The John F. Kennedy Library Foundation recently announced that they will be giving Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer its “Profile in Courage” award for her response to the COVID-19 pandemic. She will be presented the award on May 26 during a virtual ceremony by Ambassador Caroline Kennedy and her son, Jack Schlossberg. Who would’ve thought that issuing mask mandates for two-year-olds and keeping Michigan residents under draconian lockdowns would result in an award?
This is almost as ironic as New York Gov. Cuomo’s book “Leadership Lessons from the Covid-19 Pandemic,” which was released shortly after his scandal involving the underreporting of nursing home deaths last year. Killing seniors in nursing homes and receiving an award for it is becoming a more Democratic trend by the day.
Just days after Gov. Whitmer called on Michigan residents to avoid traveling to Florida due to coronavirus variants, the governor went on a “personal trip” to visit her father Richard Whitmer in Florida. Her own Chief Operating Officer Tricia Foster and Department of Health and Human Services Director Elizabeth Hertel also jetted off to Florida for vacations and defied Whitmer’s orders about avoiding spring break trips to the Sunshine state. Gov. Whitmer defended their trips by telling reporters that “what directors do on their personal time is their business. According to Whitmer – more rules for thee, but not for me.
The Kennedy Foundation shared in a statement that seven individuals, including Whitmer, will receive special Profile in Courage Awards for their response to the pandemic and that they went “above and beyond” for their community and country. They claimed that Whitmer used her emergency powers to “contain” coronavirus and keep people safe, despite overwhelming threats and pushback from state citizens.
The FBI even arrested thirteen individuals last October for planning to kidnap the governor because of her lockdown measures. If the Kennedy Foundation wanted to honor real heroes, they’d honor the essential workers and law enforcement officials that worked every day throughout last year’s chaos. Not the governor who received national criticism for her pointless and tyrannical lockdowns, as well as the harsh restrictions she imposed all year on small business owners.
Whitmer shared that it was an honor to accept the award on behalf of every Michigander who stepped up to help their families and communities throughout the pandemic.
“We must all strive to live up to the call of public service put forward by President Kennedy decades ago and exemplified by the heroes on the front lines of this pandemic who are putting shots in arms and working tirelessly in schools, stores, and hospitals statewide,” Whitmer said.
Michigan Republican Party communications director Ted Goodman blasted Whitmer in a recent statement for her response to the pandemic and the announcement of receiving award recognition for it.
“Michigan has the highest COVID-19 numbers in the country because of Whitmer’s failed pandemic response. Thousands of small businesses shut down, hundreds of thousands of children lost out on proper education, and millions of Michiganders had their livelihoods upended — not because of COVID — but because of Whitmer’s response,” Goodman said.
Michigan has continued to endure one of the highest surges of COVID-19 cases in the nation. In April, the state had its second-highest single-day total and highest hospitalization rates since the beginning of the pandemic. While mask-free states like Texas and Florida continue to see drops in hospitalizations and case numbers, Michigan is still under lockdown and doing worse than ever.
Former Michigan Senate candidate John James shared that Whitmer’s award recognition is “politically tone-deaf” and that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is far more deserving of a leadership award for his handling of the pandemic.
“This is a very serious matter. And when you talk about profiles in courage, people who will put themselves in harm’s way to do the right thing versus a politician who maybe is under draconian orders that have sacrificed livelihoods and lives, it looks politically motivated at worst, and tone-deaf at best,” James said.
Whitmer, like Cuomo, still won’t release the total number of COVID-19-related deaths at nursing homes and assisted living facilities and is paying off public health officials with “hush money” to keep them quiet. Democrats love a reason to pat themselves on the back – even when they’ve set their own state on fire.
