Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a potential 2028 Democratic presidential candidate, was ribbed online for seeming to hide her face during a meeting with President Donald Trump in the Oval Office. 

Whitmer was seen temporarily shielding her face from cameras in the Oval Office by holding up a folder, according to a photo by the New York Times. 

She later lowered the folder, as the president spoke to the press and encouraged Whitmer to comment as well. The Democratic governor, who clashed with Trump during his first term regarding her COVID-19 lockdown policies, met with the president to discuss recovery from an ice storm that impacted thousands of Michiganders, funding for the Selfridge Air National Guard base near Detroit, protections for the Great Lakes and the automobile industry. 

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Whitmer, joined by Michigan State House Speaker Matt Hall and several Cabinet secretaries, stood steps away from Trump while he signed executive orders Wednesday. 

“We’re honored to have Gretchen Whitmer from Michigan, great state of Michigan. And, she’s been — she’s really done an excellent job. And a very good person,” Trump said. 

Whitmer told reporters afterward that she thought she was coming into the Oval Office for a one-on-one meeting with the president and was taken by surprise by the press conference. 

Her face-shielding was derided online. 

“Whitmer covering her face is the perfect metaphor for the Democratic Party,” one user wrote. 

Another X user said, “Gretchen Whitmer hiding behind her files in the White House is one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen. This is what my 2 year old does.”

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“Was this the nail in the coffin of Gretchen Whitmer’s political aspirations?” a third user wrote.

Some users joked that Whitmer was “embarrassed” to be photographed with Trump but had no shame in placing a Dorito in the mouth of a podcaster in a 2024 social media post that critics said mocked a Christian sacrament. 

The photo showed Whitmer hiding her face while standing in between Trump aide Natalie Harpe and Deputy Assistant to the President and White House Director of the Office of Intergovernmental Affairs Alex Myer. 

Myer shared the photo on X, writing: “#NewProfilePic.” 

Whitmer was in Washington to deliver a “Build, America, Build” address in which she called for bipartisan cooperation to strengthen American manufacturing. She was at the White House for her second meeting with Trump in less than a month, this time to talk about tariffs that were expected to disproportionately affect Michigan, whose economy is closely tied to an auto industry reliant on trade with Canada, Mexico and other countries.

In her speech Wednesday, which came before Trump announced he was pausing tariffs in most nations except for China, Whitmer highlighted areas of agreement with Trump on tariffs but criticized how they had been implemented.

“I understand the motivation behind the tariffs, and I can tell you, here’s where President Trump and I do agree. We do need to make more stuff in America,” said Whitmer, before adding, “I’m not against tariffs outright, but it is a blunt tool. You can’t just pull out the tariff hammer to swing at every problem without a clear defined end-goal.”

Whitmer’s approach stands in stark contrast to that of other high-profile Democratic governors, many of whom are also seen as potential contenders for the party’s 2028 presidential nomination. But Whitmer faces a more challenging political landscape than leaders such as Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker or California Gov. Gavin Newsom as she represents a state with a divided state legislature and that went for Trump in two of the last three elections.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.