Big money business interests, religious freedom conservatives and small-government activists are asking President Trump to ignore medical and scientific experts and immediately reopen the economy.
Car-honking activists swarmed a statehouse yesterday to protest stay-home restrictions.
Capitol Hill GOP staff are quietly drafting bills to undo the just-passed rescue aid and push Americans back to work.
Behind Trump’s effort to accelerate re-opening the U.S. economy during the pandemic is a contingent of GOP allies eager to have his back.
In the capital cities of Michigan, Kentucky, and North Carolina, hundreds of conservatives staged mass protests yesterday against social distancing orders—and top right-wing media figures are cheering them on.
Despite coronavirus causing over 35,000 deaths in America alone, the pro-Trump and largely mask-less protesters, some of whom flew Confederate flags and open-carried AR-15 and AK-47 variants, gathered to demand an end to outbreak-reduction efforts and a premature return to normalcy.
The largest protest was staged in Michigan, where conservatives formed a tight-knit crowd around the steps of the Lansing capitol building and blocked off surrounding streets in the self-titled “Operation Gridlock” effort.
The protesters’ ire was aimed at Democratic governor Gretchen Whitmer, who, while facing the third-worst outbreak in the U.S., extended Michigan’s stay-at-home order last week to April 30, banning gatherings of 10 or more people and the reopening of nonessential businesses and schools.
She issued the executive action after over 20,000 Michiganders had become infected with COVID-19 and nearly 1,000 had died, leading to capacity issues at Detroit-area hospitals.
The Trump supporters are at odds with health professionals who warn of potentially deadly consequences from easing coronavirus stay-home restrictions too soon.
The mobilization is reminiscent of the tea party rebellion a decade ago, when conservatives roared against federal intervention in recession recovery.
It’s drawing a similar band of deficit hawks alarmed by the $2.2 trillion rescue package, religious congregants who say their right to worship is being violated and conservative lawmakers warning of a slide toward big government “socialism” with expanded safety net programs.
“How do you rein in some of the tyrannical enforcement?” said Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., the chairman of the House Freedom Caucus, in a radio interview.
Economist Stephen Moore is leading a new coalition to fire up activists nationwide.
The conservative Heritage Foundation put forward a five-point re-opening plan.
Republicans discuss options almost weekly on the House GOP’s private conference calls.
“It’s about promoting liberty and freedom,” Moore said. “It’s about stopping spending that will bankrupt the country and getting the $20 trillion engine that is the American economy started again as soon as possible — as in tomorrow.”
Early on in the crisis, Trump’s instinct to re-open was kept in check by two unlikely forces — the health professionals on the White House’s coronavirus task force and the Trump campaign, which warned that widespread fatalities would be more damaging to the president’s reelection than the economic fallout, according to a Republican granted anonymity to discuss the private assessment.
But as the national stay-home guidelines appear to have limited the virus spread, and the mounting death toll, now beyond 35,000, is less than first envisioned, those political calculations seem to be shifting toward the economic concerns, the person said.
Democrats warn that jumping ahead of public health guidelines could have disastrous effects if Americans retreat from social distancing and spark new hot spots that overrun hospitals with more patients than available beds.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi issued a stark warning for Americans to “ignore the lies” and “listen to scientists and other respected professionals” to protect themselves and loved ones.
“All of us want to resume the precious and beautiful lives that America’s unique freedoms provide,” Pelosi wrote in a letter to Democratic colleagues. “But if we are not working from the truth, more lives will be lost, economic hardship and suffering will be extended unnecessarily.”
Across the nation, though, end-the-shutdown protests are flaring up.
In Texas, conservative state legislators said in a letter to Gov. Greg Abbott it’s ultimately the “individual Texan’s responsibility” to keep themselves safe.
Many are backed by Texas oilman Tim Dunn, who co-authored a similar letter to Trump.