People gather outside the Ohio Statehouse to protest the stay-at-home order. | Gene J. Puskar/AP Photo
Republican governors are facing a new challenge as they fight to stop the spread of coronavirus: pressure from their own right flanks.
While the biggest protests calling for an end to stay-at-home orders and business restrictions have hit Democratic governors, conservative activists and groups are intensifying pressure on GOP governors they say are being too deliberative as their economies stagger and jobless rates spiral — part of a hyperaggressive effort on the right to reshape the debate over the financial ravages of Covid-19.
Across Texas, Arizona, Missouri and Ohio, dozens of conservative and libertarian state leaders and business owners told POLITICO they are planning more demonstrations and agitating to open more businesses, even after President Donald Trump sideswiped Georgia Republican Gov. Brian Kemp last week for including spas, barber shops and gyms in the initial stages of his recovery plan.
Tea Party Patriots and other groups are rallying behind Kemp in Georgia, with some activists concerned that national backlash to Kemp’s orders — which includes resuming dine-in service at restaurants — could discourage Republicans in other red states from forging ahead. In Texas, where Gov. Greg Abbott announced plans for a phased restart weeks ago and followed up Monday with more details, Texas House Freedom Caucus members contend it’s ultimately the responsibility of individual Texans to keep themselves safe by wearing protective gear and following social distancing guidelines. Across other red states, conservative activists are pleading with governors not to extend or bolster stay-at-home orders set to expire in the coming weeks.
Polls show widespread support for maintaining social distancing guidelines, but Republicans are more aggressive than Democrats about their hopes for the timing and scope of reopening. Local GOP officials in states where demonstrations are occurring said their offices have been inundated with calls and letters from exasperated constituents who are urging swift action.
And with Trump sending mixed messages, they’re turning more sharply to state leaders to press their case about the damages.
“We need to move faster. Hospitals are ready. Businesses are ready. And Texans are ready,” state Rep. Mayes Middleton, chairman of the Texas House Freedom Caucus, said in an interview. He called the outgrowth of protests even in places that are moving ahead with reopening orders “a symptom” of growing frustration that is also being unleashed in calls and letters to officials.
“From what I have seen, people have followed the rules and guidelines. It’s time to allow people to go back to work,” Middleton said. “They want to go back and they are ready to go back to work.”
Trump and political allies are torn over both the precise timing of reopening and the visuals of the demonstrations that swept the country. The president has broadly left it up to individual states to decide their procedures — a stance that critics believe allows him to take any side of the coronavirus debate depending on how the circumstances turn. Before slapping down Kemp in successive news conferences last week, Trump positioned himself as a national leader for the “reopen” side. The president agitated early and has sent supportive tweets calling for the “liberation” of states.
“They’ve got cabin fever. They want their lives back,” Trump said at one point, swatting away at a question about whether he was inciting violence.
Trump met with retail executives and spoke with governors Monday about the virus response and “economic revival,” an approach that could put the president on firmer footing with his base.
Some on the right are distancing themselves altogether from the public demonstrations: Americans for Prosperity — the main political arm of the libertarian-leaning Koch network — backed away from the protests in favor of engaging policymakers to focus on standards to safely reopen the economy.
But the Tea Party Patriots agreed to promote demonstrations to its members, provided they followed social distancing guidelines. Several events are also being showcased by the conservative group FreedomWorks, including rallies in Ohio and across Texas last weekend, and in Arizona and Nevada on Friday along with a big event outside the White House.
“I think that for the first month, the reason we didn’t have protests like this is people were saying, ‘OK, this isn’t going to last forever, and we should be able to get through it,’” said Jenny Beth Martin, co-founder and national coordinator of the Tea Party Patriots.
Martin credited business owners in her home state of Georgia with successfully pushing Kemp to act swiftly to get businesses running again, calling the governor’s order “measured” and a positive first step. She joined with scores of local leaders in imploring supporters to reach out to Kemp to show their appreciation.
“Right now, if you don’t have the cellphone or email of your elected officials or their staff, it is very difficult to get through with any sort of real, meaningful communication to them,” Martin said. “A lot of these people who have left their home to go make their voices heard are only doing that because they cannot get through to the government otherwise.”
Hundreds of protesters have swarmed Ohio, where Republican Gov. Mike DeWine was an early proponent of strict state actions. They’re worried DeWine and Ohio Department of Health Director Dr. Amy Acton — who is drawing considerable ire — will move too slowly on May 1 when the stay-at-home order runs out.
“Government has a role, but it should not be overreaching — and that’s certainly what’s going on right now,” said Tom Hach, organizer for an “Open Ohio Now” rally in Columbus. He and several others believe there needs to be more focus on people who had the virus but didn’t show symptoms, which Hach said could ultimately show the state and country overreached.
“Every decision comes with a price,” said Hach, a retiree from the Cleveland suburbs who serves on several local boards. “We may on the one hand be saving some lives with the stay-at-home order, but we’re going to cost lives and livelihood and diminish people’s lives in general if the economy tanks. It’s all got to be balanced. And I don’t think that it is. And that is something Gov. DeWine has to look at.”
More than 965,900 people have been infected with Covid-19 in the U.S., which has led to nearly 55,000 deaths as of Monday. Guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for states lifting various orders as part of a multiphase process call for downward trends of positive tests over two weeks along with robust testing programs for at-risk hospital workers.
Protest organizers hold up Georgia, along with South Carolina, Florida and Tennessee as early Republicans models for states that have moved quickly to begin reopening. Several credited Colorado Democratic Gov. Jared Polis with moving away from a more aggressive stay-at-home order into a new phase with more businesses able to operate — and they want every Republican to follow.
Kemp, who held a prayer service as restaurants began reopening Monday, has stood by his decision despite not meeting the federal guidelines. Many Georgia business owners say they don’t plan to open right away and Kemp’s moves have already revived political feuds in the state. Rep. Doug Collins (R-Ga.) sided with Trump and accused his opponent in the November Senate special election, GOP Sen. Kelly Loeffler, of taking both Kemp’s and Trump’s side in the fight.
Abbott has taken criticism from both sides in Texas, with Democrats accusing him of moving too slow to enact the original safety guidelines. But now facing the drumbeat on the right, and with oil markets tanking, Abbott said Monday that retail locations, including shopping malls, sit-down eateries and movie theaters and museums could — but are not required to — start opening at 25 percent capacity beginning Friday. If counties don’t see a resurgence of cases, they could increase customer capacity to 50 percent around the third week of May.
“We’re not just going to open up and hope for the best,” Abbott told reporters in Austin, defending the phased approach. “A more strategic approach is required so that we don’t open only to close down again,” he added.
In Missouri, Republican Gov. Mike Parson similarly moved Monday to issue guidelines to reopen his state early next month. Parson said ahead of a news conference that he would follow White House guidelines.
In Arizona, Republican Gov. Doug Ducey said the state would begin assessing data after the stay-at-home order expires at the end of the month. In a recent appearance on a local talk radio show, amid several protests in the state, Ducey struck a cautious note, but suggested several types of businesses, including restaurants, could open “in the very near future.”
“I hear them. I understand how they feel,” Ducey said of the protesters. “I feel the same way. I want what they want. I don’t want to lose the gains … in public health. I know the losses economically and I know we can rebuild those losses. I think we can be even stronger.”
Republican firefight kicks off as protesters target GOP govs over closures
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