The Republican Governor Getting Under Trump's Skin
WASHINGTON—Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt was about to start a news conference at the capitol building in Oklahoma City last week when his phone rang.President Trump was on the line—and he wasn’t happy.
Trump expressed frustration that Stitt, the Republican chairman of the National Governors Association, was defending a pair of Democratic governors whom the president wanted to bar from a coming event at the White House. “This is the White House,” Trump told the governor, according to people familiar with the exchange. “I can invite whomever I want.”
Trump’s tense exchange with Stitt, which was followed by critical social-media posts about the governor, is emblematic of the tightrope Stitt has been walking as the head of the bipartisan organization of governors. Stitt has gently pushed back on some of Trump’s actions, raising concerns that the president’s muscular use of federal power is stepping on states’ rights. But he is also trying to avoid making an enemy of the president, who maintains a tight grip on the Republican Party.
The tensions will be on display later this week when governors visit the White House for a Friday morning meeting, which Stitt helped organize, and a dinner with the president. Trump excluded Democratic Govs. Jared Polis of Colorado and Wes Moore of Maryland from the events, setting off days of hand-wringing within the National Governors Association over how to respond.
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Trump has continued to insist that Moore and Polis should be barred, a position he reiterated to reporters Monday night aboard Air Force One. Trump has criticized Polis over the case of Tina Peters, a former Colorado election official serving time in prison for her role in a voting-machine security breach, and he has blasted Moore’s record as governor.
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Through the organization, Stitt has sought to bridge the divide with Democratic governors who have assailed the president’s decisions to deploy National Guard troops in cities and conduct immigration crackdowns in metropolitan areas such as Los Angeles, Chicago and more recently in Minneapolis.
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