Gov. Maura Healey could learn a thing or two from Michigan Gov.  Gretchen Whitmer, a fellow anti-Trump progressive Democrat.

And that is how to help your state by moderating your persistent anti-Trump rhetoric.

Or so “Big Gretch” would have you believe.

Whitmer, 54, like Healey, also 54, is a long time Joe Biden supporter and a long time critic of President Donald Trump. She was considered a possible Biden running mate in 2020.

She headed Biden’s Inaugural committee and was chosen to give the Democratic Party response to Trump’s initial state of the union address in Trump’s first term. She is considered a possible 2028 presidential candidate.

Not being an attorney general, Whitmer did not sue Trump 100 times in four years the way Healey did during Trump’s first term when she was AG.

But Whitmer routinely attacked him, calling him a bully, while Trump made a habit of retuning the insults.

That was then and this is now.

What changed?

Well, Trump was resoundingly elected in 2024, carrying Michigan in the process, a rare Republican feat.

What also changed was Whitmer’s realization that to help her state she had to make a political accommodation with Trump, which she did. It meant putting her constituents above her politics.

First came an Oval Office meeting with Trump brokered by Michigan House Speaker Matt Hall, a Republican, to discuss Michigan issues, which included an air base, Asian carp devastation of Lake Michigan and help dealing with a recent ice storm. Trump delivered on all three.

That was followed by Trump’s visit to Selfridge Air National Guard Base a week ago where Trump announced the establishment of a new fighter mission for the base that saves 600 Michigan jobs and represents a $850 million economic windfall for the state.

Whitmore greeted Trump warmly at  the base while Trump praised Whitmer for “the very good job” she was doing for her state. Whitmer said she was “really damn happy” with the announcement that was “crucial for the Michigan economy” as well as for homeland security.

Whitmer was immediately taken to task by left-wing zealots of the “resist Trump” movement for working with the president even though it benefited her state.

“This is a BFD and I’m glad that we got it over the finish line,” she said.

She said, “It doesn’t mean I’ve abandoned any of my values. It doesn’t mean that I’m not going to stand my ground and fight where we have to.  But this is one of those moments where as a public servant, you’re reminded your job is to put service above self, and that’s what it was all about.”

Instead of heeding such advice and helping her state, Healey has gone national and doubled down on her attacks on Trump.  In a You Tube “town hall” last week she joined Governors Tim Walz, Kathy Hochul and JB Pritzker in disparaging Trump.

Trump Two, Healey said, “is far worse than what we saw with Trump One.”

“We need to continue to stand up to him and speak out against what he is doing when he’s doing things that hurt people, that hurt our economy— tank our economy — (things that) are illegal and unconstitutional.”

“I see people standing up every day around this country as more and more people are realizing the consequence of Donald Trump and what he is doing. And I just encourage people to continue to stay at it.”

Meanwhile Healey continues to complain about Trump administration cuts in federal grants and programs that Massachusetts has come to rely on, including, for instance, billions for the replacement of the two functionally obsolete Cape Cod Bridges, the Bourne and the Sagamore.

Trump meets with everybody. So, were Healey more concerned with constituents than with politics she, like Whitmer, would swallow her pride and seek a White House meeting with Trump and make a case for money for the bridges, if nothing else. You don’t have to like Trump to work with him.

Healey needs to understand that she works for the people, not the party. Whitmer showed the way.

Veteran political reporter Peter Lucas can be reached at: peter.lucas@bostonherald.com

.