Governor Larry Hogan (R-MD) said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union” that it did not make sense for President Donald Trump to be encouraging protests against state stay-at-home orders amid the coronavirus pandemic when the federal government has laid out strict reopening policies.
Host Jake Tapper said, “Protesters gathered in the state capitol yesterday to call for you to reopen businesses, reopen schools. I want you to take a listen to what President Trump said about protests occurring around the country.”
In a clip, the president said, “I mean, I know there are a lot of protests out there, and, uh, I just think that some of the governors have gotten carried away. We have a lot of people that don’t have to be told to do what they’re doing. They’ve been really doing everything we’ve asked them.”
Tapper said, “Specifically I think President Trump is referring to three Democratic governors, and coincidentally, I’m sure, three battleground states for 2020. What’s your response when you hear the president saying that some governors are going overboard?”
Hogan said, “well, look, I think that first of all, I understand the frustration among the people that want to get things open right away, I’m frustrated also. I wish I had someone to protest to. Look, we’re doing everything we possibly can to reopen in a safe manner. But I don’t think it’s helpful to encourage demonstrations and encourage people to go against the president’s own policy. For example, I mentioned earlier, the president’s policy says you can’t start to reopen, under his plan, until you have declining numbers for 14 days which those states and my state do not have. So then to encourage people to go protest the plan that you just made recommendations on Thursday, it just doesn’t make any sense. We’re sending completely conflicting messages out to the governors and to the people as if we should ignore federal policy and federal recommendations.”
Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN
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