President Donald Trump is running as the “law and order” candidate. But that hasn’t stopped him and his campaign from openly defying state emergency orders and disobeying his own administration’s coronavirus guidelines as he holds ever-increasing rallies in battlefield states.
Democratic governors and local leaders have urged the president to reconsider, warning that he is putting lives at risk. But they have largely failed to block the gatherings of thousands of people, which Trump and his team call “peaceful protests” protected by the First Amendment.
“If you can join tens of thousands of people protesting in the streets, gambling in a casino, or torching small businesses in riots, you can gather peacefully under the First Amendment to hear from the president of the United States,” Tim Murtaugh, a Trump’s campaign spokesman said in a statement.
Trump’s refusal to abide by health guidelines, including those drawn up by his own administration, underscores the extent to which he believes projecting an image of normalcy is vital to winning in November, even as the country approaches 200,000 Covid deaths. -19.
Trump has tried to use this summer’s mass protests over racial injustice and police misconduct as a cover for his rallies, arguing that if protesters can rally en masse, so can their supporters. So far, Democratic governors have refused to stand in his way, refusing to become an obstacle to Trump and fuel his narrative that liberals are trying to deny Republicans their First Amendment rights.
The Trump campaign insisted that proper health precautions are taken, including handing out masks and hand sanitizer and checking the temperature of rally-goers.
But the images of thousands of unmasked fans standing shoulder to shoulder remain jarring in a country where sports are still played in empty stadiums and concerts have been largely banned. That’s especially true for those who have lost loved ones or spent months in isolation at home and are concerned that demonstrations will further spread the infection, undermining hard-fought progress. An indoor rally that Trump held in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in June was blamed for an increase in virus infections there.
Trump held an indoor rally at the Xtreme Manufacturing facility in Henderson, Nevada, on Sunday night. The state restricts gatherings to 50 people, according to White House reopening guidelines, but thousands of supporters are crowding into the warehouse space. Relatively few people wore masks.
“This is an insult to all Nevadans who have followed the directives, made sacrifices and put their neighbors before themselves,” said Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak, a Democrat.
The city of Henderson announced Monday that it would fine Xtreme Manufacturing $ 3,000. Sisolak called the demonstration “shameful, dangerous and irresponsible”. But it does not appear that the governor is trying to avoid a repeat. If Trump returns to the state for another rally, said COVID-19 Response Director Caleb Cage, state officials will continue to encourage his campaign to follow state laws and directives.
In some other states, rallies are legal. In North Carolina, an order signed by Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper limits outdoor gatherings to 50 people and requires masks in public, but “activities that constitute the exercise of First Amendment rights” are exempt.
The state’s top public health official, Dr. Mandy Cohen, played down calls for stricter enforcement last week when she criticized Trump for holding a rally at the Winston-Salem airport where thousands of supporters crowded. without masks.
“It’s not really about mandates and compliance. It’s about leadership, ”Cohen told reporters.
“By using the First Amendment exemption for mass gatherings under the governor’s executive order in this way, they are making it that much more difficult for North Carolina to get our children back to school and for people to go back to work safely. safe, ”said Dory MacMillan, spokesperson for Cooper.
In Michigan, political speech is exempt from Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s order limiting the size of outdoor gatherings. And while Whitmer’s office issued a memo saying that people participating in First Amendment activities must still adhere to social distancing measures, the state has not moved to enforce the rules at Trump rallies or during the protests.
“We hope the president cares enough for his supporters and their friends and family to encourage social distancing and the wearing of masks,” said Ryan Jarvi, spokesman for Democratic Attorney General Dana Nessel.
Nevada is a state in which Trump has encountered resistance. His campaign had originally planned to hold a couple of rallies over the weekend in Las Vegas and Reno, but those plans were foiled after the Reno-Tahoe Airport Authority warned one of the hosts that the rally would violate regulations. Governor restrictions and company lease terms. The Trump campaign immediately moved to blame Sisolak for the rejection, but the governor’s office insisted he had no involvement.
Trump told the Las Vegas Review-Journal in an interview Sunday that he “did not believe he was bound” by the order and blamed Sisolak for forcing him to abandon plans for the outdoor demonstrations.
“They canceled six different sites because the governor did not allow it to happen, all external sites,” said the president. The campaign did not respond to questions about the sites they had tested.
The next rallies in Wisconsin on Thursday and Minnesota on Friday will be held in open-air airplane hangars, and neither state limits attendance at outdoor events, even though Covid-19 cases have increased by Wisconsin.
Ashley Mukasa, a spokeswoman for the Winnebago County Health Department, said the county does not have any local ordinance allowing it to issue or enforce local health orders. However, the agency briefed Trump’s advance team on the state mask mandate, it said.
“They wanted to avoid breaking the laws,” Mukasa said.
In Minnesota, where Democratic Gov. Tim Walz has long been reluctant to discuss publicly with Trump, the virus order exempts anything that could limit “the movement of federal officials in Minnesota while they act in their official capacity.” Beltrami County Public Health Director Cynthia Borgen said the state health department had decided that the president’s visit would be included in that waiver, although he will be there to campaign.
For a state activist, Trump’s adoption of the term peaceful protest represents “a new low.”
“Their actions are a mockery of the legitimate peaceful protests that have been taking place in Minnesota and across the country regarding our positions against police violence and brutality,” said Nekima Levy Armstrong, civil rights attorney and former NAACP president. of Minneapolis.
Trump on Monday again drew hundreds of supporters to an indoor event in Phoenix that his campaign marketed as a “Latino for Trump roundtable,” limiting scrutiny, but which had a feeling of something different.
“It’s supposed to be a roundtable, but it looks like a rally,” he told the crowd.
Most of the audience were not wearing masks, although there were tables filled with hundreds of unused masks at the entrance to the event.
Arizona Governor Doug Ducey, a Republican, has consistently refused to criticize Trump for holding large rallies in the state, including a packed campaign event at a Phoenix church in June, when Arizona was seeing an increase in cases of coronavirus.
“The constitutional rights of Arizonans will be protected,” Ducey said. “They have been protected all the time. They are not negotiable. “
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