: gay woman, and there's a very funny exchange in the
Gretchen Whitmer: book about that. I'll just tell you what it is.
Gretchen Whitmer: So I was getting ready to sign this legislation and
Gretchen Whitmer: I texted my oldest daughter and I said, you know,
Gretchen Whitmer: share do you want to be? Would you like to
Gretchen Whitmer: come to the press conversory I signed the bill as
Gretchen Whitmer: a member of the community. And she's like, yeah, I'd
Gretchen Whitmer: love to, mom. And so, you know, I've never pressured
Gretchen Whitmer: my kids to do things write Sydney. I've never pressured them,
Gretchen Whitmer: but I always invite them. But they're in charge. They
Gretchen Whitmer: get to make their own own decisions. And so I said,
Gretchen Whitmer: would you like to come? She said yes. I said, okay,
Gretchen Whitmer: how should I refer to you, like as a gay
Gretchen Whitmer: woman or a member of the community. And we have
Gretchen Whitmer: a screenshot of our text message in the book and
Gretchen Whitmer: she writes member of the community lo l Gretchen. So
Gretchen Whitmer: I'm like, I'm sorry. She goes, I'm a gay woman.
Gretchen Whitmer: It's fine, call me a gay woman. I'm like, okay,
Gretchen Whitmer: thank you, and she writes, you're welcome, non community member,
Gretchen Whitmer: and I wrote, I prefer community ally, and she writes,
Gretchen Whitmer: you're ridiculous, but like I put a screenshot of our
Gretchen Whitmer: text exchange in there, but I signed that bill with
Gretchen Whitmer: my daughter sin next to me, and that was one.
ETS: Of my most proud moments. Yeah, yeah, beautiful. We have
ETS: a question here from Alexandra. After the results of the
ETS: twenty sixteen and twenty twenty four presidential elections and hearing
ETS: discussions about twenty twenty eight, I keep hearing that Democrats
ETS: won't run a woman for a very long time. How
ETS: do you avoid letting comments like this discourage you from
ETS: doing the work when it seems like for a lot
ETS: of this country it'll never be enough.
Gretchen Whitmer: Well, number one, that's bs okay. And now I've heard
Gretchen Whitmer: some people say that this election means America is just
Gretchen Whitmer: not ready for a woman chief executive. I think that's blowney,
Gretchen Whitmer: I really do. There were a lot of things that
Gretchen Whitmer: came to plan this election, and you know what, Kamala
Gretchen Whitmer: Harris were in a heck of a campaign, but it
Gretchen Whitmer: was so late. I'll just be honest. I think it
Gretchen Whitmer: was so late, and it's such a unique moment, and
Gretchen Whitmer: the candidate on the other side is a unique candidate.
Gretchen Whitmer: I mean, there are a lot of things at play here.
Gretchen Whitmer: I think anyone who says that it's because she was
Gretchen Whitmer: a woman is not paying attention and maybe has their
Gretchen Whitmer: own agenda. Right if you look at just what even
Gretchen Whitmer: happened in Michigan and Wisconsin, Tammy Baldwin got reelected, Alissa
Gretchen Whitmer: Slockin got elected. So you know, we have seen in
Gretchen Whitmer: a state like Michigan, which is the swingiest of swing states,
Gretchen Whitmer: we've got all females at the top who are in
Gretchen Whitmer: all executive offices. This country is ready. I think these
Gretchen Whitmer: circumstances are really unique, and I'm sure we're going to
Gretchen Whitmer: have a lot of great candidates in twenty eight and
Gretchen Whitmer: we are. I think we will see more women rise
Gretchen Whitmer: up and we will in my lifetime, we are going
Gretchen Whitmer: to see a woman president.
ETS: Here's a question from Grace. What is the best part
ETS: of your job and what is the worst part of
ETS: your job? Slash, do you think the Detroit Lions will
ETS: make it to the Super Bowl next year?
Gretchen Whitmer: The best part of my job is every day is different,
Gretchen Whitmer: and I am with some incredibly talented people, and I
Gretchen Whitmer: get to see amazing things that are happening in Michigan
Gretchen Whitmer: that even if I have lived in the state of
Gretchen Whitmer: my whole life. I'm still learning things about my own
Gretchen Whitmer: state and I love that, and I think that I'm
Gretchen Whitmer: so lucky. The hardest part of my job there's just
Gretchen Whitmer: so many people who are invested in benefiting from problems
Gretchen Whitmer: rather than solving them, and that gets really frustrated. And yes,
Gretchen Whitmer: the Lions are going to win the Super Bowl next year.
Gretchen Whitmer: This is from Andrew from Bethesda.
ETS: If you had to choose one on an issue, a
ETS: problem that Democrats need to talk about more, what would
ETS: it be? And are there any issues or problems that
ETS: Democrats spend too much time talking about?
Gretchen Whitmer: Okay, I'm not a pundit and I'm never going to
Gretchen Whitmer: critique my fellow Democrats because I understand that we all
Gretchen Whitmer: have different roles, especially governors. That being said, I don't
Gretchen Whitmer: know that we've got to rebuild who we are and
Gretchen Whitmer: what we care about. I do you think we've got
Gretchen Whitmer: to talk about it better? We've got to be better
Gretchen Whitmer: communicators and stay focused on the things that really move
Gretchen Whitmer: people and touch people and improve people's lives. We are
Gretchen Whitmer: living in very chaotic times where there are so many
Gretchen Whitmer: things to be pulling our attention from, and there are
Gretchen Whitmer: I'm not saying they're not important, but we've got to
Gretchen Whitmer: be really I think thoughtful about what's going to matter
Gretchen Whitmer: to people most, and really be disciplined about having real
Gretchen Whitmer: solutions to what people are vexed with. It's not simple,
Gretchen Whitmer: it's not easy, and I think we're going to deal
Gretchen Whitmer: with a lot of chaos over the next days, weeks,
Gretchen Whitmer: and months. But there's a lot of work that we
Gretchen Whitmer: have yet to do.
ETS: Here's a question from Cassie as a graduating high school
ETS: senior who led high school outreach for youth for Harris Walls.
ETS: I've seen firsthand both the excitement and the challenges of
ETS: engaging young people in politics. What do you think are
ETS: the most effective ways to not only get young people
ETS: involved in civic engagement, but to ensure they stay engaged
ETS: beyond elections.
Gretchen Whitmer: I love that question. I would like to ask that
Gretchen Whitmer: back to the person that wrote the question as first,
Gretchen Whitmer: who's oh, hi, all right? Let's I mean you're in it,
Gretchen Whitmer: You're doing it. One of the things that we saw
Gretchen Whitmer: in Michigan in twenty twenty two was the highest youth
Gretchen Whitmer: voter turnout in the country was in the state of
Gretchen Whitmer: Michigan in twenty twenty two. It's part of how I
Gretchen Whitmer: won by eleven points. We also had abortion rates on
Gretchen Whitmer: the ballot. We had an energy that was out there,
Gretchen Whitmer: and I am mindful of how do we continue to
Gretchen Whitmer: harness this and keep this energy up? And it's challenging.
Gretchen Whitmer: Even in this last election, we saw it start to
Gretchen Whitmer: wane and people said, does it Is it because people
Gretchen Whitmer: think that the issues settled? Now? I think people, I'm
Gretchen Whitmer: not quite sure what the answer is to it, but
Gretchen Whitmer: I think you're going to have to be a part
Gretchen Whitmer: of helping us figure that out. So I'm pointing at you,
Gretchen Whitmer: but we're going to follow up because I would I
Gretchen Whitmer: would love to know how do we tapp in as
Gretchen Whitmer: I'm always pulling my own kids who are twenty one
Gretchen Whitmer: and twenty two. You know, what's happening on campus? What
Gretchen Whitmer: do we need to be focused on? What are you
Gretchen Whitmer: most worried about? And it's the fundamentals too for twenty
Gretchen Whitmer: two year olds, it's what's my next job going to be? Well?
Gretchen Whitmer: How am I going to make How am I going
Gretchen Whitmer: to find an affordable place to live? How am I
Gretchen Whitmer: going to participate and be able to be successful in
Gretchen Whitmer: the economy? What the heck's going on with climate change?
Gretchen Whitmer: And what are you people going to do because it's
Gretchen Whitmer: still getting worse and we're afraid. So I think that
Gretchen Whitmer: there's a lot there to learn, but I think you've
Gretchen Whitmer: got to help us answer the question. So keep asking it,
Gretchen Whitmer: but then tell me what the answer is. Well, here
Gretchen Whitmer: is a great last question.
ETS: As many people feel that the federal government is no
ETS: longer representing them, how can states and state governments respond?
Gretchen Whitmer: Well, Hey, I mean you're saying you're seeing lawsuits getting filed,
Gretchen Whitmer: You're seeing state governors and legislatures taking action. We're working
Gretchen Whitmer: really hard to be creative and nimble because there are
Gretchen Whitmer: so many things that are happening right now. But we're
Gretchen Whitmer: going to continue to do that. We saw it during
Gretchen Whitmer: the pandemic. It was the governors who gave people the
Gretchen Whitmer: information they needed to be safe and worked so hard
Gretchen Whitmer: to help empower people, and that'll continue to be true.
Gretchen Whitmer: I'm very fortunate that I've got an Attorney General who
Gretchen Whitmer: is doing great work on our behalf. I've got a
Gretchen Whitmer: cabinet that is continually assessing what we can do at
Gretchen Whitmer: the state level, that lives up to our values and
Gretchen Whitmer: continues to deliver. And it means also using the platform
Gretchen Whitmer: that I have whenever it's important to take it on.
Gretchen Whitmer: Like I said, you know, I got to run a state.
Gretchen Whitmer: I've got to also make sure that we we're delivering
Gretchen Whitmer: for people and able to make my case to the
Gretchen Whitmer: federal government, but also stand my ground when it matters.
Gretchen Whitmer: And that's what we're going to do today, tomorrow, and
Gretchen Whitmer: over the course of the next four years.
ETS: Maybe last night and last night too for protection. Governor
ETS: Whitmer is still working hard for the people of Michigan.
ETS: To stay up to date on everything she is doing
ETS: and if she'll make a big announcement one day, follow
ETS: her at ge Whitmer and be sure to read True
ETS: and True Gretch Young Adult edition. Get it wherever you
ETS: get your books, and follow along on Instagram at True
ETS: Gretch Whitmer. Thank you again to six and I for
ETS: hosting this live she Pivots episode. You can follow them
ETS: on Instagram at six and I to say up to
ETS: date on future programming. It's always incredible. Thanks for listening.
ETS: Thanks for listening to this episode of she Pivots. I
ETS: hope you enjoyed it and if you did, leave us
ETS: a rating and tell your friends about us. To learn
ETS: more about our guests, follow us on Instagram at she
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ETS: website at she pivots thepodcast dot com. Special thanks to
ETS: the she pivots team, Executive producer Emily Etafelosic, Associate producer
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