Donald Trump has encouraged his supporters to go out in the streets and protest the ongoing social distancing protocols. Trump took to Twitter on Friday where he called on “liberating” Michigan, Minnesota, and Virginia, where his supporters are protesting the stay-at-home orders.
Trump tweeted the following:
LIBERATE MINNESOTA!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 17, 2020
LIBERATE MICHIGAN!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 17, 2020
LIBERATE VIRGINIA, and save your great 2nd Amendment. It is under siege!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 17, 2020
Trump’s Twitter storm drew backlash from advocacy groups and other critics who said the president should be focusing his attention on the lagging federal response to the deadly virus outbreak, not urging people to revolt against state guidelines
“Why is this your priority?” asked Vanita Gupta, president and CEO of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights. “Stop tweeting. People are dying.”
Why is this your priority? Stop tweeting. People are dying.
And please know that you're completely failing to protect incarcerated people from #COVID19 by safely transferring the most vulnerable people to home confinement. You can do this right now. Where is the AG? #FreeThemNow pic.twitter.com/Z0mAm86UDW
— Vanita Gupta (@vanitaguptaCR) April 17, 2020
“I lack words to describe how stupid and dangerous this is,” Ethan Zuckerman, director of the MIT Center for Civic Media, wrote in response to Trump’s tweets. “If social distancing to conquer Covid-19 becomes a political and cultural war, we’re all doomed.”
I lack words to describe how stupid and dangerous this is. If social distancing to conquer #COVID19 becomes a political and cultural war, we're all doomed. pic.twitter.com/rKAIgZfcdK
— Ethan Zuckerman (@EthanZ) April 17, 2020
Vox‘s Aaron Rupar noted that the president’s tweets “appear to have been inspired by a segment he saw on Fox News minutes earlier.”
“At 11:19 [am]—two minutes before Trump’s Minnesota tweet—Fox News ran a segment about small groups of right-wing protesters in Minnesota and Virginia who have been agitating for governors there to relax stay-at-home orders so they can resume normal shopping and traveling activities,” Rupar wrote.
Here's the Fox News segment that inspired Trump's unhinged "LIBERATE MINNESOTA" tweet (as @MattGertz notes it ran just two minutes before Trump's tweet was posted) pic.twitter.com/mHLxCcpoDP
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) April 17, 2020
