There are no signs that this US presidential election campaign is going to get any less zany, fraught and often just downright baffling. <br><br>Among the many examples, we can now add the fracas around Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer feeding a Dorito chip to Liz Plank, a Canadian writer and so-called influencer – admittedly with 611,000 followers on her Instagram page, that's more than the<em> Herald</em> – during a video interview called “Chip Chat”.<br><br>After clips appeared on social media, the bizarre scene ending with Governor Whitmer – wearing a Harris-Walz baseball cap and having "fed" Plank, who appears to be on her knees – turning to look at the camera with an impenetrable gaze, it got very heated with Catholics accusing Whitmer of mocking the Eucharist and the sacrament of Holy Communion.
While social media is not known for facilitating a balanced assessment of events, and Catholic activity on <em>X</em> is no exception, the footage was enough to draw condemnation from Michigan’s Catholic bishops, with its president and CEO, Paul Long, saying that “whether or not insulting Catholics and the Eucharist was the intent, it has had an offensive impact", <a href="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/259835/michigans-gov-whitmer-apologizes-for-how-dorito-video-was-construed"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">reports</mark></a> the <em>Catholic News Agency (CNA).</em>
The defence offered on behalf of Whitmer and Plank, while almost as surreal as the video, does have something to it. Their defenders have cited the CHIPS Act, which is a 2022 Biden administration law known as the Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors and Science Act, a piece of legislation which could be impacted by whoever wins this election.
Those defenders have also pointed out the caption of Plank’s Instagram post of the video that reads: “If he won’t, Gretchen Whitmer will. Chips aren’t just delicious, the CHIPS Act is a game-changer for U.S. tech and manufacturing, boosting domestic production of semiconductors to reduce reliance on foreign suppliers! Donald Trump would put that at risk.”
So there appears to have been a relatively genuine political angle to the clip, as opposed to a religious one. Also, it has been pointed out that Plank was <em>not</em> kneeling. She is sitting on a couch – the angle of the shot and the fact Gretchen is standing as she gives the fated Dorito chip does make it look, upon a quick glance, that Plank could be kneeling.
Regardless all the above, what is perhaps most telling about the whole affair is the fact that Gretchen apologised at the start of this week and focused on the religious element: <br><br>“Over 25 years in public service, I would never do something to denigrate someone’s faith,” Whitmer said in a statement shared with <em>CNA</em>. “I’ve used my platform to stand up for people’s right to hold and practice their personal religious beliefs. My team has spoken to the Michigan Catholic Conference.”<br><br>She added: “What was supposed to be a video about the importance of the CHIPS Act to Michigan jobs has been construed as something it was never intended to be, and I apologise for that." <br><br>While it’s gracious of Gretchen to apologise, and it might seem the obvious thing to put the matter to bed, she could very easily have offered her defence and simply confirmed that, based on all the evidence mentioned above, of course she was not mocking the Eucharist. But she went further, and apologised – to Catholics.
It's a marked difference to the <a href="https://catholicherald.co.uk/olympics-organisers-half-apologise-as-italian-catholics-decry-endless-gay-pride-culture/?swcfpc=1"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">non-apology offered by the organisers of the Paris Olympics</mark></a> after the controversy around the parody of the Last Supper during the opening ceremony.<br><br>In this day and age, public officials and secular institutions tend not to be too bothered about aggrieved Catholics and Christians, especially if the latter have "interpreted/mis-interpreted" something. So in the case of Whitmer's robust apology, might direction have come from higher in the Democratic Party given the current tempo of the tight presidential race? <br><br>There are increasing noises of concern coming from the Democrats, as well as from much of the mainstream media, most of whom – just take <em>PBS</em> (<em>Public Broadcasting Service</em>), for an example – might as well be employed by the party, about how the momentum Harris built up after she took over from President Joe Biden as the party's candidate, has now ebbed, with Donald Trump possibly edging make into poll position.<br><br>And Michigan is one of the seven swing states that are in play this election and could go either way, thereby deciding the final result of who gets the keys to the White House. About 18 - 20 per cent of Michigan's population identify as Catholic. <br><br>The Catholic bloc in the US is significant. Based on a 2023 Gallup poll, a relatively whopping 22 per cent of the US population identify as Catholic. A September survey by the Pew Research Center showed Harris garnering support among 47 per cent of Catholic voters, versus 52 per cent for Trump. It might not seem much, but it could be enough to swing such an apparently tight election.<br><br>A recent article by the <em>New York Post </em>noted that the current US Vice President is “facing the wrath of Catholic voters after years of public hostility towards them”.
<a href="https://catholicherald.co.uk/kamala-harriss-contempt-for-catholic-voting-bloc-could-cost-her-dear-in-such-a-close-election/?swcfpc=1"><em><strong><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">RELATED: Kamala Harris’s contempt for Catholic voting bloc may cost her dear in such a close election</mark></strong></em></a><br><br>“Kamala’s definitely been impacted negatively by a lack of support from Catholic voters,” Ryan Girdusky, a GOP strategist and Catholic, told the <em>Post</em>. “She’s polling worse than Joe Biden among a very important demographic. They are the largest single church in America, the Catholic vote will help decide the presidency.”
At the same time, her opponent, former President Donald Trump, has been <a href="https://catholicherald.co.uk/trump-warns-of-anti-religious-democrat-policies-theyre-really-after-the-catholics/?swcfpc=1"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">openly courting the Catholic vote and warning</mark></a> that the Democratic Party is openly anti-Catholic.<br><br>The penny on that may have finally dropped over at campaign headquarters for the Democratic Party. Hence once that Dorito chip was dispensed with ambiguous “eucharistic” overtures, and Catholics spoke out, the call went out to Whitmer.<br><br>We can't know for sure. It's a maybe, for now. But if so, while in this case it just involved a retraction and apology over a Dorito chip, it suggests that US Catholics might, when they act collectively, have more influence than they realise – perhaps even enough to swing a US election. <br><br>That fact may well leave Catholics in the UK looking on somewhat jealously as they mount what can easily appear a lonely last-ditch effort and stand against a new Bill to legalise assisted suicide – potentially changing British society for ever, as one English bishop warned – while no one else in the country seems to be listening to them or to care much about the matter.
<a href="https://catholicherald.co.uk/christian-churches-are-shamelessly-leaving-catholics-to-fight-alone-against-uks-assisted-suicide-bill/?swcfpc=1"><em><strong><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">RELATED: Christian churches are shamelessly leaving Catholics to fight alone against UK’s assisted suicide Bill</mark></strong></em></a>
<em>Photo: Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer speaks on stage during the final day of the Democratic National Convention at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois, USA, 12 August 2024. Delegates, politicians and Democratic Party supporters gathered in Chicago to see current Vice President Kamala Harris named her party's presidential nominee. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images.)</em>
