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Conservative activists encouraged in some cases by Donald Trump are promising to intensify street protests against the imposed blockades to stop the spread of the coronavirus, arguing that the restrictions violate their civil rights and threaten their ability to earn a living.
The protests of the past few days echo the turmoil against the establishment that led to the rise of the Tea Party movement a decade ago, and have involved activists who routinely advocate for more traditional right-wing causes, such as the fight against government control measures. weapons.
Denny Tubbs, 67, a local leader of Ohio Stands United, an advocacy group, said he would attend a protest Saturday in the Columbus state capital against closings ordered by Mike DeWine, a Republican governor.
“I’m not saying it doesn’t have to be treated [but] shutting down and crushing the economy is not the way to do it, “said Tubbs, a weapons maker by profession.” Our civil rights have been trampled underfoot. “
While the riots so far have only involved a relatively small number of people in states like Minnesota, Michigan, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, and Florida, it occurs when the US President. USA Expectations of a lifting of restrictions have increased as the death toll from the US pandemic approaches. USA 35,000.
Trump turned to Twitter to support the protests on Friday, a day after he walked away from claims he had “full” authority to reopen the economy and said state governors should make those decisions, according to his guidelines.
“LIBERATE MINNESOTA,” he wrote, before adding, “LIBERATE MICHIGAN,” referring in both cases to the Midwest states where protesters have targeted the restrictions ordered by Democratic governors.
When asked if he was fueling civil unrest, Trump said he believed some of the protests were justified due to “too harsh” restrictions imposed by a handful of governors.
“These are people who express their views,” the president said in his daily White House briefing. “They seem to be very responsible people to me. But they have been treated very hard. “
Several hundred people gathered in front of the residence of Tim Walz, the Minnesota Democratic governor, on Friday to protest with banners with slogans like “Facts, not fear.” The images of the event revealed that the vast majority of them did not practice social distancing.
In Michigan, the state with the fifth-highest number of Covid-19 cases, protests erupted after Gretchen Whitmer, a Democratic governor who has been seen as a possible vice presidential partner for Joe Biden, tightened and extended the restrictions.
Matthew Seeley, a member of the Michigan Conservative Coalition that organized protests against the governor’s policies, said he supported the initial shutdown. But he said the new restrictions, such as what items can be sold in stores, were intolerable.
“The solution cannot be to lock all Americans in their homes, let the economy collapse and when the last case is solved, it can come out of its hole in the ground,” said Seeley, a Republican councilman from a Detroit suburb. “It is not sustainable.”
Some companies have also raised objections. In Columbus, Ohio, the owner of Gilded Social, a store that caters for bridal parties, filed a lawsuit against Amy Acton, director of the Ohio department of health, whom some of her critics dubbed “Doctor Death.”
Maurice Thompson, head of the 1851 Center for Constitutional Law representing Gilded Social, said the lawsuit “was not a tedder that suggested the government cannot have regulations to protect people from a pandemic.”
He said companies should be able to appeal and also request to be considered an essential business, particularly since the penalty for disobedience is up to 150 days in jail.
The resistance has been fortified by the conservative media. Tucker Carlson, host of Fox News, interviewed New Jersey Democratic Governor Phil Murphy this week about his order to stay home and asked, “By what authority did you override the Bill of Rights?”
Tom Zawistowski, a well-known conservative activist in Ohio, said “civil disobedience” would be the next step if the situation is not resolved by May 1. “We will tell them to go to hell, they cannot tell me what to do,” he said. “Our government’s job is to represent us, protect our rights, and instead become tyrants, including a Republican like Mike DeWine.”
Polls suggest that most Americans support the shutdown measures, and a Pew Charitable Trust poll says two-thirds are concerned that the restrictions will be lifted too soon.
Nan Whaley, the Democratic mayor of Dayton, Ohio, said Trump was “cut off from reality” in promoting an end to the blockades because cities lack the capacity to implement the Covid-19 tests necessary to reopen safely. She estimated that up to 20 percent of people in her state harbor anti-blockade feelings.
“There are groups of people who value their economic freedom over someone else’s human life,” he said. “We want to regain people’s freedom when we have PPE [personal protective equipment] and tests. But I have a hard time with the “let them die” attitude.
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