Gretchen Whitmer has been trying to rehabilitate her image for years.
She made one big mistake thinking it would help.
And Gretchen Whitmer tried one excuse when confronted about her COVID record but walked right into a buzzsaw.
Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer appeared on popular YouTuber Caleb Hammer's Financial Audit show, thinking she could charm her way through questions about her disastrous COVID policies.
Instead, she walked into a buzzsaw.
Hammer, who has 24 million YouTube subscribers, spent the interview pressing Whitmer on the nonsensical restrictions she imposed during the pandemic that devastated Michigan businesses and families.¹
The exchange that has conservatives fired up happened when Hammer brought up eating "in inside pods outside" during his trips home to Michigan for Christmas.²
"But if I was allowed to be inside outside, why couldn't I just be inside inside?" Hammer asked.³
Whitmer's response showed exactly why Michiganders were so furious with her tyrannical approach.
Whitmer tries to dismiss her COVID dictatorship
Whitmer claimed she was "inside outside with just your small group of people."⁴
Hammer immediately called out that excuse by pointing out the servers and busers were also there.⁵
https://twitter.com/MIForward_Net/status/1985391770520199400
That's when Whitmer revealed what she really thinks about the draconian measures she forced on Michigan residents.
"Listen, Caleb, none of us wants to go back and relive that," Whitmer stated. "We were doing the best we could with very little — or very bad — information."⁶
Translation: move along, nothing to see here, and definitely don't hold me accountable for destroying people's livelihoods and freedoms.
The problem with Whitmer's excuse is that other governors faced the exact same "little or bad information" and didn't respond by banning garden seeds while keeping liquor stores open.
https://twitter.com/NoFrankingWay/status/1821753093345710123
Michigan had some of the longest and most destructive lockdowns in the entire country.
Whitmer's stay-at-home order lasted 84 days — longer than almost every other state except Oregon, New Jersey, California, and New Hampshire.⁷
Illinois managed with 70 days, Ohio with 68, Wisconsin with 62, and Indiana with just 37 days.⁸
But Whitmer kept Michigan locked down for nearly three months with rules so confusing that Walmart put baby carriers on the banned items list just to avoid violating her incomprehensible orders.⁹
The tyrant who broke her own rules
The real kicker about Whitmer lecturing people about COVID restrictions is that she repeatedly violated her own mandates.
In May 2021, Whitmer was caught dining maskless indoors at The Landshark Bar & Grill in East Lansing with at least 13 people.¹⁰
At that exact time, her own order limited restaurant gatherings to no more than six people per table.¹¹
Whitmer issued a half-hearted apology, claiming "I am human. I made a mistake."¹²
The next day, her administration quietly rescinded the rule she had just broken.¹³
That wasn't her only act of hypocrisy.
Whitmer flew to Florida on a private jet in March 2021 while publicly urging Michigan residents to avoid traveling to the state for spring break.¹⁴
The flight cost $27,521, with Whitmer personally paying just $855 while a nonprofit covered the rest.¹⁵
Her husband tried to get special treatment to take the family boat out for Memorial Day weekend in 2020 while ordinary Michiganders faced criminal charges for operating motorboats.¹⁶
And Whitmer attended Joe Biden's January 2021 inauguration, violating her own pandemic guidelines about travel and large gatherings.¹⁷
The devastating consequences Michigan is still feeling
Whitmer's COVID policies didn't just inconvenience people — they destroyed lives and businesses.
Over 2,500 Detroit residents were ticketed for violating Whitmer's emergency rules between April and May 2020, with the fines later tossed out.¹⁸
Gary Marshall, who owns FitStop24 gyms in Niles and Dowagiac, reopened three months before Whitmer allowed it and was charged with 30 misdemeanors and fined $18,000.¹⁹
All charges were eventually dropped.²⁰
The Michigan Supreme Court stripped Whitmer of her emergency powers in October 2020, declaring her unilateral actions illegal.²¹
But Whitmer found a workaround by having the state Department of Health and Human Services issue similar orders, keeping her stranglehold on Michigan for months longer.²²
A 2022 audit revealed that Whitmer's administration undercounted COVID deaths in nursing homes by 42%, hiding 2,386 deaths from the public.²³
Michigan's policies also kept schools closed far longer than most states, with Whitmer not urging schools to reopen until March 2021.²⁴
The damage to children's education and mental health continues to this day.
A recent U.S. House report determined that lockdowns like Whitmer's caused damage "for generations to come" while doing little to actually stop the spread of COVID.²⁵
The same report concluded stay-at-home orders only reduced COVID deaths by 0.2%.²⁶
Social media explodes over Whitmer's excuses
The backlash on social media after Whitmer's podcast appearance was swift and brutal.
Michigan residents haven't forgotten what she put them through, and they're not buying her excuses.
"We had very little or bad information so our first action was draconian overreach," one user posted on X.²⁷
"As a reminder, Whitmer locked up seeds," another wrote. "If the decisions to close schools, shutter businesses, and prosecute and shame those who didn't comply were knowingly made based on 'little or bad information,' it makes those decisions much much worse."²⁸
"They are STILL lying to your face about Covid," posted another user.²⁹
"All she cares about is her political career. It has nothing to do with making bad choices right," one commenter stated.³⁰
The most devastating criticism came from those who lost loved ones.
"My grandmother died alone. Nobody could attend her funeral," one user wrote. "I assure you that I am interested in 'reliving' that to ensure those responsible are held accountable."³¹
"Plenty of experts were also trying to tell Whitmer she was wrong," another posted.³²
"Except, other Governors made better decisions with the same information. Your 'instinct' was to restrict. That is a problem," wrote another user.³³
The pattern is clear — Whitmer demanded absolute obedience from Michigan residents, destroyed businesses and lives with her authoritarian orders, broke her own rules repeatedly, and now wants everyone to just forget about it and move on.
But Michiganders aren't forgetting.
And with Whitmer widely viewed as a potential 2028 Democrat presidential candidate, this interview showed exactly why her political ambitions may be dead on arrival.
¹ "Youtuber Caleb Hammer confronts Michigan Gov. Whitmer on latest Financial Audit episode," The National News Desk, November 3, 2025.
² Ibid.
³ "'None Of Us Wants To Go Back': Gretchen Whitmer Dismisses Her Illogical Covid Restrictions," The Daily Caller, November 3, 2025.
⁴ Ibid.
⁵ Ibid.
⁶ Ibid.
⁷ "Gretchen Whitmer COVID report card: Lives saved, economy hurt, test scores fall," Bridge Michigan, May 15, 2025.
⁸ Ibid.
⁹ "Whitmer says her COVID restrictions in hindsight 'don't make a lot of sense'," The Center Square, March 13, 2023.
¹⁰ "Michigan Gov. Whitmer apologizes for breaking COVID rules at a bar," The Seattle Times, May 24, 2021.
¹¹ Ibid.
¹² Ibid.
¹³ "'None Of Us Wants To Go Back': Gretchen Whitmer Dismisses Her Illogical Covid Restrictions," The Daily Caller, November 3, 2025.
¹⁴ Ibid.
¹⁵ "Whitmer's latest flap: breaking her own Michigan rules about indoor dining," Bridge Michigan, May 15, 2025.
¹⁶ "'None Of Us Wants To Go Back': Gretchen Whitmer Dismisses Her Illogical Covid Restrictions," The Daily Caller, November 3, 2025.
¹⁷ Ibid.
¹⁸ "Whitmer says her COVID restrictions in hindsight 'don't make a lot of sense'," The Center Square, March 13, 2023.
¹⁹ Ibid.
²⁰ Ibid.
²¹ Ibid.
²² "Gretchen Whitmer COVID report card: Lives saved, economy hurt, test scores fall," Bridge Michigan, May 15, 2025.
²³ "Paging Gov. Whitmer: Damning U.S. House Report on COVID-19 Determines School Shutdowns, Restaurant Closures, and Mitigations Efforts Worthless," Michigan News Source, December 4, 2024.
²⁴ "Gretchen Whitmer COVID report card: Lives saved, economy hurt, test scores fall," Bridge Michigan, May 15, 2025.
²⁵ "Paging Gov. Whitmer: Damning U.S. House Report on COVID-19 Determines School Shutdowns, Restaurant Closures, and Mitigations Efforts Worthless," Michigan News Source, December 4, 2024.
²⁶ "Experts: Politics, as well as science, fuel Whitmer COVID, mask decisions," Bridge Michigan, May 15, 2025.
²⁷ "Gretchen Whitmer's COVID Missteps: Podcast Appearance Fuels Outrage and Demands for Accountability," Twitchy, November 4, 2025.
²⁸ Ibid.
²⁹ Ibid.
³⁰ Ibid.
³¹ Ibid.
³² Ibid.
³³ Ibid.
