In a Monday morning tweet, President Donald Trump shot down the notion that state governments should have control of when they re-open after the coronavirus pandemic. Instead, Trump said, it’s up to him when states re-open.
The president also blamed the media for perpetrating the notion that governors should make the decision to open their states and accused the press of seeking to create “conflict and confusion.”
Trump wrote, “For the purpose of creating conflict and confusion, some in the fake news media are saying that it is the governors’ decision to open the states, not that of the President of the United States and the federal government. Let it be fully understood that this is incorrect. It is the decision of the President, and for many good reasons.”
He continued, “The Administration and I are working closely with the Governors, and this will continue. A decision by me, in conjunction with the Governors and input from others, will be made shortly!”
….It is the decision of the President, and for many good reasons. With that being said, the Administration and I are working closely with the Governors, and this will continue. A decision by me, in conjunction with the Governors and input from others, will be made shortly!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 13, 2020
Trump has consistently pushed for the country to re-open — in a Fox News interview over the weekend, he said, “We have to get our country back. People want to get back, they want to get back to work. We have to bring our country back, so I’ll be making a decision reasonably soon.”
But the president’s push to re-open the country is not an idea shared by top health officials. In an interview on Monday, CDC Director Dr. Robert Redfield said that re-opening the country is “going to be a step-by-step, gradual process.”
Meanwhile, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said that “We want to reopen as soon as possible.”
But the governor, who is dealing with the largest coronavirus concentration in the United States, added, “The caveat is, we need to be smart in the way that we reopen.”