President Donald Trump continued his baseless attacks on Gov. Gretchen Whitmer during a live town hall on NBC News on Thursday, falsely claiming that all of Michigan was still under a coronavirus “lockdown” except for her husband, so he can “go boating.”
It’s been six months since Whitmer lifted an executive order that prevented people from boating, and Michigan hasn’t been under a lockdown for months.
But the truth has never gotten in the way of Trump’s contemptuous rhetoric.
“We won a big case in Michigan because that governor has a lockdown where nobody but her husband can do anything,” Trump said “He can go boating and do whatever he wants, but no one else can.”
Trump appears to be referring to a local dock company owner’s claims that Whitmer’s husband, Mark Mallory, asked the facility to put his boat in the water by Memorial Day, when the restrictions on boating were lifted. According to the dock company owner, Mallory identified himself as the governor’s husband and asked if that might help him get the boat more quickly.
Whitmer later said her husband was joking. Even if Mallory was hoping to get special treatment, he would have been boating at a time when everyone else was allowed.
So Trump’s claim, as often is the case, was bullshit.