Trump blasts Michigan governor Whitmer; crowd chants 'lock her up'
18 October, 2020
U.S. President Donald Trump, who played down the coronavirus pandemic from its onset, criticized Michigan's Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer on Saturday on her behalf policies to curb the outbreak, drawing shouts of "lock her up" from a rally crowd.
Trump made the remarks through the first stop of a three-day trip through critical swing states, a few of which he won in 2016 but that polls show are supporting Democratic rival Joe Biden this season.
The president held large rallies in Wisconsin and Michigan despite rising coronavirus cases in both states. Supporters who attended the rallies didn't maintain social distance. Some wore masks, some did not.
At a rally in Muskegon, Michigan, Trump targeted Whitmer several times, criticizing the state’s rules to avoid the spread of coronavirus, calling her “dishonest,” and making light of a right-wing plot uncovered by the FBI to kidnap her.
"They said she was threatened," Trump said. "And she blamed me." The president has been critical of Whitmer, who was simply a candidate to be Biden's vice presidential nominee, for months.
“Hopefully you’ll be sending her packing pretty soon,” Trump said.
The crowd's chant of "Lock her up!" discussing Whitmer reprised the chants that Trump supporters often direct at former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who lost to Trump in 2016.
Whitmer responded on Twitter to the episode. "That is exactly the rhetoric which has put me, my children, and other government officials’ lives in peril while we make an effort to save the lives of our fellow Americans," she wrote.
Lee Chatfield, the Republican speaker of the Michigan House of Representatives, also commented on Twitter: "Trump didn’t chant 'lock her up' about our Governor. But others did and it had been wrong. She was literally just targeted. Let’s debate differences. Let’s win elections. But not that."
Michigan added 1,791 new COVID-19 cases on Saturday, bringing the state's seven-day total to over 10,000 cases, a fresh record, in line with the state's health department. Wisconsin reported 3,861 new COVID cases on Friday, also a fresh record. Trump won both states four years back but is behind Biden in them this season.
Biden, a former vice president, has hammered Trump for his response to the pandemic, which has killed more than 219,000 people in the usa, the highest death toll on the planet. He said in a statement on Saturday he planned to unite the country to fight the virus if he wins.
"All President Trump offers the persons of Michigan is more lies and distractions - no plan to get the virus in order, no technique for pulling our economy out of this recession, no vision for uniting the united states," Biden said.
'INSECURITY AND ENVY'
His campaign called Trump's remarks about Whitmer "toxic attacks", and said his conduct "reflects his own insecurity and envy of Governor Whitmer's respected record of leadership in a period of crisis."
Trump sought to turn Biden's criticism around on Saturday by saying that his rival would impede the recovery from the outbreak.
"Biden will shut down the united states, delay the vaccine and prolong the pandemic," Trump said at both rallies.
Trump's advisers have long seen Michigan and Wisconsin, together with Pennsylvania, as key to his likelihood of re-election. The president can be playing defense in traditional Republican strongholds, including Arizona, where he plans to campaign on Monday, and Georgia, where he campaigned on Friday night.
He plans to campaign in Nevada, a state Clinton won in 2016, on Sunday.
Trump lags in judgment polls and the most recent figures from his campaign show he's also trailing in fundraising as the race intensifies. Early voting is shattering records, with an increase of than 26 million Americans having already cast ballots.
Biden, who has stepped up travel in recent weeks after keeping a lower life expectancy schedule as a result of the pandemic, remained in his home state of Delaware on Saturday.
His running mate, Senator Kamala Harris of California, is also eschewing travel for a few days after an aide came down with COVID-19.
Harris, speaking on Saturday during a virtual fundraiser, said Trump had exhibited a “reckless disregard for human life” in his response to the pandemic.
She said a Biden-Harris administration could have a vaccine distribution plan that considers “the long-standing & most evident racial disparities which may have wreaked havoc on particular communities.”
U.S. presidential elections are dependant on electoral votes, allotted to U.S. states and territories based largely on their populations, instead of a tally of the popular vote nationwide. Candidates must secure 270 out of 538 electoral votes to win.
Wisconsin has 10 electoral votes, Michigan has 16 and Arizona has 11. Nevada has six electoral votes.
Trump, who usually avoids wearing a mask, repeated on Saturday that the united states is turning the corner on the condition, shortly after the amount of U.S. cases crossed 8 million, rising by 1 million in under a month.
Source: japantoday.com