LANSING, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – For more than a year, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has tried to hitch her wagon to the wildly popular Detroit Lions football team.

The last polls show more people rated Whitmer as “unfavorable” (27.7%) verses “favorable” (26.2%), so affiliating herself with the most popular professional sports team since the 1984 Detroit Tigers made sense.

A not-so warm welcome.

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It started at the NFL draft in Detroit in April 2024 when Whitmer announced the event broke an attendance record and was met with a mixture of boos and cheers.

But Whitmer cranked up her Detroit Lions agenda as the team finished its franchise-record 15-2 season and headed to the playoffs.

On Dec. 22, the Detroit Free Press wrote a promotional story about Whitmer “hanging out” with the wives and girlfriends of the Detroit Lions’ players. There was a staged baking of cookies.

Drawing support?

On Jan. 14, Whitmer announced a Detroit Lions logo drawing contest. On Jan. 17, she posted a video on X of herself showing up at Home Bakery in Rochester, which made news for baking a full-sized cake of Amon-Ra St. Brown when he stood on his head during a touchdown celebration. On Jan. 18, Whitmer posted a video of herself on a Lions tour bus.

“We’re on the road with the Detroit Lions,” Whitmer said. “This is where we come up with our 4th down strategy.”
“The Commanders don’t have anything like this,” Whitmer said with a dismissive hand wave.

Then the video shows Whitmer on a payphone in a phone booth and listening to a pre-recorded message from Dan Campbell talking about the Lions having grit.

Honolulu Blue.

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On Jan. 18, Whitmer’s office posted a photo of herself in an Aidan Hutchinson jersey signing bills. That day, Whitmer officially proclaimed Jan. 18 as “Honolulu Blue Day.”

Whitmer’s critics saw it as a cheap propaganda trick.

“Please, stop including yourself with our Lions you troll!” on commenter on X told Whitmer.

“Quit grifting off OUR lions. You failed political Hack,” another commenter on X posted on one of Whitmer’s social media posts.

Some even claimed that Whitmer has now replaced Bobby Layne as the curse that haunts the football franchise.
“You should stay away so your karma doesn’t affect the game,” one commenter said on the X video of Whitmer on the tour bus to the Jan. 18 playoff game.

 

 

The day after, another X commenter lamented Whitmer’s post of herself enroute to the playoff game.
“This video killed the Lions season,” the commenter posted on X.