President Donald Trump gave his blessing to his right-wing supporters on Friday to “liberate” Democratic states from social distancing and stay-at-home policies as armed protesters continue to swarm state capitals in several states. And Rick Wilson skewered him for inciting what could turn into a civil war.
Trump targeted the states of Minnesota, Michigan, and Virginia on Twitter in response to right-wing protests against measures to prevent the spread of coronavirus, which has already killed over 37,000 people and infected more than 700,000.
He doubled down during a press conference/campaign rally later in the day.
Now his supporters are doubling down on showing up to these protests armed and are blocking streets needed to get patients to hospitals and for essential workers to get get to their workplace. And they are doing it all because they don’t care who dies as long as Trump can re-open the country as early as he wants.
Well, GOP strategist Rick Wilson blasted Trump for inciting civil strife during a pandemic in a new column for The Daily Beast.
“Donald Trump fired the first shots in the COVID Civil War this week, a modern-day Jefferson Davis of the Pro-Plague States of America sending his opening salvo from Fort Twitter at Democratic governors who dared to question if it wasn’t just a wee bit early to end the stay-at-home orders in states still far to the left of the peak,” Wilson wrote. “He started the week with claims of ‘total authority’ and then cried about a supposed mutiny by mouthy state leaders. By Friday, he was up to calls to ‘liberate’ states.”
Indeed, Trump did claim to have “total authority,” but now is trying a new more violent tactic to force states to bow down to his demands. He even threatened to adjourn Congress.
“First of all, you should understand that none of this—zero, zip, nada —is organic,” Wilson pointed out. “None of this is real. Every bit of it is being pushed on Trump’s behalf via the twin modalities of our doom: Fox and Facebook. The crowds showing up for these ‘liberation rallies’ are lowing cattle, led down a chute to be fed or slaughtered, depending on the day. Their ignorance of their own state as philosophical zombies whose lives Trump is literally willing to sacrifice for a tiny bump in the stock market is breathtaking. Dying for a second-order economic effect will show the libs, right?”
“He wants his rebellion because it feeds into his brand of transgression and he believes it will benefit him politically; Donald Trump’s never tried to liberate a damn thing in his life except for banks from their money, porn stars from their panties, and rubes from their votes,” Wilson explained. “Let’s be clear about the things he’s going to do and the risks he is willing to take with the American people. Trump is telling us bluntly and plainly that he will stoke civil unrest to find a political pathway out of a galactic-scale fuck-up of his own making. He’s willing to let a disease that’s already killed 33,000 Americans due to his inaction and dishonesty spread further, faster, and more widely.”
“Many of the people at his ‘liberation’ rallies may well get or spread COVID-19, just when the country’s continued diligence and caution about flattening the curve through social distancing is most vital,” he concluded. “These engineered protests are taking resources that first responders desperately need to respond to the crisis, not Trump’s crisis actors. The one person who won’t pay a price? Donald Trump. Immune to political pressure, unable to process moral responsibility, and unwilling to put anything above his raw, raging ego and his boundless desire to hold power, he’ll keep badgering his base to start the COVID Civil War, one tweet at a time.”
Trump’s actions will not only kill people because of the coronavirus, but they will also kill people via firearms as well if his rabid supporters become out of control. Order must be restored and these protesters must be forced to go home and stay put. Public health depends on it. If they refuse, lock them up until this crisis passes.
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