Mike Braun: Gretchen Whitmer Stalling Michigan Reopening for Political Purposes

Sen. Mike Braun (R-IN) told Breitbart News during a press conference on Wednesday that Michigan Democrat Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is slowing the reopening of the state for political purposes.

Breitbart News asked Braun if he thought any Democrat governors were stalling the reopening of the state for political purposes, to which Braun said that Whitmer, one of former Vice President Joe Biden’s potential running mates, could be keeping the state under lockdown to benefit her party.

Braun said, “Good question. I think that one of them might have been a neighbor of ours to the north. And, I think that you’ll have that full accountability once we get this in the rearview mirror for what the right approach was. I’m guessing the UP didn’t like the one-size-fits-all. I think that will be the biggest takeaway when we can dispassionately look at it, that that was a flawed approach from the get-go.”

Braun said that one-size-fits-all may have not been the best approach and that the reopening strategy should be focused on the region. He also said that many businesses could have been open by practicing social distancing.

“Even in New York, Upstate New York would have been different from New York City and every county … probably should have had an approach tailored to what the experts said needed to be done to make sure you respect the disease,” Braun explained. “Don’t give it any leeway and we could have done two things at once. I cite downtown Jasper. My wife has had a business there for 42 years this September. That idea of essential and nonessential was kind of a bad way to look at it in the first place. It should have been which businesses could have done the main guidelines of six feet of distancing, don’t put any vulnerable individuals in peril, hygiene, and those are still the things we’re working with. You either pay attention to the rules or you’re going to pay the consequences for not doing it because it’s a tricky disease.”

He continued, “When we debrief, this one-size-fits-all … that happens often when you have bureaucrats and folks that don’t think more out of the box. I’m just glad we’re getting more to the transitioning to where the economies are opening.”

“I can tell you for certain, the federal government is not in any way a replacement for the real-world economy,” Braun added.

Sean Moran is a congressional reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter @SeanMoran3.