by Peter Mertz
DENVER, the United States, April 20 (Xinhua) -- Emboldened by U.S. President Donald Trump's words against state governments, his supporters attended hundreds of "stop the quarantine" rallies across the country Saturday and Sunday.
State governors responded late Sunday with incredulity to the president's actions, although no violence was reported at any of the protests.
The Republican president's tweets, against his own medical team's advice, specifically targeted Democratic governors with whom he disagrees.
"LIBERATE MINNESOTA!" Trump tweeted. "LIBERATE MICHIGAN!" He said in another post. "LIBERATE VIRGINIA! And save your great 2nd Amendment -- it is under siege!"
All the three states have Democratic governors.
Washington State Governor Jay Inslee, another Democratic, said Trump's "unhinged rantings and calls for people to 'liberate' states could also lead to violence."
The tweets are "dangerous because it can inspire people to ignore things that actually can save their lives," Inslee told ABC News on Sunday.
In Denver, capital city of Colorado State, around 200 demonstrators on Sunday gathered at the state capitol, demanding governments allow businesses to re-open and social distancing requirements be lifted, to enable millions of Americans to return to work.
The protests felt like "a slap in the face," to hear such extraordinary words of defiance against the advice of all health care professionals, a Denver hospital nurse on the frontlines against COVID-19 told NBC-News Denver.
Denver's liberal Democratic new governor Jared Polis had declared a state of emergency and closed businesses before the White House officially responded -- so did many other states. Last week, Polis said he was exploring ways to reopen Colorado businesses earlier than planned.
At the same time far-right gun groups were mobilizing diehard supporters of Trump to march against local governments, regardless of the fact that infected Americans jumped from 600,000 to 750,000 and deaths from 25,000 to 40,000 in just five days from April 14 to April 19.
Opposing and contradicting his top health officials, Trump even encouraged citizens to protest against local governments and told the media that "they have the right to protest."
Many of the pro-Trump protests, particularly in conservative, rural areas, are linked to far-right gun-rights groups, and other special interests representing the president.
However, the protesters, all combined, who gathered across the country, merely represent a tiny minority of public opinion about the pandemic, according to a poll released over the weekend.
Nearly 70 percent of Republicans said they supported a national stay-at-home order, as well as 95 percent of Democrats, according to a recent Quinnipiac poll. Enditem
