Trump tells three Democratic states to ‘liberate’ themselves

President Donald Trump urged Minnesota, Michigan and Virginia to “liberate” themselves on Friday within an apparent criticism of stay-at-home orders in the three Democrat-led states, and traded insults with the Democratic governor of NY.

Trump made the comments in some tweets on Friday, significantly less than a day after unveiling an idea to gradually resume economic and social life following 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 targeted at curbing the pandemic be eased. The governors of the states, who are Democrats, and several public health specialists 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 prevent the spread of the virus had gone too much. He said his tweets weren’t designed to tell the states to lift their stay-at-home orders.

“What they did to some people is very unfair,” he said.

Trump charged that in Virginia, “they would like to take their guns away.” He appeared to have been referring to the state’s governor, Ralph Northam, signing several gun-violence prevention measures such as requiring criminal background checks on all firearms sales.

Democrats denounced Trump’s tweets. “The president’s statements this morning encourage unlawful and dangerous acts,” Washington Governor Jay Inslee, a Democrat, said in a statement. “He is putting millions of folks at risk of contracting COVID-19. His unhinged rantings and calls for people to ‘liberate’ states could also cause violence.”

The brand new guidance Trump announced Thursday depends on governors to decide when their states are ready to attempt to reopen businesses and schools, predicated on declining indicators of infections and health-system readiness. The program was faulted by some Democrats and others since it does nothing to handle 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 trying to reopen the economy. Trump also tweeted on Friday that “the States have to intensify their TESTING!”

Michigan Protests

Michigan, a crucial 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 become a running mate for presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden.

Trump in addition has made a push to win Minnesota, a long-time Democratic stronghold that he narrowly lost in 2016. In the Friday tweets, he needed Virginia, which includes turned increasingly Democratic, to “save your great 2nd amendment.”

In Michigan, a number of the protesters at the capitol in Lansing bore weapons, and some 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 thoughts and opinions is equivalent to almost 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 additional time ‘doing’ and less time ‘complaining.’ Get out there and complete the job. Stop talking!”

At a news conference on Friday, Cuomo faulted Trump for primarily saying the president had the energy to force states to get rid of 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 previously the power to open the states,” Cuomo said. The governor also said: “He’s sitting home watching TV, maybe he should get right up and head to work.”

Cuomo is enjoying a surge in his approval rating over his handling of the coronavirus outbreak in NY, with 87 percent 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 percent.