- White House adviser Kellyanne Conway blamed governors on Wednesday for rushing their economic reopens in violation of federal guidelines amid the pandemic.
- “Some of these states exceeded our selection criteria, passed our phases, and opened some of the industries too quickly, like bars,” said Conway.
- “Remember that the governors wanted complete freedom over when their states would open,” he said. “They generously pushed back Republicans and Democrats when it was falsely rumored that the President was to be in charge of reopening the states.”
- Far from being a false rumor, the president insisted in April that he had “full” authority to order states to reopen.
- Finally, Trump used his bully pulpit in the White House to urge states to quickly reopen and citizens to protest the blockades he considered too stringent.
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White House adviser Kellyanne Conway blamed governors on Wednesday for rushing their economic reopens in violation of federal guidelines amid the pandemic.
“Some of these states overlooked our selection criteria, went through our phases, and opened some of the industries too quickly, like bars,” Conway told reporters outside the White House.
He pointed out that it was the governors, not the president, who controlled the reopening process after state closings, and are therefore to blame for devastating new outbreaks in many parts of the country.
“Remember that the governors wanted complete freedom over when their states would open,” he said. “They generously pushed back Republicans and Democrats when it was falsely rumored that the President was to be in charge of reopening the states.”
He added from the president: “He is a federalist. He believes in the rights of the states.”
Far from being a false rumor, the president insisted in April that he had “full” authority to order states to reopen.
“The President of the United States makes the decisions,” Trump said during a press conference on April 13. “They cannot do anything without the approval of the President of the United States.”
The President falsely claimed that there were “numerous provisions” in the Constitution that allowed him to override governors.
“When someone is the president of the United States, the authority is total,” he said.
Constitutional law experts rejected Trump’s claims at the time, noting that the president has no authority to order states to loosen social distancing or reopen businesses and schools. Those decisions are entirely under the control of state governments.
Finally, Trump used his bully pulpit in the White House to urge states to quickly reopen and citizens to protest the blockades he considered too stringent.
Conway correctly noted Wednesday that Trump publicly criticized Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, a fellow Republican, when he became one of the first governors to reopen nonessential businesses amid the pandemic.
But he did not mention that Trump criticized states that implemented stricter closures while struggling to contain their Covid-19 outbreaks.
Within days of claiming to have “full” authority in the state reopens, Trump called for “liberation” of Minnesota, Michigan and Virginia, all of whom have Democratic governors who imposed strict closings. Their calls came amid relatively small but well-publicized protests against blockades in all three states.
Trump told reporters that he thought protesters were listening to him.
“I think they are listening,” he said April 16. “I think they had listened to me. They seem to be protesters who love and respect me, and my opinion is the same as almost all governors.”
He went on to say that “large parts of the country” were ready to start reopening. Many of the states that the president encouraged in the reopening did not meet the Trump administration guidelines that set certain thresholds that states had to meet before reopening.
In early May, the White House released the first set of guidelines developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to help schools, businesses, and churches reopen. The president deemed the recommendations too strict and forced the CDC to issue new and relaxed guidelines.
In one example, Arizona reopened with new cases on the rise, without evaluating its residents enough, and with a positive evaluation rate that is too high, violating key federal guidance. Trump traveled to Phoenix in late June to hold a campaign rally that did not require social distancing or wearing masks, even when the state outbreak worsened.
Now the virus is emerging in parts of Sunbelt and West. Arizona, Florida, and South Carolina have the most new coronavirus sites anywhere in the world.
—The Hill (@thehill) July 22, 2020
