The Democratic governor of Michigan said Tuesday that the prospect of a Trump rally in her state later this week is “very distressing” and a public-health risk.
But Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said in the same CNN interview that she’s just fine with a planned Joe Biden rally because Democrats are “following the science.”
President Trump plans a rally Thursday evening near Saginaw, and Ms. Whitmer said that she fears Mr. Trump will encourage people to spread the novel coronavirus.
“We anticipate that he will be descending on this state and perhaps encouraging people to come maskless,” she told host Anderson Cooper.
“This is very distressing,” she said.
According to a report in the Detroit Free Press, Ms. Whitmer parried Ms. Cooper’s question of whether she had spoken with the Trump campaign about her concerns or would enforce her restrictions on public gatherings.
The Free Press reports that those regulations “generally limit indoor gatherings to 10 people and require masks in indoor public spaces and crowded outdoor spaces.”
Mr. Trump’s rally will be at an airport hangar.
“I don’t doubt that there will be people who want to show up at that event and will take their lead from the man himself and drop their guard and could subject themselves to COVID-19,” Ms. Whitmer maintained.
But Mr. Biden’s event Wednesday afternoon in Warren is very different, according to Ms. Whitmer.
“I know that they are scrupulously following the science,” and “they want to keep their supporters and the general public safe,” she said.
Mr. Biden has encouraged people to wear masks and appears in them regularly in public, she said, while Mr. Trump has not.
Ms. Whitmer drew widespread criticism in the early months of the pandemic because of, among other things, political double standards in her lockdown enforcement and attitude toward rallies.
• Victor Morton can be reached at vmorton@washingtontimes.com.
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