A protest movement is taking hold targeting states that have extended social-distancing rules, closed schools, and restricted access to large religious gatherings. And it’s being fed by loyalists and political allies of President Donald Trump.
At issue are seemingly contradictory directives from Trump—who said on Tuesday that his team was in the process of drafting new guidelines that would allow some states to bring critical industries back to work, possibly this month—and public health officials and many governors, who have urged people to stay home as the number of coronavirus-related deaths continue to rise.
The tension has prompted Republican lawmakers and supporters of the president to publicly call for Americans to defy their local orders, claiming they infringe on constitutional rights.
On Monday, Richard Grenell, acting director of the Office of National Intelligence and the U.S. ambassador to Germany, posted a photo of the Bill of Rights on Instagram with a title “Signed Permission Slip to Leave Your House.” Below the post, in the caption, Grenell wrote, “Love this!” A reporter tweeted the post after its publishing saying, “Seems the top US intelligence chief ADNI @RichardGrenell isn’t a fan of the stay at home orders.” Grenell responded, “‘Seems’ Grenell is a fan of the Constitution to me.”
The calls for defiance have grown so much so this week that officials inside the Trump administration coronavirus task force have begun discussing how to reconcile the growing discomfort of the president and his allies while also ensuring more Americans do not further contract the virus. One official told The Daily Beast that there is concern among task force officials that once they loosen the social-distancing guidelines for some portions of the country, Americans living in hot-spot areas will follow suit even if they’ve been asked to remain at home.
Jesus …
But this isn’t really new, is it? The hardcore right believes they have the god-given right to kill the rest of us. This is fundamental to their notion of what constitutes “liberty” — the right of another to stay alive never supersedes the right of others t o kill you, whether from a virus or a gun or a lack of health care if you are sick. Under Trump it’s become a death cult.
That they fatuously call themselves “the party of life” because they care more about a potential life inside the womb than they care about any actually living human being is particularly rich.
I am not surprised they are doing this. In fact, I’m surprised it took them so long.
More than eight in 10 voters, 81 percent, say Americans “should continue to social distance for as long as is needed to curb the spread of coronavirus, even if it means continued damage to the economy.” Only 10 percent say Americans “should stop social distancing to stimulate the economy, even if it means increasing the spread of coronavirus.” Nine percent of voters have no opinion.
While Democrats (89 percent) are more likely than Republicans (72 percent) to say Americans should continue the “social distancing” measures, large majorities in all demographic groups say it’s more important to stop the spread of the virus than to resume economic activity that could undermine those mitigation efforts.