State capitals across the nation have seen protests of the measures meant to limit the coronavirus spread. Conservative activists, GOP donors and InfoWars are among those promoting them.
Over the last week, protests against social-distancing orders have sprung up across the country. The crowds have generally numbered a few hundred, been predominantly white and had some carrying firearms.
On Monday, Republican Gov. Brian Kemp of Georgia announced that the state would begin opening fitness centers, bowling alleys, body art studios, barbers, hair and nail salons, and massage therapy businesses on Friday, followed by theaters and restaurants on Monday, April 27. Some Democrats, including Atlanta Mayor Keisha Bottoms, have criticized the decision. In Tennessee, Republican Gov. Bill Lee announced that the state’s stay-at-home order would expire at the end of April.
Story continuesProtests across the Midwest were driven by Facebook groups created by the Dorr family of conservative activists. Ben Dorr is the leader of the Minnesota Gun Rights organization, and along with his brothers, Chris and Aaron, has promoted Facebook groups protesting the guidelines. According to the Washington Post, roughly 200,000 people are members of groups targeting stay-at-home orders in Wisconsin, Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York.
InfoWars has already announced their plans for a second rally this Saturday, writing on their website, “Show the globalists, including eugenicist Bill Gates, the World Health Organization and the CDC, that they can’t suspend freedom in America at a mere whim, and that they can’t force us to wear face masks like the people in Communist China, from whence the Wuhan coronavirus originated.”
Some elected representatives, almost exclusively Republican, are in favor of the pushback. Idaho State Rep. Heather Scott called Gov. Brad Little “Little Hitler” and likened his stay-at-home orders to the Holocaust. Two state representatives spoke at Monday’s protest in Pennsylvania, but avoided making references to Nazi Germany.
Trump’s support of the protests has drawn bipartisan condemnation from governors fighting the virus in their states.
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