Over three-quarters of a million Americans have been infected with the Coronavirus, and over 40,000 Americans have died, but President Donald Trump has been clamoring against the stay-at-home orders meant to try and help stem the spread of the virus. Although his own administration laid out the guidelines that governors have followed, he recently even tweeted for his supporters to “LIBERATE” certain states — which sounds like a call for armed insurrection. This week on CNN, New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman revealed that Trump advisers are apparently worried about the potential consequences for the president’s own supporters attending the scattered protests that he has inspired. If people get infected with the Coronavirus — or injured — responsibility could fall on Trump.
The president is fomenting domestic rebellion and spreading lies – even while his own administration says the virus is real, it is deadly and we have a long way to go before restrictions can be lifted. 2/7
— Governor Jay Inslee (@GovInslee) April 17, 2020
As Haberman explained:
‘This is not 2016. What he is doing is encouraging people to violate statewide orders and these are not by choice issues from these governors — these are mandatory. So you have a president who is doing something that some of his advisers acknowledge is probably not smart public health policy, but they think is probably effective politics for him because it helps him with a certain group of supporters and downplays his own responsibility.’
Former head of DOJ’s Nat’l Security Div Mary McCord: “it’s not at all unreasonable to consider Trump’s tweets about “liberation” as at least tacit encouragement to citizens to take up arms against duly elected state officials of the party opposite his own” https://t.co/a6IcEAvHDT
— Joyce Alene (@JoyceWhiteVance) April 18, 2020
Officials like Washington Governor Jay Inslee (D) have, in fact, been very blunt in their condemnation of the president’s rhetoric and behavior. Over the weekend on ABC, he denounced Trump for encouraging “insubordination” and “illegal behavior” that could get people infected with the Coronavirus and otherwise put them in danger. A virus that’s infected what’s approaching one million Americans isn’t exactly well contained.
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee tells @GStephanopoulos by backing stay-at-home order protests, Trump is encouraging “insubordination” and “illegal activity.”
“It is dangerous because it can inspire people to ignore things that actually can saves their lives.” https://t.co/GMGiSleqvZ pic.twitter.com/iNotZGV2zC
— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) April 19, 2020
As Haberman continued:
‘One adviser I spoke to made the point if someone gets hurt in one of those protests — and we should be clear these protests have been pretty small and scattershot organized as opposed to authentic so far, so we’ll see how durable they are, but if they remain, if someone gets hurt or sick at one of the protests where a lot of people are not wearing masks, that raises the potential stakes for the president and some of his folks are aware of that.’
Watch below:
Trump meanwhile, does not seem to care. He has not relented with his endless diatribes against certain governors, like New York Democrat Andrew Cuomo and Michigan Democrat Gretchen Whitmer.
And that doesn’t even cover the time that he’s spent amidst the pandemic focused on belittling other opponents. This weekend, for instance, he rushed to Twitter to insist that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is an “inherently dumb person.” And this petulant whiner is the person that Americans are supposed to trust to lead the federal government’s Coronavirus response? Seriously?
Nervous Nancy is an inherently “dumb” person. She wasted all of her time on the Impeachment Hoax. She will be overthrown, either by inside or out, just like her last time as “Speaker”. Wallace & @FoxNews are on a bad path, watch! https://t.co/nkEj5YeRjb
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 19, 2020
Governors have indicated that they do not intend to change their own responses to the Coronavirus based on the protests that Trump has encouraged.
Ohio Republican Mike DeWine, for instance, insisted:
‘We have to do what we think is right… and that is trying to open this economy, but doing it very carefully so we don’t get a lot of people killed.’
It’s staggering that it’s not a given that the president himself is prioritizing not getting people killed.
.@GovMikeDeWine on protesters in Ohio calling for the lifting of shelter-in-place guidelines: "We have to do what we think is right … and that is trying to open this economy, but doing it very carefully so we don't get a lot of people killed." #MTP #IfItsSunday
— Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) April 19, 2020
