These four men are among the “good people” to whom Donald Trump referred the other day.
They were among those who protested the government restrictions imposed in the wake of the killer virus that has claimed nearly 70,000 American lives. The COVID-19 virus has forced state governments to order businesses to close, imposed shelter in place and stay at home orders, mandated gatherings should not exceed 10 people, and ordered “social distancing.”
The aim of the government restrictions is as noble as it gets: to save lives and prevent illness.
However, some Americans have stormed into state capitol buildings in several states. Donald Trump calls them “good people,” yes, even the fellows pictured with this blog, the guys who are packing assault rifles and wearing masks … that are intended to hide their identity as opposed to protecting them from the killer virus.
We have come to this, ladies and gentlemen. Americans who want to reopen the economy are willing to risk their lives and worse, to risk others’ lives by rushing toward a premature return to what they used to think of as a “normal” life.
I can think of few images that are more frightening than what we have seen coming from these protests. They include individuals waving Confederate flags, even swastikas! — and yet the president of the United States declares them to be “good people.”
This is all a disgraceful display of protest running amok.
We have witnessed political protest mixed with coercion and intimidation. No sane individual wants the economy to collapse; no one wants Americans to suffer from economic deprivation; no one wants economic tragedy. Neither should a sane person want to expose other Americans to the threat of a deadly virus.
We keep hearing from the Trump administration that we need to witness two weeks of decline in the rate of infection to start moving toward normalization. We aren’t there yet.
In the meantime, protesters brandishing assault weapons are demanding that government lift the restrictions it has designed to protect our health … enabling us to continue our “Pursuit of Happiness.”
Go figure.