Trump Tells Three Democratic States to ‘Liberate’ Themselves
Trump Tells Three Democratic States to ‘Liberate’ Themselves
(Bloomberg) -- President Donald Trump urged Minnesota, Michigan and Virginia to “liberate” themselves on Friday in an apparent criticism of stay-at-home orders in the three Democrat-led states, and traded insults with the Democratic governor of New York.
Trump made the comments in a series of tweets on Friday, less than 24 hours after unveiling a plan to gradually resume economic and social life after the peak of the coronavirus outbreak that deferred heavily to governors.
Trump’s tweets signaled support for protests by conservative activists in the three states, who are demanding that economy-crippling stay-at-home measures aimed at curbing the pandemic be eased. The governors of the states, who are all Democrats, and many public health experts say that relenting on the social-distancing orders risks a resurgence of infections and deaths.
Asked about his tweets by reporters at the White House on Friday evening, Trump said some “elements” of the states’ plans to halt the spread of the virus had gone too far. He said his tweets weren’t meant to tell the states to lift their stay-at-home orders.
“What they have done to some people is very unfair,” he said.
Trump charged that in Virginia, “they want to take their guns away.” He seemed to have been referring to the state’s governor, Ralph Northam, signing several gun-violence prevention measures such as requiring background checks on all firearms sales.
Democrats denounced Trump’s tweets. “The president’s statements this morning encourage illegal and dangerous acts,” Washington Governor Jay Inslee, a Democrat, said in a statement. “He is putting millions of people in danger of contracting COVID-19. His unhinged rantings and calls for people to ‘liberate’ states could also lead to violence.”
The new guidance Trump announced Thursday relies on governors to decide when their states are prepared to attempt to reopen businesses and schools, based on declining indicators of infections and health-system readiness. The plan was faulted by some Democrats and others because it does nothing to address a shortage of testing for the virus.
Business leaders and lawmakers told Trump in phone calls this week that the U.S. must increase its testing capacity before attempting to reopen the economy. Trump also tweeted on Friday that “the States have to step up their TESTING!”
Michigan Protests
Michigan, a critical swing state in this year’s election, has seen protests this week spearheaded by a Trump surrogate. Governor Gretchen Whitmer is considered among the frontrunners to be a running mate for presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden.
Trump has also made a push to win Minnesota, a long-time Democratic stronghold that he narrowly lost in 2016. In the Friday tweets, he called for Virginia, which has turned increasingly Democratic, to “save your great 2nd amendment.”
In Michigan, some of the protesters at the capitol in Lansing bore weapons, and a few waved the Confederate battle flag. Asked about the Michigan protests on Thursday, Trump said Whitmer’s social-distancing orders were “probably the most strict of all.”
“I think they listen to me,” he said of the protesters. “They seem to be protesters that like me and respect this opinion. And my opinion is the same as just about all of the governors.”
Cuomo Spat
There were more than 672,200 cases of the virus reported in the U.S., with 33,898 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University. Michigan has reported 2,093 deaths, Virginia had 231 deaths and Minnesota said there were 111.
In another tweet, Trump took aim at Governor Andrew Cuomo of New York, a Democrat who has sometimes criticized the president, saying he should “spend more time ‘doing’ and less time ‘complaining.’ Get out there and get the job done. Stop talking!”
At a news conference on Friday, Cuomo faulted Trump for initially saying the president had the power to force states to end social distancing practices. Trump’s assertion triggered a sharp backlash from governors who said he was overstepping his constitutional powers, and the president later reversed course.
“Maybe he should have read the Constitution before he said he had the power to open the states,” Cuomo said. The governor also said: “He’s sitting home watching TV, maybe he should get up and go to work.”
Cuomo is enjoying a surge in his approval rating over his handling of the coronavirus outbreak in New York, with 87% of voters in support, according to a Siena College poll released March 30. Trump, meanwhile, saw his Gallup approval rating slide six percentage points this week, to 43%.
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