Fearless governor tells Trump to stick it — to his face. He doesn’t take it well

She defied him. To his face. Imagine that, GOP lawmakers. Imagine that.

In a meeting with governors on Friday at the White House, President Donald Trump was bragging about how he made everyone back down with his executive order banning transgender athletes from women’s sports.

“Every state [has complied],” Trump said. “The NCAA has complied immediately, by the way. That’s good. But I understand Maine ... is Maine here, the governor of Maine?”

“Yeah,” Gov. Janet Mills answered from the side of the room. “I’m here.”

“Are you not going to comply?” Trump asked.

“I’m complying with the state and federal laws,” she said defiantly.

Trump insisted, “We are the federal law” and added, “You better do it,” or he would withhold funding from her state.

He said that even though her state was liberal, he did “very well” there during the presidential election (he lost to Kamala Harris, 52%-45%), and insisted that most people in her state didn’t want transgender female athletes — those who were male at birth — competing in women’s sports.

“You better comply, you better comply,” Trump said, “because otherwise you’re not getting any federal funding.”

“See you in court,” she fired back.

“Good,” he said. “I’ll see you in court. I look forward to that. That should be a real easy one.”

Of course, Trump is losing more often than he’s been winning in court over immigration, citizenship and other issues.

Trump paused and added, “And enjoy your life after governor, because I don’t think you’ll be in elected politics.”

Which, of course, is curious coming from a lame-duck president.

According to the New York Times:

The standoff between the administration and Maine’s leaders continued to escalate Friday. Shortly after Mills’s exchange with Trump, the U.S. Department of Education sent a letter to the state’s education commissioner, Pender Makin, notifying her that it was initiating a “directed investigation” of Maine’s Education Department. The letter singled out one school in particular, citing reports that it had allowed “at least one male student to complete in girls’ categories.”

Hawaii’s Democratic governor, Josh Green, was at the meeting at the White House, too. “Several of the governors I talked to were a little bit distressed by that back and forth,” he said afterward, “because it seemed it was a little bit harsh — and it wasn’t yelling, but it was unnecessary conflict.”

It was just “a moment,” he added, “but she stood firm against him.”