Karl Marx once said that history repeats itself, first as tragedy and second as farce. But a recent now you see me, now you don’t performance at the White House by Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer turns that phrasing on its head.

Could there be any more ridiculous image than that of a 2028 Democrat presidential hopeful hiding her face in the office she aspires to?

Sure enough, there was the ever-calculating Big Gretch, trying to avoid being captured by a New York Times photographer after having come to the White House to panhandle for an Air National Guard base back in her home state in addition to some relief funds for the widespread damage done by a recent ice storm. There, her minions hoped, Whitmer’s courage and quick thinking, her willingness to stand resolutely amid the harsh glare of the cameras, would prove to be just the sort of attributes that the hands-off Democrats are so desperately craving.

Oh, wait.

Maybe if I just hold these blue folders in front of my face, I’ll blend seamlessly into the background, and none of my Trump-deranged legions will notice that I’ve been shamelessly sucking up to the Bad Orange Man.

The farcical nature of Whitmer’s would-be cover and concealment was immediately self-evident, and the jokes began writing themselves. “Whitmer covering her face is the perfect metaphor for the Democratic Party,” quipped one X poster.

Another poster, though, rode to the governor’s rescue by contrasting Donald Trump’s age with Whitmer’s, uh, youth and vitality. “This is what my 2-year-old does.”

On the bright side, though, Whitmer’s antics have given a much-needed economic jolt to a long moribund toy doll industry.

Governor Whitmer - Folders of Invisibility - Animated pic.twitter.com/GJ5mmajvb3

— John Welty (@ApostleJohnW) April 14, 2025

Appearing on “Gutfeld” last night, Canadian funnyman Harland Williams downplayed Whitmer’s deployment of the Folders of Invisibility and her one-upping of a card-carrying football coach trying to ward off the lip readers. Instead, he focused on Whitmer’s wardrobe. “I think the real crime,” he said, “is that she went to the Oval Office dressed as Captain Crunch.”

No doubt sensing the shrinking of the sad-sack Democrats’ 2028 presidential field, The New York Times did its best excuse-making on behalf of Whitmer. “Then Mr. Trump’s aides surprised her on Wednesday by ushering her into the Oval Office not for her scheduled one-on-one meeting with the president, but for a politically loaded appearance before the press corps. She found herself an unwilling participant in his unending reality show, with photos of her rocketing around group chats of Democratic strategists who wondered what on earth she was doing.”

So, you see, the mean old president caught poor Gretch off guard. It’s funny, though; she didn’t seem to be too camera-shy back in October when she joined forces with a social media influencer to blaspheme the Eucharist.

To its credit, though, the Times does expose Whitmer for her efforts to have it both ways. Lately, and unbeknownst to most, she’s been kind and deferential toward Trump — but only on the down-low, so as not to alienate her party’s hard-left base. “The day after the inauguration,” as the Times tells it, “Ms. Whitmer penned a handwritten letter — which has not been previously reported — congratulating Mr. Trump, saying she looked forward to working together and praising his support for the auto industry in his first address, according to a person who relayed the text of the letter. Ms. Whitmer included her cellphone number and invited Mr. Trump to call her if she could be of any help to him.”

Yet she can’t be seen publicly as a guest of the sitting president? This is disqualifying, and every sober-minded voter knows it. If there’s one thing the Left hates, it’s being laughed at. And Whitmer is now a laughingstock.

We’ll say this about Bill Maher and his meeting with Trump: At least he had the guts to stand up for what he believes in, even if it meant having a Sister Souljah moment with his supporters.

Not so for Gutless Big Gretch.