The US President is receiving criticism for explicitly supporting protesters who are opposed to corona protection measures.
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Trump says about the protesters: «I think they are listening to me. It seems to be demonstrators who like me. »
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After the American Revolution, the 13 original US states merged under the Articles of Confederation. From 1781 to 1789 there was political and economic chaos, the central government was too weak and the power of the individual states was too strong. The new constitution brought relief in 1789, but unpleasant memories of that period are currently being awakened.
A national strategy is lacking in the fight against the Cornona virus, instead of leading and coordinating, the Trump administration blames responsibility for containing the pathogen and lifting the lockdown on the states. This in turn did not prevent the President from encouraging his supporters to protest against individual democratic governors and thus politically exploiting the corona crisis.
Trump said in several tweets on Friday that the states of Virginia, Minnesota and Michigan should be “freed” from the virus-related restrictions on public life. Both Michigan, Minnesota and Virginia are “swing states”, and the trio could vote in November’s poll.
Trump’s strikes via Twitter encourage “illegal and dangerous behavior”, his “disturbed tirades” could even “trigger violence”, said Jay Inslee, the democratic governor of the state of Washington, outraged. Indeed, among the demonstrators who protested the lockdown in states like Maryland and Texas on Saturday, there were also republican groups, armed militias and the right-wing nationalist “Proud Boys”.
“Take her to prison,” chanted participants at the protest event in Michigan’s state capital Lansing, referring to the democratic governor Gretchen Whitmer. However, Whitmer and her democratic colleagues are by no means alone in worrying that ending exit restrictions and business closings too early could trigger a second devastating wave of infections.
Republican governors are also worried about this, and they are calling for considerably more tests to see how and to what extent the virus spreads. However, there is still insufficient testing, including a lack of chemical substances for evaluating the tests in the laboratories. So far, however, all of the governors’ demands for greater involvement by the central government in Washington have been unsuccessful.
Anti-lockdown protests in the US: Hundreds of demonstrators came together.
Video: Tamedia
Testing is a matter for the states, said the president, who nevertheless urges that the corona requirements be relaxed as quickly as possible. Trump’s political calculation is clear: The US economy must be started up in June at the latest so that he can present himself as the savior of the nation in the fall of election.
Implode approval values
However, insiders report that close employees warn the president of the political consequences of prematurely moving away from social distancing and quarantine. “It would be a disaster if we opened too early and ended up back where we were before,” an unnamed Trump employee told NBC on Friday.
The warning voices can refer to a new survey by the respected Pew Foundation, which, as a result, causes a rapid opening of the economy to two thirds of those questioned. However, the president and his advisors fear that waiting too long will continue to drive Trump’s polls down. According to Gallup’s demos, the president’s approval ratings have imploded in the past few days: only 43 percent of those polled approve of Trump’s leadership.
–Under constant observation: Trump at a press conference on Friday.
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