‘Washington Post’ columnist Philip Rucker explains that President Donald Trump has to show “solidarity” with people protesting quarantine restrictions as he did with the neo-Nazis in Charlottesville. According to Rucker, that means defending their right to protest which is a direct violation of social distancing. Rucker on the Monday broadcast of ‘The 11th Hour’ with MSNBC’s Brian Williams:
“The other thing that the president sees when he looks at images of these protesters like the ones playing right now is he sees his own campaign banner,” Rucker said. “He knows that these are his supporters. They may not all be his supporters. We’re not sure who they all are going to vote for in November. But many of them are Trump supporters, are waving Trump flags. And Trump, the president, knows that he needs to show in solidarity with them. It’s one of the reasons why, for example, after the Charlottesville attack, he showed solidarity with the neo-Nazi protesters there.”
“In this case, he’s trying to show solidarity with these folks, saying, I stand with you,” the writer reported. “I believe in what you believe in, which is getting back to work and reopening this economy. And he has defended their right to protest, which is in direct violation of the social distancing guidelines that his own administration has put out. He also, by the way, has said that when he looks at images of these protests, that they’re definitely more than six feet apart.”
“We’re looking at images of them tonight. They don’t look like they’re six feet apart. They look a lot closer than that. But I guess it’s in the eye of the beholder,” Rucker said.
