In the lead up to Gov. Matt Meyer and President Donald Trump’s inauguration, which was a single day apart, there was a very curious trend from Democratic governors in swing states or even nearby states.
Both Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Maryland Gov. Wes Moore both insisted they were not the face of the revolution. In fact, Whitmer said that she would not back down on tariff issues — an obvious sticking point as the state is well-known for its history in car manufacturing — but had hoped to work across the aisle for the good of Michigan residents.
Meyer’s inauguration speech also followed the same tone. In the auditorium at Delaware State University, he extended a hand of partnership.
“Let me say this about the new president. I will work with anyone, of any party, who is ready to advance the best interests of the people of Delaware,” he said.
“But I want to make this absolutely clear: if the president or his administration try to take away your health care coverage, or further restrict your reproductive rights, or undermine our schools, or try to come into our communities to harass folks who came to our country, and our state, in search of a better life,” Meyer added. “If they do these things, I will use every power you’ve vested in me as governor to protect our residents, our livelihoods, and our values. That is my pledge to you.”
It’s been quite a month since that speech.
Now, I do not think it’s my role here in this state to expose political opinions about either party. Our role here at the Delaware Business Times is to provide robust coverage of policy, finance and business news in the state and as it impacts our state. Where that policy goes in how it impacts Delaware businesses and decision leaders, we will follow and be asking questions to learn how it’s playing out.
I do want to take time to note another trend we’ve seen play out in Washington D.C. and in our own small state. That’s the control of information we, the press, have received in the days that have followed since both the president and the governor have been sworn in.
I’m one of the rare few Delawareans that consume every single media outlet every morning. So, I’ve been quick to notice an interesting trend here in Delaware. As the News Journal and Spotlight Delaware have closely monitored immigration enforcement policy, there seemed to be a common refrain from both local and state jurisdictions: “we do not comment from engaging in hypotheticals.”
Now, that got my attention. It’s along the same lines I had been hearing from sources in completely different worlds. So that tells me a few things, but the major overarching theme is a non-answer that provides little information for what Delawareans want to know as we progress further into the unknown.
I’ve been having a lot of off the record conversations with people in the weeks since. You are also starting to see a lot more anonymous sources being used in mainstream news here, which definitely was not the case five years before when I got here. Per my talks, that’s to not protect sources from reprisals, but from a federal funding cut from Washington D.C.
There’s a lot of fear happening behind the scenes. People are afraid of being targeted by the new administration. If they step out of line, many in Delaware seem to think that’s tantamount to painting a bull’s eye on a select agency’s back. A lot of conversations are happening right now about trying to figure out how to address questions without waiving a red flag in the Trump administration’s face, lest it wipe out half the state’s budget or decimate Medicaid or start aggressively raiding schools or blocking funding that inadvertently creates the next big idea.
I don’t know about our readers, but the idea that our state business leaders are afraid of the federal government makes me very uneasy. It also makes me wonder where is the unified front we found so easily when we had a public health crisis five years before.
Instead, in Washington D.C., you have the White House now taking unprecedented control over what can be requested under federal information laws as well as making moves to choose who gets to cover the president, and who gets shut out.
You’re also seeing the Washington Post owner, Jeff Bezos, unilaterally deciding that the paper’s opinion section will cover “personal liberties and free markets.”
This is not to say the climate in Delaware is one of retaliation, like we are seeing outside our borders. But the silence, to me, speaks volumes about the need for direction in uncertain times.
Maryland’s Governor —and Meyer’s roommate at one point— started the year by telling the Baltimore Banner’s editor in chief: “I am not the leader of the resistance, I am the governor of Maryland.”
On Feb. 24, Moore came back with a different message.
“I come back from Washington with no illusion about what kind of partnership that this administration is trying to forge with our nation’s governors,” he said.
In Delaware, I’m not certain what message our leaders have received. I am eager to find out.
