President Trump is endorsing a little bit of anarchy to start the weekend.
On Friday, Trump sent out repeated tweets calling to "liberate" some states, seemingly in support of protesters demanding their governors reopen businesses and restart the economy. "Liberate Michigan!", "Liberate Minnesota!," and "Liberate Virginia, and save your great 2nd Amendment. It is under siege!" Trump said in three separate Friday tweets with liberal all-caps usage. The tweets came just minutes after Fox News covered protests outside the Minnesota governor's office.
Trump's tweets seem to support an immediate return to normalcy for those states, but as a recent Pew Research study shows, that's the opposite of what two-thirds of Americans want. According to the study released Wednesday, 66 percent of Americans say they're afraid state governments will lift COVID-19 restrictions too soon, as opposed to 32 percent who worry they won't be lifted soon enough.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Experts also warn returning to normalcy without doubling or tripling testing coronavirus capacity would cause a dangerous surge in disease spread and perhaps make previous social distancing efforts worthless.
-
Judge halts Trump’s DC Guard deploymentSpeed Read The Trump administration has ‘infringed upon the District’s right to govern itself,’ the judge ruled
-
Trump accuses Democrats of sedition meriting ‘death’Speed Read The president called for Democratic lawmakers to be arrested for urging the military to refuse illegal orders
-
Court strikes down Texas GOP gerrymanderSpeed Read The Texas congressional map ordered by Trump is likely an illegal racial gerrymander, the court ruled
-
Trump defends Saudi prince, shrugs off Khashoggi murderSpeed Read The president rebuked an ABC News reporter for asking Mohammed bin Salman about the death of a Washington Post journalist at the Saudi Consulate in 2018
-
Congress passes bill to force release of Epstein filesSpeed Read The Justice Department will release all files from its Jeffrey Epstein sex-trafficking investigation
-
Trump says he will sell F-35 jets to Saudi ArabiaSpeed Read The president plans to make several deals with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman this week
-
Judge blasts ‘profound’ errors in Comey caseSpeed Read ‘Government misconduct’ may necessitate dismissing the charges against the former FBI director altogether
-
Ecuador rejects push to allow US military basesSpeed Read Voters rejected a repeal of a constitutional ban on US and other foreign military bases in the country
