By Jon King, Michigan Advance
If ever Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer needed a folder to hide her face, it was Monday.
Who can forget the now-famous image from April 2025 when Whitmer found herself in the Oval Office and, caught by photographers, raised a blue folder in an embarrassing attempt to somehow be anywhere else?
While I’m sure Whitmer wishes everyone would forget that moment, the picture instantly became a symbol for her apparent U-turn after branding herself as an ardent opponent of MAGA during Donald Trump’s first term. On Monday, standing at the groundbreaking of the massive OpenAI-Oracle data center in Saline Township, Whitmer may have wished she still had that folder.
She may have smiled for the cameras as she posed with executives including OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, but for the many residents who have spent most of the past year warning about the project’s impact on the environment and local control of public resources, there was little to celebrate as their governor openly sided with corporations over community concerns.
Whitmer’s political brand, at least until Trump won a second term, was built around the promise that she would fight for ordinary Michiganders. But on the data center issue, she has become one of the Saline Township project’s most enthusiastic cheerleaders despite objections raised by residents and township officials who will have to actually live with the consequences of hosting one of the largest AI infrastructure projects in the country.
I’m sure the governor would say that’s exactly what she’s doing in championing this project. In fact, she said as much at the ceremony.
“AI research is driving big breakthroughs, whether it’s in science, medicine, or technology, and it’s important for our national security, too,” Whitmer said. “We saw during the pandemic what happens when foreign companies control Michigan supply chains. We cannot afford to let other countries dominate future industries like AI. And in our interconnected world, we certainly can’t afford to let foreign adversaries have access to Michiganders’ data. And that’s why we need to bring the whole AI supply chain home.”
But this entirely misses the point. The debate over the Saline Township project has never been about whether artificial intelligence is important. Of course it is. But by framing opposition as a failure to appreciate AI’s potential, the governor sidesteps the actual concerns residents have been raising, chief among them is who gets to decide the future of their community. After all, this is a project that was forced in by a lawsuit after local officials voted it down.
The image of Whitmer hiding behind a folder in the Oval Office may have become shorthand for political awkwardness, but the image from Saline Township may become shorthand for something else: the ever-encroaching subordination of democracy to corporate power.
The difference is that in the Oval Office, Whitmer’s initial reaction was to try and disappear. In Saline Township, she wanted everyone to see.
And that, in my mind, is the far more politically awkward picture.
Michigan Advance is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Michigan Advance maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jon King for questions: info@michiganadvance.com.
