DONALD Trump has been widely hailed online after appearing to catch one of his Democratic opponents off guard.
The president ended up forcing the rival politician into addressing service personnel at an air base in Michigan on Tuesday when she didn’t expect to do so.
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Trump praised Gretchen Whitmer, a potential Democratic presidential candidate in 2028, for her role in saving the Selfridge Air National Guard Base – a facility that had faced potential shutdown.
He revealed she did a “very good job” and praised her – even though he admitted he didn’t know if “he was supposed to do that.”
After rounding off his remarks, Trump invited Whitmer to speak and she made a stark admission.
“I hadn’t planned to speak,” she confessed.
She paid tribute to those who serve before sharing a handshake with Trump.
But, viewers were quick to praise Trump after he appeared to catch Whitmer off-guard.
One conservative commentator claimed it must’ve been “torture” for Whitmer to speak at the event.
“He’s a master troll,” he quipped.
“He truly does own her.”
Others claimed Trump is the “master” and labeled the Whitmer move as “masterful.”
Earlier on Tuesday, Trump and Whitmer shared a warm embrace as he arrived at the air base.
Trump, wearing his trademark red MAGA baseball cap, hugged Whitmer, who was wearing a camo-style hunting hat.
The president patted her arm as the pair shook hands outside the base.
Trump and Whitmer’s meeting came just weeks after she was pictured in the Oval Office covering her face with a blue binder.
How Trump changed the world in first 100 days
Donald Trump has signed over 140 executive orders in his first 100 days back in office. After making a slew of promises before re-entering the White House, what has he achieved so far?
Education:
Trump signed an executive order to cut federal money to schools that support or are seen to “push critical race theory, transgender insanity, and other inappropriate racial, sexual or political content” onto children.
He has also signed an order to cut funding to schools that have a mandate about vaccines and masks.
The President is also working on closing the federal Education Department and pulling back on DEI policies and programs, directing the federal government to end its diversity and equity programs.
Classified Records:
In March 2025, the White House released the classified documents on the assassination of JFK, something Trump vowed to do in October 2024 “immediately” after re-entering office.
Energy:
In September 2024, Trump vowed to declare a national energy emergency to push for more drilling and boosting “domestic energy supply” which he did when he signed an executive order upon entering the White House.
Another promise he has kept was signing an executive order to remove the US from the Paris Agreement.
Two other orders Trump has signed are working to keep his promises to end state emissions waivers that limit sales of gas-powered cars and to bring an end to the “electric vehicle mandate.”
Foreign Affairs:
The President vowed to end the Russia-Ukraine war soon after entering office and has become a key negotiator between the warring nations.
Though he has so far failed to end the bloodshed, his action has moved talks on to finding a ceasefire agreement.
He also criticised the amount of US funding going to Ukraine, quickly ramping up pressure on European allies to take on more of the burden.
As part of his diplomacy and foreign strategy, Trump has already hosted at least 11 world leaders in his first 100 days with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu being the first leader welcomed to the White House on February 4.
Government:
Trump said he would fire government employees who he says are “corrupt bureaucrats” which is something he has addressed via another executive order.
He also established DOGE to root out blockers to efficiency with Elon Musk brandishing the “chainsaw for bureaucracy.”
DOGE cuts have seen major reductions in the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and attempts to make cuts in the Department of Education.
Cuts of $47.4 billion have been made to the Department of Health and Human Services while over $45 billion has been taken from the Agency for International Development, and $2.6 billion has been cut from the Department of State, according to DOGE.
Immigration:
The President has long been waging a war on immigration and has signed numerous executive orders in a bid to fulfil his plans.
These include carrying out the biggest deportation in US history to “end the migrant invasion,” ending the constitutional right to birthright citizenship, banning refugees from Gaza and removing the student visas of those deemed to be pro-Hamas protesters, “radical anti-American and anti-Semitic foreigners.”
He also signed an order to start “ideological screening” for all immigrants and axed the CBP One app used by migrants to schedule appointments US border patrol agents.
Illegal border crossings from Mexico are now the lowest they have been for over four years but there are fears that some of those being deported under Trump’s action against “killers and thugs” are innocent and are not being given due process.
Pardons:
Trump has pardoned over 1,500 people including the majority of those convicted or charged in the Capitol Hill riots on January 6, 2021.
He has also pardoned Ross Ulbricht, the founder of a dark web marketplace known as Silk Road and Charles Kushner, Ivanka Trump’s father-in-law who was in prison for tax evasion, witness tampering, and campaign finance offences.
Tariffs:
In November, Trump said he would “tariff the hell out of countries that have been taking advantage” of the US, something he is continuing to work on after his “Liberation Day” announcement of a “reciprocal tariff” strategy with tariffs up to 145%, most harshly impacting China.
Taxes:
Through congressional action, the President has started cutting corporate tax rates to 15%, make tax cuts permanent, have no tax on tips, scrap taxes on Social Security and overtime pay, and making interest on car loans entirely tax deductible.
She had a meeting with Trump to discuss funding for an air base.
Whitmer later explained why she covered her face with the folder.
“I don’t want my picture taken,” she told an audience at the Detroit Economic Club.
“That’s all it was. I kinda wish I hadn’t put my folder up in front of my face. But whatever.”
Whitmer even recreated the picture during the sit-down at the Economic Club.
Trump is celebrating the first 100 days of his second term.
And, he claimed it is the most successful 100 days of any president.
“This is the best, they say, 100-day start of any president in history, and everyone is saying it,” he told diehard fans.
“We’ve just gotten started. You haven’t even seen anything yet.”
Everything Trump has said about a third term
Is Donald Trump serious about running for office again in 2028?
Rumours about a third term were first sparked in January 2025 when Trump told supporters it would be “the greatest honour of my life to serve not once, but twice or three times or four times.”
But he later said it was a joke to provoke the “fake news media.”
However, in March, Trump then said he was “not joking” about running for a third or even a fourth term.
But in doing so he would break a long-standing constitutional barrier from 1951 that states “no person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice.”
He said that there are “methods which you could do it.”
One of the methods posed to him to become President again and bypass the 22nd Amendment is for JD Vance to be elected who would then “pass on the baton” to Trump who admitted “that’s one” option.
The 45th and 47th President also claimed that “a lot of people want me to do it” but that “it is far too early to think about it.”
In April, he appeared to double down, saying that the 2028 bid would be “a big shattering” after his real estate company, the Trump Organization, dropped a new version of Trump’s classic “Make America Great Again” hat reading “Trump 2028”.
However, in the same interview, he then admitted: “It’s not something that I’m looking to do. And I think it would be a very hard thing to do.”
Trump will be 82 at the end of his current term.
Trump claimed a revolution of common sense had taken place over the past 14 weeks.
But, he has been embroiled in a tit for tat trade war with China.
The two nations have slapped eye-watering tariffs on each other.
Tariffs on Chinese imports entering the US now stand at 145%.
While, Chinese Communist Party elites have slapped tariffs of 125% on American goods entering Beijing.
Nations around the world were left reeling when the president unveiled a sweeping set of tariffs on April 2 – what he described as Liberation Day.
Trump has also threatened to turn Canada into America’s 51st state and doubled down on his pledge to buy Greenland.
The president’s threats irked Canadian prime minister Mark Carney, who won the country’s parliamentary elections.
He claimed the US needs the island for security reasons.
Trump has even touted the idea of running for a third term as president, potentially upending decades of constitutional norms.
The 22nd amendment of the US constitution states no person shall be elected to the office of President more than twice.
Trump also promised he would end the Ukraine-Russia meatgrinder conflict within 24 hours.
But, he has failed to reach a deal more than three months into his term.
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