Michigan Gov. Snyder Refuses To Weigh In On Whether President-Elect Donald Trump Is Qualified To Lead Nation
DETROIT (WWJ) - They might belong to the same political party, but that doesn't mean they like each other.
Although he never endorsed Donald Trump for president and he's been critical of the now President-Elect, calling some of his past remarks "revolting and disgusting," Governor Rick Snyder says he's hoping to improve relations with Capitol Hill.
"It's exciting to have the election over and let's move forward," Snyder said live on WWJ Newsradio Wednesday morning. "The people have spoken... they're upset with Washington and we need to see change there. So, we'll have President Trump hopefully going to work with Congress on showing improvements in DC."
The Republican governor didn't reveal who he voted for and dodged questions on whether he personally believes Trump is qualified to lead the nation.
"Again, I think the people have spoken. The majority of people believe he's qualified to be president so lets move forward," said Snyder. "Let's get America headed the right direction."
Snyder went on to say that his lack of support for Trump shouldn't affect how the state is regarded in the future.
"I think I did the right thing. Again, as governor of Michigan my main interest was state races. And the state races generally turned out very favorable in terms of what I believe is needed to keep moving Michigan forward," he said. "I want us to have a good relationship with the president, that's something important for Michigan and so yeah, I'll be working hard to build a constructive and positive relationship."
In fact, Snyder believes Trump could actually use Michigan as a model for how to address the nation's problems.
"If you look at Michigan, we did very similar things a few years ago in terms of saying we need to take a new approach to doing things. I hope they look to Michigan at a good guide on some of the lessons learned on how you can turn around a state," he said. "We need to get our country better and stronger and hopefully they can look at what we've accomplished here."
The presidential race in once-reliably Democratic Michigan was too close to call early Wednesday, as votes are still being counted in the state after Trump won nationally over Democrat Hillary Clinton.