In your wildest imagination, can you see soon-to-be President Donald Trump breaking bread with “that woman from Michigan?'”

Let the laughter begin.

But then brace yourself.

Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is trying to work her magic to see if that can happen.

And no, that is not a joke.

Anyone who has watched those two go at each other over the years, starting with COVID-19 and moving up through the presidential election, knows that there is no love lost between them.

However, the governor is on a mission to patch things up with the new/old president for the good of everyone involved.

Actually, the outreach signals were there for everyone to see just after the election.

While other Democratic governors were putting the wagons in a circle to battle Trump, there was Gov. Whitmer, graciously declining the offer to join the fight.

Instead, she was saying stuff like, “I’ve worked with him before and will try to work with him again.”

And, while other Democrats had a field day dissing some of Trump’s cabinet appointments, she kept her powder dry.

During all that, nobody bothered to take a deep dive into what was really going on.

Turns out, lots of stuff.

However, during a sit-down chat over the holidays on Michigan Public TV’s “Evening with the Governor,” she laid it all out.

The opening inquiry went like this:

“If President-elect Trump was sitting here, would you say to him, ‘Let’s bury our differences, patch them up, and, for the good of the nation, let’s lay the foundation between you and I for a good working relationship?'”

As the question unfolded, the governor nodded her head and even broke a little smile and revealed, “That is how I feel.”

And then it was off to the races as she put some political meat on those bones.

“My job is to work with him and do everything I can to find common ground,” she said. “I understand there will be areas when we won’t be able to find common ground, but I’m hopeful that there are many where we can.”

The governor has two more years to write her history, and, being rather astute about how the game is played, she knows that, at some point, Michigan will need some form of assistance from the White House, and maybe vice-versa, especially when it comes to the auto industry or the Great Lakes.

And, if the door to the Oval Office is closed to her, that impacts the residents of Michigan, and, of course, getting stuff done for her constituents is job one.

Call it practical politics.

But how is she trying to pull that off?

Turns out, she is using back channels in D.C. to send out those feelers, although she was reluctant at first to confirm that when asked about it.

With a sly grin, she volleyed, “If I told you about it, would it still be a back-channel signal?”

And then she laughs while confessing, “I’m going to do everything I can to help the state of Michigan, (and) I want to work with anyone who wants to do that.”

So, just to put a ribbon on the exchange, the governor was advised that all that would be reported, that she was using those back channels to start a new relationship with Trump and it “would not be inaccurate” if that story was printed.

She pauses for just a moment and says, “Yes.”

It would not be wrong.

But why the pause?

“I was thinking about saying ‘maybe,’ but I said ‘yes,’ instead,” she said as she smiled again.

And there was one other smile in the room, too.