- Michigan’s four living former governors gathered near the state Capitol to stress the need for political civility
- In attendance: Republican Govs. John Engler and Rick Snyder, along with Democratic Govs. Jim Blanchard and Jennifer Granholm
- The forum was hosted by the Michigan Civility Coalition, a network of political groups hoping to turn the temp down on political divisiveness
LANSING — Amid national tensions over aggressive federal immigration enforcement, Michigan’s four living former governors met near the state Capitol on Wednesday to urge political civility.
“If you look at Minneapolis, that could be any place in Michigan,” said former Gov. Rick Snyder, a Republican, referencing the Minnesota city where federal agents working to deport undocumented immigrants killed two US citizens last month.
“Think of Grand Rapids,” Snyder told a packed crowd at the DoubleTree hotel in downtown Lansing. “Think of other places in Michigan, and ask yourself the same question: If you would have had that many people showing up from the federal government, what would happen in any community, particularly in the Midwest?”
Snyder, who served as governor from 2011 through 2018, said he thinks the Trump administration immigration enforcement surge went “too far” but is glad it is now being “pulled back,” with border czar Tom Homan announcing earlier Wednesday the withdrawal of 700 immigration agents from Minnesota.
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Former Gov. Jim Blanchard said he hopes the national strife is an “aberration” but suggested there “may have to be more incidents before people – the leadership – brings us back to something more normal,” even if still combative.
“It doesn’t have to be the way it is today in American society,” added Blanchard, a Democrat who served as governor from 1983 through 1990. “It doesn’t. The tone at the top is a lot to do with the issues that we’re dealing with.”
The forum, which saw Govs. Jennifer Granholm and John Engler join calls for political civility, was hosted by the Michigan Civility Coalition, which includes Michiganders for Civic Resilience, the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, the Democracy Defense Project, the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Foundation and the Oakland University Center for Civic Engagement.
A return to civility?
The former governors argued it is not impossible to return to a time of more civil political discourse, but that it will certainly be difficult and require Americans to make a concerted effort and untangle facts from fiction promoted on social media-promoted or opinion-based media outlets.
“I think that this algorithmic slicing, the siloing of people on social media, is a big culprit — and people aren’t swimming in the same pond at all,” said Granholm, a Democrat who served as governor of Michigan from 2003 through 2010. “Their realities, their facts, are completely different because their sources are completely different.”
Blanchard noted that the siloing was no more evident than during the COVID-19 pandemic, when he argued “a couple million people died in this country because we had people out there saying it was a hoax.”
He suggested returning the Fairness Doctrine, a Federal Communications Commission policy in effect from 1949 through 1987, which required broadcast license holders to present balanced and contrasting viewpoints on potentially controversial issues of public importance.
“I think the four of us could agree that we believe in American exceptionalism, but I think we’re going to lose it if we don’t find ways to deal with these issues,” Blanchard said.
With major statewide elections coming up later this year, Engler stressed the importance of televised debates, arguing that journalists had a sizable role to play in the conversation about returning to civil standards of debate.
“Do something to get these candidates for office – after the primary, on television – having debates in statewide broadcasts that everybody watches, or has at least the opportunity to watch,” said Engler, a Republican who served as governor from 1991 through 2002.
The sentiment was met with a round of applause as Engler continued: “The media owes that for the millions of dollars of revenue they’re going to have. They owe an hour to the people of Michigan to put these programs together.”
The Trump factor
Looming over the discussion was President Donald Trump, whose rhetoric has reshaped political discourse, earning him fans and critics alike.
“We’re not sort of civility washing the actions of a president who …. does not demonstrate” values like “presuming goodwill or showing respect, or leading with humility and communicating truthfully,” Granholm said.
Blanchard, a fellow Democrat, also criticized Trump several comments and actions. But neither Republican former governor mentioned the president by name during the forum.
“The greatest threat to America, in my view, is us, and that’s our lack of ability to get along with one another,” Snyder said of current political discourse. “That’s our greatest threat. We need to do something about it. It can’t be something passive. We have to be proactive.”
Following the forum, Engler told reporters he finds Trump “frustrating as a political figure,” because “he throws out clickbait” for journalists. He pointed to Trump’s recent comments about wanting to federalize elections as an example of a “fake news story.”
Trump, who has long disputed his 2020 election loss, said Monday on a podcast that he thinks Republicans should “take over the voting” in at least 15 places across the country. On Tuesday, he said the federal government should “get involved” in elections in Detroit and other cities.
Current Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat, said in a Wednesday statement that Michigan elections “will continue to be run at the state level as clearly stated in the United States Constitution.”
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