NEW YORK (Reuters) – President Donald Trump lashed out at four Democratic governors on Friday for their handling of the coronavirus pandemic, as tensions heightened between the Republican leader and states over how and when to ease restrictions put in place to contain the outbreak.
FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Donald Trump answers questions about his administration’s plans for “Opening Up America Again” during the daily coronavirus task force briefing at the White House in Washington, U.S., April 16, 2020. REUTERS/Leah Millis
In a Twitter post, Trump taunted Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer by tweeting “Liberate Michigan,” an apparent reference to sharp criticism that included street protests over her strict measures to tamp down the outbreak in her state.
Trump directed similar “Liberate” tweets at Minnesota and Virginia, where Democratic governors have been the targets of similar protests from Trump supporters opposed to tough stay-home measures designed to contain the coronavirus.
At the same time, strains between Trump and Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomo of New York erupted into quarreling and pointed sarcasm in an extraordinary real-time exchange between Trump on Twitter and Cuomo at a televised daily news briefing.
The governor, whose state is the U.S. epicenter of the outbreak, unleashed a flurry of broadsides against Trump after a reporter’s question about the president’s tweet suggesting New York had asked for too much aid that was never fully used.
Trump had tweeted Cuomo had asked for a “ridiculously” high number of ventilators at the height of the crisis in New York.
The governor said the president should “maybe get up a