Trump takes jabs at Maine’s Democratic governor during visit

GUILFORD, Maine — President Donald Trump used his first visit to Maine as president to lob jabs at the state’s Democratic governor on Friday for not reopening businesses shuttered by the coronavirus and opting for a phased reopening instead.

Trump accused Gov. Janet Mills of not knowing what she’s doing and compared her to a “dictator,” adding the governor was giving away money that could be made during Maine’s busy summer tourist season.

“She’s going to destroy your state,” he said. “I’m not a fan.”

Ahead of Trump’s visit, Mills had urged the Republican president to “check the rhetoric at the door and abandon the divisive words” during his time in the state and lead the country with “courage and compassion” during the national upheaval over the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Trump did not reference Floyd or the protests during his first stop of the visit.

Trump began his visit in Bangor, where he met commercial fishermen and signed an order to reopen fishing waters that were closed in 2016 when the Obama administration designated the first and only national marine monument in the Atlantic Ocean.

The president also used the visit to warn the European Union and China that if tariffs aren’t cut on Maine lobsters, they’ll face retaliatory tariffs equal or higher than those hurting the state’s fishermen.

“The EU has been ripping off” the United States, Trump said adding that Europe and China have been taking advantage of the U.S. for years on trade.

Trump’s trip to Maine was meant to showcase the administration’s work to fight the coronavirus but it attracted hundreds of supporters and opponents of Trump who turned out to demonstrate over the death of Floyd and Trump’s response.

In Bangor, Marie Follayttar, director of Mainers for Accountable Leadership, which helped organize a demonstration, said: “It’s not the right time for him to be coming to our state.”

From there, Trump was traveling to rural Guilford, population 1,500. It is the home to Puritan Medical Products, one of only two major companies producing a special type of swab needed to ramp up coronavirus testing.