Joe Biden stoked veepstakes speculation by jumping to the defense of a key general election battleground state governor targeted by President Trump for her response to the coronavirus pandemic.
“Facing a dangerous abdication of leadership from Donald Trump during this pandemic, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has been a tenacious fighter for Michigan families,” Biden said Friday.
Whitmer and Trump have exchanged multiple barbs over the past two weeks regarding federal government assistance to states as the country rushes to avoid a public health crisis caused by the COVID-19 outbreak. Whitmer has publicly pleaded for more help obtaining medical equipment, criticizing the Trump administration for a sluggish reaction to the novel respiratory illness in press conferences, media interviews, and on social media. Trump has responded in kind, including during a prime-time appearance on Fox News.
“She’s not stepping up. I don’t know if she knows what’s going on. But all she does is sit there and blame the federal government. She doesn’t get it done,” he said.
Whitmer told Detroit-based WWJ Newsradio 950 Friday morning vendors with which the state has procurement contracts are “being told not to send stuff to Michigan.”
On Friday afternoon, Biden, the presumptive 2020 Democratic presidential nominee, said Trump could learn that “speed matters, details matter, and people matter” when dealing with a pandemic from Whitmer.
“States like Michigan need more help from this administration. They can’t go it alone, and they need help now. Instead of delivering cheap shots on Fox News, it’s time for Donald Trump to deliver Michigan and other states more ventilators, masks and other personal protective equipment, and test kits,” the two-term vice president said.
Trump won Michigan over Hillary Clinton in 2016 by fewer than 10,000 votes. Democrats want to flip the state this cycle. Biden dominated remaining 2020 Democratic rival Bernie Sanders in Michigan’s primary earlier this month by almost 20 percentage points, 52.9% to 36.4%.
Biden has promised to pick a woman as a running mate should he become the party’s next standard-bearer and has mentioned Whitmer as a possible No. 2.
