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Gretchen Whitmer's Fight In Michigan Could Be The Democratic Party's Future

President Donald Trump loves attacking Michigan’s Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, and one of his favorite insults is that she’s alienated her constituents with her aggressive COVID-19 response. “They’re not liking her so much because she’s got everybody locked down,” he said last week on his CBS “60 Minutes” interview.

The reality in Michigan looks rather different.

Whitmer’s stay-at-home orders expired early in the summer and, since then, life has been carrying on as much as it is in any other part of the country. Stores are serving customers, schools are open where districts have approved. Even college football is back on, albeit without the marching bands or spectators in the stands.

As for Whitmer’s standing with the public, approval of her overall job performance in a WDIV/Detroit News poll out this week was 59%, and approval of her COVID-19 response specifically was at 61%. Trump, by contrast, got just 44% for overall job performance rating and 39% on COVID-19. The numbers have been like that for months.

But Whitmer’s ability to keep doing her job is in jeopardy right now, thanks to Republicans who control the heavily gerrymandered state legislature and conservative judges who control the state Supreme Court. On Oct. 2, those judges struck down the law on which Whitmer had relied most heavily for her emergency orders, making it more difficult for her to respond to the pandemic even as as COVID-19 cases are surging again.

This inability to govern despite majority support should sound quite familiar, because it is the underlying story of national politics today ― and the situation Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden is likely to face in January should he win on Tuesday.

Even if Democrats also take the Senate, Republicans will be able to use the filibuster to block legislation. And with Justice Amy Coney Barrett now on the Supreme Court, a 6-3 conservative majority will be able to undermine whatever Biden manages...

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