Tuesday, April 07, 2020

WILL THE RIGHT-WING RANK-AND-FILE REBEL AGAINST CORONAVIRUS RESTRICTIONS?

So I was just reading a Free Republic thread in which one Freeper wrote this:
Once the All Clear is Given, How can Trump counter Governors Keeping their States Closed

... Let’s assume that in the coming 2-3 weeks, Trump gives the all clear that its time to get back to work. We already have several governors just looking for any reason to keep things closed. Inslee in WA just shut the schools down for the rest of year. Murphy in NJ is talking well into May before he opens things up. Cuomo will probably be a bit more flexible in NY but not much. Northam has VA closed until June. Wolf has PA closed indefinitely. DeWine has Ohio until May.

Point is, Trump can give the all clear but the governors can choose to keep their lockdowns continuing to hurt the economy. In an ironic way, it’s the states rights argument that conservatives have always championed. Of course, Democrats corrupt it for their own purposes. So, thoughts on how this opens back up uniformly and quickly to get the economy rolling again.
Here are some of the responses:
Good question. I’m more afraid of Comrade Governors and Comrade Mayors than I am of the virus. Cuomo and de Blasio will be very stubborn to give up the dictatorial powers.

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The citizens of each state will get fractious with stupid governors and their will be widespread ignoring of governor’s orders at the county level if they keep the stupid going.

The more the governor’s piss off their citizenry, the more likely that state will flip to Trump. Wait for it.

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Ongoing Federal Grants to States that go back to work.

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I think the best way is that when Republican States open up, pressure will build -very- fast on the Dem states. Very quickly it will become unbearable.

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Don’t give them any money. They are already begging after four weeks. If they want to starve the people in their States, then they will have to deal with it.

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He could start visiting states that open back up and touting each company that does so. That would be a start. Having a President walk around helps to create the atmosphere of safety. I doubt states will sit on the sidelines for too long.

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The people will take care of it. You can’t arrest everybody.

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The president probably has no authority to overrule a governor. What he CAN do is tell them that they’re on their own and will not be made whole when their tax revenues disappear while they’re shut down.

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He can use tanks!
Just after reading that, I saw this in The New York Times:
A ‘Liberty’ Rebellion in Idaho Threatens to Undermine Coronavirus Orders

SANDPOINT, Idaho — Inside an old factory building north of Boise, a few dozen people gathered last week to hear from Ammon Bundy, the man who once led an armed takeover of an Oregon wildlife refuge.

The meeting, which appeared to violate orders by Gov. Brad Little of Idaho to avoid group gatherings, was an assertion of what Mr. Bundy said was a constitutional right to peacefully assemble. But Mr. Bundy said he also hoped to create a network of people ready to come to the aid of those facing closure of their businesses or other interference from the government as a result of the coronavirus outbreak.

“If it gets bad enough, and our rights are infringed upon enough, we can physically stand in defense in whatever way we need to,” Mr. Bundy told the meeting. “But we hope we don’t have to get there.” ...

State Representative Heather Scott, a Republican from Blanchard, northwest of Coeur d’Alene, is encouraging her constituents to push back on the statewide stay-at-home order, saying people have “a God-given constitutionally protected right to peacefully assemble.”

Tim Remington, a Coeur d’Alene pastor who was appointed to the State House of Representatives in January, led a church service on March 29, four days after the stay-at-home order went into effect, that was open to the public....

Mr. Bundy said in an interview that a group in the Boise area was looking for a venue to host an Easter service this coming weekend with a potential crowd of 1,000 people. Mr. Bundy said a man in Twin Falls hoped to host communion in a park. And Mr. Bundy himself is now leading regular meetings with dozens of people to assess how to fight back against what he calls government overreach, including with a physical presence if necessary.

“I will be there, and I will bring as many people as I can,” he told those who attended the meeting he convened on March 26, a day after the statewide stay-at-home order went into effect. “We will form a legal defense for you. We will perform an active political defense for you. And we will also, if necessary, provide a physical defense for you, so that you can continue in your rights.”
But is this representative of right-wing thinking? In a HuffPost/YouGov survey released last week, at a time when President Trump was still talking about reopening the country by Easter, respondents were asked:
If the area where you live lifted all coronavirus restrictions in mid-April, how would you personally act?
By a 70% to 22% margin, respondents chose "I would still try to stay home as much as possible" over "I would go back to living as normally as possible" -- and even Republicans chose staying home 60% to 38%. So it appears that GOP voters fear covid-19 and want to continue staying as safe as they can -- although a considerable minority don't.

I'm not sure how this will change, however, if the numbers get a little better in the hot spots and don't worsen significantly elsewhere. I worry that being against the shutdowns might be good politics in the deep-red parts of America within a month or so. I don't put it past Ammon Bundy and others like him -- drama addicts, all of them -- to occupy some turf just to get on the news again. And hey, maybe they'll get the virus, for freedom. But they might not. (Infection rates in Idaho are still quite low.) If infection rates continue to be concentrated in population centers, we might start hearing from a lot of Crazy Uncle Liberty types very soon.

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