Lansing Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer said Sunday that Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump was “running a campaign on vengeance and grievances,” while South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem, a Trump ally, argued that Trump’s “only revenge is American success.”
Whitmer and Noem, both Democrats and co-chairs of President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign, were interviewed separately on CNN’s “State of the Union” program Sunday morning.
Governor Whitmer called the contest between Biden and Trump a “high stakes election” and a moment that people need to take “very seriously.”
“Right now, we know our nation faces a stark choice between a president who respects the rule of law and a convicted former president who is using the tools of government to hunt down his enemies and pledge his vengeance and grievances,” said Gov. Whitmer.
Whitmer holds the highest political office in a battleground state where Biden beat Trump by 3 percentage points, 51% to 48%, or about 154,000 votes, in 2020.
Her comments came 10 days after a New York jury found Trump guilty of 34 charges in a scheme to illegally influence the 2016 election through hush money payments. The verdict is due to be handed down on July 11.
When asked by a reporter in Arizona last week if he would plan to arrest and jail his political opponents, Trump replied, “I’ll tell you that in about three years.”
Similarly, Trump said last week that it would be “wrong” to seek the prosecution of his political opponents, but that he would have the “full right” to do so if he was re-elected to the White House, according to The Washington Post.
But Noem, an avowed supporter of President Trump, pushed back against that notion in an interview with CNN on Sunday.
“His message is his only revenge is American success. He’s not interested in going after political opponents,” Noem said. “He’s interested in returning to the White House, working for the American people and their families, and lowering inflation and costs.”
Noem appeared on “State of the Union” before Whitmer on Sunday morning, with host Dana Bash asking each governor about 10 minutes before Whitmer’s interview was halted due to technical issues.
The Michigan governor said he expects the presidential race in his state to be “close all the way to the end,” adding that he has “some concern” that third-party candidates, including Robert F. Kennedy Jr., could hurt Biden’s chances of a victory.
Kennedy will be Michigan’s Natural Law Party candidate.
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