Trump urges lockdown states to ‘LIBERATE’
But governors warn president’s tweets put millions at risk of coronavirus
President Donald Trump urged supporters to “LIBERATE” three states led by Democratic governors yesterday, apparently encouraging protests against stay-at-home mandates aimed at stopping the coronavirus.
Washington Governor Jay Inslee, a Democrat, said Trump’s tweets put millions of Americans at risk of contracting COVID-19.
“The president is fomenting domestic rebellion and spreading lies even while his own administration says the virus is real and is deadly,” Inslee said.
A day after laying out a road map to gradually reopen the crippled economy, Trump tweeted the kind of rhetoric some of his supporters have used to demand the lifting of the orders that have thrown millions of Americans out of work. “LIBERATE MINNESOTA!” “LIBERATE MICHIGAN!” “LIBERATE VIRGINIA,” he said in a tweet-storm in which he also lashed out at New York Governor Andrew Cuomo for criticising the federal response. Cuomo “should spend more time ‘doing’ and less time ‘complaining’,’ the president said.
Responding to pleas from governors for help from Washington in ramping up testing for the virus, Trump put the burden back on them: “The States have to step up their TESTING!”
Trump claimed “very partisan voices” had spread “false and misleading
information” about the nation’s testing capacity. But “we’ll help New York and all of the other states get even better on their testing”.
At the same time, at least two Republican-governed states took their first steps toward easing restrictions. In Florida, Governor Ron DeSantis said municipalities could reopen beaches and parks if they could do so safely. In Texas stores could begin selling curbside, nonessential surgery could resume and parks could reopen.
Trump has repeatedly expressed
his desire to see businesses reopen quickly and claimed earlier this week that he had total authority over the matter, even though the lockdowns and other social-distancing measures have been imposed by state.
On Thursday, he outlined a threestep set of guidelines for easing restrictions over a span of several weeks in places that have robust testing and are seeing a decrease in COVID-19 cases, assuring the nation’s governors: “You’re going to call your own shots.”
But governors of both parties suggested they would be cautious in returning to normal, with some warning that they can’t do it without help from Washington to expand testing.
“The federal government cannot wipe its hands of this and say, ‘Oh, the states are responsible for testing,”’ said Cuomo, a Democrat. “We cannot do it without federal help.”
West Virginia Governor Jim Justice, a Republican ally of Trump’s, said he would listen to medical experts in deciding how to move forward.
“I am not going to do something that I feel in my heart is the wrong
The president is fomenting domestic rebellion and spreading lies even while his own administration says the virus is real and is deadly. Jay Inslee, Washington Governor
thing that’s going to endanger our people,” he said.
Democratic Virginia Governor Ralph Northam said he and his staff are focused on fighting a “biological war.”
“I do not have time to involve myself in Twitter wars,” said Northam, a medical doctor.
Worldwide, the outbreak has infected more than 2.2 million people and killed over 150,000, according to a Johns Hopkins University tally based on figures supplied by government health authorities, though it has becoming increasingly clear that the true numbers are much higher.
The official death toll in the US neared 35,000, with about 685,000 confirmed infections.
The shutdowns have inflicted heavy damage on economies around the world. In the US, the crisis has cost at least 22 millions Americans their jobs, pushing the unemployment rate toward levels not seen since the Great Depression.
Protesters fed up with the economy-strangling restrictions have taken to the streets in Ohio, Texas, North Carolina, Kentucky, Virginia, and Michigan. Demonstrations continued yesterday, including one outside the home of Democratic Governor Tim Walz of Minnesota and the Capitol in Oregon. In Idaho, where the governor is a Republican, scores of protesters not wearing face masks stood shoulder-to-shoulder. Some carried signs claiming the coronavirus is a hoax.