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.
-
The 5 best nuclear war movies of all time‘A House of Dynamite’ reanimates a dormant cinematic genre for our new age of atomic insecurity
-
Should the US resume nuclear testing?Talking Points Trump vows to restart testing, but China might benefit most
-
The 996 economy: Overtime, Silicon Valley–stylefeature After work, there’s...more work
-
Has Zohran Mamdani shown the Democrats how to win again?Today’s Big Question New York City mayoral election touted as victory for left-wing populists but moderate centrist wins elsewhere present more complex path for Democratic Party
-
Senate votes to kill Trump’s Brazil tariffSpeed Read Five Senate Republicans joined the Democrats in rebuking Trump’s import tax
-
Border Patrol gets scrutiny in court, gains power in ICESpeed Read Half of the new ICE directors are reportedly from DHS’s more aggressive Customs and Border Protection branch
-
Shutdown stalemate nears key pain pointsSpeed Read A federal employee union called for the Democrats to to stand down four weeks into the government standoff
-
Trump vows new tariffs on Canada over Reagan adspeed read The ad that offended the president has Ronald Reagan explaining why import taxes hurt the economy
-
NY attorney general asks public for ICE raid footageSpeed Read Rep. Dan Goldman claims ICE wrongly detained four US citizens in the Canal Street raid and held them for a whole day without charges
-
Trump’s huge ballroom to replace razed East WingSpeed Read The White House’s east wing is being torn down amid ballroom construction
-
Trump expands boat strikes to Pacific, killing 5 moreSpeed Read The US military destroyed two more alleged drug smuggling boats in international waters
