Twitter, @gretchenwhitmer
At this point, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is swimming in sharks.
The governor celebrated her 49th birthday in the most "Big Gretch" way possible on Sunday when her family threw her a "Shark Week"-themed party, which included a fun balloon and what looks like a blue cake topped with Swedish Fish candy.
Thank you all for the birthday wishes! My family picked the perfect theme for this year’s celebration 🤣🦈 pic.twitter.com/F6ty3QULvH
— Gretchen Whitmer (@gretchenwhitmer) August 23, 2020
And that's on top of all of the "Shark Week" swag Discovery Channel recently sent her way.
Thank you to my friends at @SharkWeek for the swag! 🦈 pic.twitter.com/5QoBVh3QNn
— Governor Gretchen Whitmer (@GovWhitmer) August 22, 2020
This all follows Whitmer's viral "hot mic" moment during last week's Democratic National Convention, when the governor joked, "It's not just Shark Week, it's Shark Week, motherfucker," before her speech. While the quip could have been a jab at President Donald Trump — who, according to porn star Stormy Daniels, is obsessed with sharks — Whitmer recently told BuzzFeed News that she had a different intent.
According to Whitmer, she started saying "It's Shark Week" when she was running for governor. Instead of drawing a smiley face on her debate notes, as a coach instructed her to do, encouraging her to be a "happy warrior," Whitmer decided instead to write "It's Shark Week."
"That's just so saccharine, like — a smiley face is not going to make me smile," she said.
She said she was also inspired by a comedian who opened for a Kevin Hart show she saw around the time who was talking about female empowerment.
"Where women used to be demure, now if a woman is talking about menstruation she might say, 'Well, it's Shark Week, mother—,'" Whitmer said. "It's funny and it's about women's empowerment, and it makes me smile. So I would write 'It's Shark Week' on top of my paper."
Regardless, Whitmer joins other Michigan politicians who have famously dropped an "MF" bomb in front of reporters, including former Detroit Mayor Coleman Young and U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib, who said it on her first day in office.
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