# Why do Republicans want to end the corona virus restrictions? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [April 19, 2020, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-republicans-want-to-end-the-corona-virus-restrictions/852128 "2020-04-19T16:17:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2020, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-republicans-want-to-end-the-corona-virus-restrictions/852128/41 "2020-04-19T22:51:28Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > Well, that is an ideological fear. But what about the _fact_ that a large assemblage of people, at church or elsewhere, can result in a local outbreak of infections which could then be spread back to households or other assemblies. > > In other words, the pathogen doesn’t give a good whore’s fuck about your ideology, or your religious faith, or your need to hang out with friends. It will infect whomever it can come into contact with, and because so many ignorant people believe that they are somehow uniquely immune to being infected and passing on the pathogen, either by the grace of whatever god they worship or just because they are too narcissistic to believe that a virus can infect them just as it will everyone else, it is necessary for governors and municipal leaders to issue what are largely voluntary “stay-at-home” orders. If people weren’t so ignorant and would willingly take the recommended steps to minimize the potential for transmission, and if we were better able to protect people in critical roles who cannot work from home, this epidemic would be put paid to in a few weeks. But because self-absorbed assholes and conspiracy-swallowing idiots decide that they need to go to mass congregations and out to the beach, we’re going to be living with waves of epidemics for many months. > > Stranger Please don’t think that I disagree with your underlying points. I agree that people should stay home and participate in church online. I’m 100% for that. But my issue, for the reasons I have stated in other threads, is that it is a very dangerous precedent to be able to label this a \*special circumstance to proscribe rights. Every tinpot dictator can label something “special.” What it means in the end is that freedom keeps getting chipped away at. This virus will pass but this precedent will not. I would rather leave my daughter with a just as free or freer society than the one I grew up in, even if this virus kills me (or a terrorist kills me, or a DUI driver kills me, or whatever the demon du jour is). I am not a conspiracy theorist. This shit is real. But a precedent for restrictions on freedom is even more real and longer lasting. ---
**Author:** ![Oredigger77](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oredigger77/32/3181_2.png) [@Oredigger77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oredigger77)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2020, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-republicans-want-to-end-the-corona-virus-restrictions/852128/42 "2020-04-19T23:05:20Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > That equation fails to take into account that after that several weeks in the hospital some percentage of people will be left with permanent damage to their lungs and possibly other organs including heart, liver, and kidneys. > > Would you rather be unemployed for a year, or left with permanent body damage for the rest of your life? Like I said; I’m not in a good position to opine. I’ve made more money since my state was locked down then I had the rest of this year. I couldn’t dream of a better working environment for myself except I wish my kids could go to school. I also know that for my friends who were a banquet manager at a hotel, a bartender, a waiter, and a facilities manager at a bar this question wasn’t theoretical and when faced with staying home unemployed or risking getting the virus every one of them got jobs are grocery stores. Let’s put the question to you. Why haven’t you quit your job rather than risking getting the virus? If I remember other threads correctly you work in a grocery store. It seems you’re ok risking permanant disability rather than unempolyment. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2020, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-republicans-want-to-end-the-corona-virus-restrictions/852128/43 "2020-04-19T23:08:08Z")
> [@UltraVires](#): > > I would rather leave my daughter with a just as free or freer society than the one I grew up in, even if this virus kills me (or a terrorist kills me, or a DUI driver kills me, or whatever the demon du jour is). I am not a conspiracy theorist. This shit is real. But a precedent for restrictions on freedom is even more real and longer lasting. Except this is not a new precedent. Governors have had the power to enforce curfews, require that people shelter or evacuate, et cetera, in response to natural disasters. These are normally restricted to specific areas and for a shorter duration, but this isn’t some kind of novel power that governors have suddenly claimed _ex nihilo_. And as a general principle there is long standing legal precedent for the restriction of Constitutional rights where there is a large scale public threat in place as long as those restrictions are specific to the nature of the threat and limited in scope. The people protesting to lift restrictions are, ironically, making things worse, not only because they are likely to spread the contagion among themselves, but the more prolonged the epidemic is and the lest time governments have to prepared for additional waves, the harder it is going to be to “restart” the economy. And as for what they are achieving, other than civil disobedience for the sake of making a political statement, I don’t know. It isn’t as if their demonstrations are going to in any way affect the progression of the epidemic other than to extend it. There is an argument to be made that the federal government should get out of the way of individual groups and states deploying tests so as to facilitate being able to lift restrictions, and of course state governments should be working with employers in crucial industries to find ways that employees can continue to work with protections. But the reality is that many people believe that “the corona” is somebody else’s problem to deal with, and ideology about the merits of individuality aside, the only way to effectively mobilize all of society to take some measure of responsibility is by imposing isolation and lockdown measures. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![dasmoocher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dbc845/32.png) [@dasmoocher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dasmoocher)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2020, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-republicans-want-to-end-the-corona-virus-restrictions/852128/44 "2020-04-19T23:43:07Z")
> [@SenorBeef](#): > > This is an[astroturfed](https://www.reddit.com/r/maryland/comments/g3niq3/i_simply_cannot_believe_that_people_are/fnstpyl/) [movement](https://www.reddit.com/r/MassMove/comments/g3toiz/a_post_by_udr_midnight_collating_information_on/fnv8j69/?context=3&depth=9) that basically proves that it’s trivially easy to get the republican base to do anything you want if you feed them outrage. Liberals are for keeping people safe, liberals hate freedom, you have to be unsafe to have freedom, go block off a fucking hospital and cough on everyone you see just to own the libs. > > If one of these astroturf groups told them that liberals secretly put something in the water to make all young children permanently liberal they’d strangle their own kids. If you told them liberals were pro-buildings they’d burn down their own house. That’s all they are now. Outrage and spite. I was going to mention this astroturfing. I only recently became aware of it–basically a fake grassroots movement. Some people may just want to stir up trouble. From this [link](https://www.reddit.com/r/maryland/comments/g3niq3/i_simply_cannot_believe_that_people_are/fnulnjs/?context=3): > [@](#): > > **stanley\_leverlock** > It’s nuts, I joined the ReOpen Maryland Facebook group just to see what it was all about. It’s a bunch of circlejerking “patriots” who have convinced themselves that the lockdown is all a mass population control tactic to enslave America. They’re whipping themselves up into a hysterical frenzy over this situation. > > It’s riddled with gems like this: _The biggest problem every Country has is government. In this Country it was not set up this way. We turned a blind eye to it while being lied to by the media, Hollywood, musicians and “education”._ > … > > **Dr Midnight** > There’s an imperial ton of astroturfing going on, and it’s quite visible in how those groups popped up literally overnight (hint-hint). The thing is that they targeted groups who were… how does one say… more receptive to the message who wouldn’t be inclined to look any deeper into what they were joining. > > As an example, right now, this is happening in Orange County, CA. > > Now, here’s a screenshot of the description of the “Operation Gridlock Los Angeles” group when it was first spotted by Buzzfeed News. > > Concurrently, here’s a screenshot of the description of the “Operation Gridlock Tennessee” group. > > But, hey… it’s Buzzfeed News right? Cool-cool-cool-cool-cool… > > Here’s a link to the group “Pennsylvanians Against Excessive Quarantine” - sitting 55,281 members deep at the time of this post. > > Okay… > > Now here’s a link to the group “Minnesotans Against Excessive Quarantine” - presently with 18,938 members. > > Why do these groups have the exact same description? > > Let’s not stop there. Following their own links: one is from the “Pennsylvania Firearms Association”, and the other is from the group “Minnesota Gun Rights” - both with the exact same layout. > > Both of these domains are registered with the same registrar and were registered on the exact same day at the same time. URL to the reopen groups are in the post. The screenshots of the FaceBook group code is basically identical with different group names. Also, remember Trump could possibly be prosecuted by a Democratic admin for obstruction of justice as detailed in the Mueller report once he out of office, so that may contribute his desperation about re-election because of that being on his mind. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2020, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-republicans-want-to-end-the-corona-virus-restrictions/852128/45 "2020-04-19T23:46:52Z")
> [@dasmoocher](#): > > Also, remember Trump could possibly be prosecuted by a Democratic admin for obstruction of justice as detailed in the Mueller report Isn’t that what pardons are for? ---
**Author:** ![dasmoocher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dbc845/32.png) [@dasmoocher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dasmoocher)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2020, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-republicans-want-to-end-the-corona-virus-restrictions/852128/46 "2020-04-19T23:53:14Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > Isn’t that what pardons are for? Can Trump pardon himself before he leaves office? He’d probably try. If Biden wins, there’s no Barr to cover for him. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2020, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-republicans-want-to-end-the-corona-virus-restrictions/852128/47 "2020-04-20T00:30:43Z")
Maybe there is a God after all: > **[Severe Storm Threat Heads For Florida on Monday | The Weather Channel](https://weather.com/safety/tornado/news/2020-04-19-severe-thunderstorm-tornado-outbreak-damaging-winds-large-hail)** > > Severe storms rumbled across the South once again. - Articles from The Weather Channel | weather.com Dangerous Severe Storms with Strong Tornadoes, Damaging Winds and Flooding Rain Expected in the South And He is not happy with Southern evangelists. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2020, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-republicans-want-to-end-the-corona-virus-restrictions/852128/48 "2020-04-20T00:43:53Z")
> [@Happy\_Fun\_Ball](#): > > Hi Sam, thanks for joining the thread! > > I know you are Canadian and do not have the evil Republicans like we do here ;), but maybe you can give us some more insight. > > First let me say I do not believe for a second that Republicans are evil. I understand a lot of their motivations and believe they are coming from a place where they believe they are doing good. That’s good to hear. I read and participate in message boards on both the right and the left, and I see both sides claiming that the other side are the ones who are irrational and screwing up. The truth is, people are people. There are assholes and idiots everywhere, and great people everywhere. > [@](#): > > I don’t think the “Orange Man” is very competent (with CoVid or anything else) I don’t think he’s competent either, but then I don’t think very many people are competent to deal with a once in 100 years pandemic. Shall we go through the failures of the World Health Organization, the CDC, or the FDA? Obama and Bush both failed to replenish the strategic PPE stockpile. DeBlasio said incredibly stupid and damaging things long after he should have known better. People called Trump a racist for closing flights from China earlier than other countries. Nany Pelosi implored her constituents to go out and celebrate in Chinatown long after other places started lockdown orders. On the other hand, Andrew Cuomo has done a good job. Other Democratic governors have done a good job, and so have many Republican governors. This is an unprecedented event, and everyone is winging it. It doesn’t help when all the decision-makers know there are partisans just waiting to jump on them when a prediction goes wrong or a seemingly reasonable decision turns out not to be. The middle of a pandemic is a terrible time for sneering and finger pointing, although I accept that it’s probably inevitable in a time of stress. > [@](#): > > I believe he and his policies are damaging to the US in a way that we have never seen before, and I don’t understand why the Republican party supports him as I don’t really think he is all that conservative. I think this may be the effect of being in a bubble. Because I can easily tell you what Republicans like about his policies. First, his initial response was to de-regulate parts of the economy that needed to move faster, rather than institute even more new regulations as past presidents have done in crises. The dilemma Republicans have is that many of them think Trump is personally an ass, and they cringe when he speaks, but they actually like his policies. The ‘Never Trumpers’ are the ones who can’t get past the personality flaws (I’m probably one of them), but even they like his judicial appointments, tax cuts, deregulation, etc. I understand that those on the left have the opposite opinion of those policies, but that’s why they’re on the left. We’re never going to agree on that stuff. > [@](#): > > But this is a topic for another thread; what I hope we talk about now is the reasoning of a large fraction of Republicans believing that the steps we have taken to slow down the spread of CoViD-19 should not have been taken. I don’t see many saying that the steps should never have been taken, but rather that this is the time to start easing back, because the pain is too high and getting worse. But I think you are fooling yourself if you think this is just a Republican thing. Unless you think Sweden and Hokkaido are full of Republicans. Here’s what I see some Republicans saying: 1. The lockdown required for a place like New York City, which is indeed suffering under this greatly, should not necessarily be applied to say, Knoxville Tennessee which has 34 active cases. Here in Edmonton we are still in complete lockdown, yet we have only had two or three new cases in the past week and only have had 37 people go into the ICU in the entire province. If the goal was to ‘flatten the curve’ just so that we don’t overwhelm the healthcare system, it’s not hard to start thinking that maybe we went too far. On the other hand, Calgary, which seems to not have restricted as much, is still on an exponential curve and now has something like 1800 cases. 1. Another point they make is that the ‘movers and shakers’ making decisions about when to open up are generally in a position where the lockdown doesn’t really hurt them that much. If you’re a keyboard warrior in your spare time and a government office worker, chances are you’re still getting your salary and you’re still doing the same things you did before the lockdown. If you’re a media person or a politician you can generally keep working. To these people, the cost/benefit of a lockdown looks a lot different than someone in, say Texas with four unruly kids in the house, a mortgage payment due, no money for food, and everything you do for fun and relaxation involves being outdoors. Then they go out to a park with their kid and get fined $800, despite the fact that they don’t know anyone who is sick and their whole community only has a handful of cases. The bottom line is that Republicans tend to live in places that aren’t that hard hit, and where they maybe COULD go with fewer restrictions without serious problems. But they are stuck being restricted just as if they lived in a dense city where every step outdoors carries risk to you or others. If you live in a town of 500 people and no one is sick, that’s a hard pill to swallow. Add in to that the fact that Democrats tend to see government as a force for good and want the government controlling certain things even in the best of times, while Republicans tend to see the government as a problem that makes things worse as often as it makes it better, so they are inherently more skeptical. And this too makes sense, since Republicans tend to live in places where they can maintain strong families and be more self-reliant, whereas Democrats tend to be more in the big cities where everyone is in everyone else’s back pocket and government regulations are seen as a safety net against the vagaries of life. I’m not saying Republican attitudes are correct: I’m saying they are understandable without resorting to ‘Republicans are stupid and/or evil’. > [@](#): > > You seem to imply in your first paragraph that it is rational self interest combined with what I view as shortsightedness. They are struggling, the shut down is hurting them economically, and they see no evidence the virus is harming them or their neighbors. Aside from a few yahoos, I’m not seeing such simplistic arguments. Instead, I see arguments like, 'Wait… If we are just doing this to prevent the ICUs from being flooded, why can’t we ease off just a bit when our ICU use hasn’t even hit 10% of capacity? Or, “how do you know it’s better for us to be completely locked down like this, or whether it would be better for most of us to go back to work, so long as we maintain social distancing and wear masks and gloves? How do we know that won’t work? Didn’t that work in Taiwan? Isn’t Sweden still claiming that’s the right thing to do? Are they dumber than we are?” > [@](#): > > Does this mean that they don’t believe the doctors and scientists at the CDC and WHO? No they don’t, and why should they? Let’s not forget that the WHO first told us that the virus was contained in China. They then said there was no evidence of person-to-person transmission, several weeks after they knew there was. After China closed internal air travel from Wuhan, Trump also stoped air travel from Wuhan. The WHO responded that there was no evidence of pandemic spread and no reason to shut down international air travel at all. The CDC’s models were completely wrong. The CDC told us that wearing masks did no good, and we shouldn’t bother. The FDA refused to allow any existent COVID-19 testing, wanting to use their own test - which they then screwed up through poor lab safety protocols. This delayed the start of testing in the U.S. by weeks. The PPE stockpile they were supposed to maintain was depleted during the Swine Flu epidemic, and neither the Obama administration or the Trump administration bothered to refill it. None of the ‘professional’ agencies have covered themselves in glory over this. ON the contrary, the crisis has exposed the fact that the WHO is in the pocket of the Chinese Communist Party, the CDC was too busy worrying about obesity, racism and playground safety to properly focus on actual disease, and the FDA has become a victim of its own bureaucracy and dysfunction. I don’t blame Republicans at all for not believing what they are saying now. They probably should, but their skepticism is well founded, and that’s on the CDC, WHO, and FDA. [/quote] Or do they believe the numbers but just think that having 1 to 2 out of every 50 of us dying is preferable to accepting a little socialism for a couple of months? Or do they maybe believe that it won’t effect them because it hasn’t spread to Flyover, USA yet? Or is there something else? [/QUOTE] It’s a combination of a lot of things. There are reasonable arguments on both sides. For example, our premier (relying on models from the CDC) said that we could expect 800,000 infections, even with social distancing, and that the whole point to this wasn’t to reduce the number of people who ultimately get COVID-19, but to ‘bend the curve’ so that the peaks don’t overwhelm the health care system. All well and good, and everyone accepted that. Except, at our peak we only had a total of 37 ICUY admissions, with a provincial capacity of 600-700. A logical argument could be made that goes like this: "If the object is to get through this and develop herd immunity as fast as possible while not overwhelming the healthcare system, isn’t the fact that we are only at 5% capacity in our ICUs while the peak seems to have passed a sign that we went too far? What if the future is that each time we ease the lockdown the number of cases start to rise, and that continues until we develop herd immunity? In that case, the best solution would be to lockdown and use PPE just enough to keep the system from failing us, which would be the fastest way to get to the point where we can get back to normal. If we lock down to the point where each lockdown period only results in another .5%-1% of the population being infected, and our hospitals are still mostly empty, then we’re doing it too slowly and by the time we’ve reached herd immunity we’ll have economic devastation on our hands. That’s a reasonable argument. It’s not the only argument, and there are plenty on the other side, but the people who believe this are not crazy, immoral, or even necessarily Republican. But I think you’re more likely to buy this if you live in Knoxville than if you’re in New York City in the thick of it. That biases such beliefs towards Republicans, but only through correlation. The real factor is where they live and what they do for a living and how wealthy they are. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2020, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-republicans-want-to-end-the-corona-virus-restrictions/852128/49 "2020-04-20T01:00:16Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > I don’t think he’s competent either, but then I don’t think very many people are competent to deal with a once in 100 years pandemic. Shall we go through the failures of the World Health Organization, the CDC, or the FDA? Obama and Bush both failed to replenish the strategic PPE stockpile. Shall we? 🙂 > **[How Tea Party Budget Battles Left the National Emergency Medical Stockpile...](https://www.propublica.org/article/us-emergency-medical-stockpile-funding-unprepared-coronavirus)** > > Fiscal restraints imposed by Republicans in Congress in the early years of the Obama administration left the U.S. less prepared to respond to the coronavirus pandemic today. > [@](#): > > How Tea Party Budget Battles Left the National Emergency Medical Stockpile Unprepared for Coronavirus > > Fiscal restraints imposed by Republicans in Congress in the early years of the Obama administration left the U.S. less prepared to respond to the coronavirus pandemic today. > [@](#): > > Republicans took over the House of Representatives in the 2010 midterms on the Tea Party wave of opposition to the landmark 2010 health care reform law, the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. The new House majority was intent on curbing government spending, especially at HHS, which administered Obamacare. > > Congressional Republicans, led by Mitch McConnell in the Senate and House Speaker John Boehner, leveraged the debt ceiling — a limit on the government’s borrowing ability that had to be raised — to insist that the Obama administration accept federal spending curbs. The compromise, codified in the 2011 Budget Control Act, required a bipartisan “super committee” to find additional ways to reduce the deficit, or else it would trigger automatic across-the-board cuts known as “sequestration.” > > Even in the aftermath of the swine flu pandemic, the stockpile wasn’t a priority then. Without a full committee markup, Rehberg introduced a bill that provided $522.5 million to the stockpile, about 12% less than the previous year and $132 million less than the administration wanted. “Nobody got everything they wanted,” Rehberg said. > [@](#): > > The stockpile’s mission has steadily expanded as it confronts new public health emergencies. With limited resources, officials in charge of the stockpile tend to focus on buying lifesaving drugs from small biotechnology firms that would, in the absence of a government buyer, have no other market for their products, experts said. Masks and other protective equipment are in normal times widely available and thus may not have been prioritized for purchase, they said. > > “It just was never funded at the level that was needed to purchase new products, to replace expiring products and to invest in what we now know are the really necessary ancillary products,” said Dara Lieberman, director of government relations at the Trust for America’s Health, a nonpartisan public health advocacy and research group. > > The sequestration and strict budget caps ended with budget deals in 2018 and 2019 — a bipartisan rebuke to the earlier restraints. “It’s a burden off our shoulders,” Senate Appropriations Chairman Richard Shelby, R-Ala., told reporters at the time. “In a troubled world, I think that was the wrong message.” > > Yet non-defense spending still hasn’t fully recovered. > > “One of the things that happened to public health preparedness was just the result of the general budget stringency we had,” said David Reich, a consultant working on federal appropriations issues for the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. “We’re still seeing the results of that.” > > During the Trump administration, the White House has consistently proposed cutting the CDC and the HHS Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response, which took over stockpile management from the CDC. Congress approved more stockpile funding than Trump’s budget requested in every year of his administration, for a combined $1.93 billion instead of $1.77 billion, according to budget documents. > > The White House budget request for 2021, delivered in February as officials were already warning about the dangerous new coronavirus, proposed holding the stockpile’s funding flat at $705 million and cutting resources for the office that oversees it. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2020, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-republicans-want-to-end-the-corona-virus-restrictions/852128/50 "2020-04-20T01:06:53Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > People called Trump a racist for closing flights from China earlier than other countries. > **[Fact-check: Did Biden call Trump ‘xenophobic’ for China travel restrictions?](https://www.statesman.com/story/news/politics/elections/2020/03/30/fact-check-did-biden-call-trump-xenophobic-for-china-travel-restrictions/986308007/)** > > This piece was originally published on PolitiFact.com on March 27, 2020. > > Amid criticism of his administration’s response to the coronavirus pandemic, President Donald Trump routinely flags one a… > [@](#): > > Our ruling > > Speaking of his restriction on travel from China, Trump said, “I had Biden calling me xenophobic. … . He called me a racist, because of the fact that he felt it was a racist thing to stop people from China coming in.” > > Biden has not directly said that the restrictions were xenophobic. Around the time the Trump administration announced the travel restriction, Biden said that Trump had a “record of hysteria, xenophobia, and fear-mongering.” Biden used the phrase “xenophobic” in reply to a Trump tweet about limiting entry to travelers from China and in which he described the coronavirus as the “Chinese virus.” Biden did not spell out which part of Trump’s tweet was xenophobic. > > Trump’s statement contains an element of truth but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression. We rate it Mostly False. ---
**Author:** ![RioRico](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f04885/32.png) [@RioRico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RioRico)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2020, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-republicans-want-to-end-the-corona-virus-restrictions/852128/51 "2020-04-20T01:09:52Z")
> [@UltraVires](#): > > The short, short and overly generalized answer is that the left has a positive view of government. It is a tool to achieve social equality and do good. > > The right generally views government with suspicion as a tool that oppresses unless it is kept at a bare minimum. Incorrect. Liberals want government to help people while their opposites, the mentally enslaved right, wants government to hurt people. Spend more on prisons than schools. Promote pollution. Health plan: Don’t get sick. :smack: You think liberals trust government? You must be very young. I can re-do an old chant directed at Lyndon Johnson. Hey, hey, Donald J. How many sp!cks did you kill today? > [@UltraVires](#): > > It’s pretty scary to me that the government has claimed the power to force you to stay in your home, unable to assemble or to go to church. You do not have the right to spread contagion. Stay home except for essential outings. Stay away from me. Worship online. Assemble after a usable vaccine is administered. > [@UltraVires](#): > > Oh this tired argument again. These rights are fundamental. The core of these rights are not subject to balancing tests. Courts disagree with you. Your fundamental right to assemble ends at my property line or a police barricade. Your fundamental right to free speech ends with slander or incitement to riot. Your fundamental right to bear arms doesn’t include personal nukes. Like I said, if you don’t like emergency declarations, tell a judge. > [@dasmoocher](#): > > Also, remember Trump could possibly be prosecuted by a Democratic admin for obstruction of justice as detailed in the Mueller report once he out of office, so that may contribute his desperation about re-election because of that being on his mind. That’s been my take on his decision process all along. He’d rather die in Bethesda than Leavenworth. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2020, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-republicans-want-to-end-the-corona-virus-restrictions/852128/52 "2020-04-20T01:13:57Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > Nany Pelosi implored her constituents to go out and celebrate in Chinatown long after other places started lockdown orders. Uh, no. > **[Trump's False Claims about Pelosi and Chinatown - FactCheck.org](https://www.factcheck.org/2020/04/trumps-false-claims-about-pelosi-and-chinatown/)** > > President Donald Trump is making false and exaggerated claims about House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's Feb. 24 trip to San Francisco's Chinatown. > [@](#): > > So, Pelosi mentioned the Chinese New Year parade. But she did not say, “‘Let’s all have the big parade — Chinatown parade,'” as Trump maintained during the April 13 coronavirus briefing. In fact, the parade occurred on Feb. 8. > > And, while she encouraged people to “visit and enjoy Chinatown” and called it “very safe,” Trump went too far in saying at his April 15 briefing that Pelosi “was trying to have, in San Francisco, parties in Chinatown, because she thought it would be great.” Pelosi didn’t mention parties during her visit. > > As for the coronavirus, Pelosi didn’t deny its existence — contrary to Trump’s remarks — while visiting Chinatown. She struck a middle ground. “Prevention, prevention, prevention. We want people to be concerned and vigilant,” she said. “However, we don’t want them to be afraid.” > > During her excursion, Pelosi was asked if it was irrational for people to stay away from Asian-American-owned businesses in San Francisco and elsewhere. > > “Well, that’s one of the reasons we are here today,” she replied. “It doesn’t make any sense, but it’s not just Asian-owned now. You see in Italy where the shows – the fashion shows and all of that were done without an audience because people – they just didn’t – because people were not coming. So, again, this fear is – I think – unwarranted in light of the precautions that are being taken here in the United States.” > > But in response to a question, Pelosi rejected the notion that racism was the reason people were avoiding Asian businesses. > > “I don’t know that,” she said. “But, I do think that because it started in China, there’s a concern that are the – is the Chinese government doing what it needed to do early enough, and now as we go forward. But that should not be carried over to Chinatown and San Francisco.” > > Asked whether she felt the federal government was doing enough to control the virus, Pelosi said, “I have confidence in Dr. [Anthony] Fauci at the National Institutes of Health, who has even further confidence in what we’re doing.” > > Trump and Pelosi have long had a frosty relationship, one that wasn’t warmed up by the impeachment battle. And the president has bristled at her criticism that he was slow to react to the threat of the novel coronavirus. On March 29, on CNN’s “State of the Union,” she said, “his denial at the beginning was deadly. His delaying of getting equipment to where — it continues — his delay in getting equipment to where it’s needed is deadly.” > > Trump returned fire the following day in an interview on Fox News’ “Fox & Friends,” assailing Pelosi as a “sick puppy.” > > To sum up: Pelosi did visit Chinatown in late February in an effort to encourage people to go there to eat and shop. But she did not support parades or parties, try to show the coronavirus didn’t exist or delete a tweet of her visit, as Trump claimed. ---
**Author:** ![dasmoocher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dbc845/32.png) [@dasmoocher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dasmoocher)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2020, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-republicans-want-to-end-the-corona-virus-restrictions/852128/53 "2020-04-20T01:30:14Z")
And to correct another inaccuracy: > [@](#): > > Originally posted by **Sam Stone** > > The FDA refused to allow any existent COVID-19 testing, wanting to use their own test - which they then screwed up through poor lab safety protocols. This delayed the start of testing in the U.S. by weeks. It was the CDC that developed the coronavirus test, which initially contained a contaminated negative control reagent that came up positive for the virus. It was up to the FDA to approve the CDC test for use. [Contamination at CDC lab was likely cause of critical early delays in rolling out coronavirus testing](https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/18/politics/cdc-coronavirus-testing-contamination/index.html) ---
**Author:** ![galen\_ubal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/galen_ubal/32/4440_2.png) [@galen\_ubal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/galen_ubal)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2020, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-republicans-want-to-end-the-corona-virus-restrictions/852128/54 "2020-04-20T01:46:18Z")
It should also be noted that Trump has specifically targeted states with Democratic governors (VA. MI, MN), but has not mentioned states with Republican governors who have instituted similar lockdowns (OH). Culture wars, anyone? ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2020, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-republicans-want-to-end-the-corona-virus-restrictions/852128/55 "2020-04-20T01:54:14Z")
> [@UltraVires](#): > > But my issue, for the reasons I have stated in other threads, is that it is a very dangerous precedent to be able to label this a \*special circumstance to proscribe rights. Every tinpot dictator can label something “special.” What it means in the end is that freedom keeps getting chipped away at. This virus will pass but this precedent will not. It’s really simple: People can continue to worship IF they don’t gather in groups in such a manner as to spread disease. Otherwise they are just as free to worship whatever they choose as they were before. Absolutely NOTHING in any Abrahamic religion _requires_ people to gather together in massive, jammed together groups every Sunday. > [@UltraVires](#): > > I would rather leave my daughter with a just as free or freer society than the one I grew up in, even if this virus kills me (or a terrorist kills me, or a DUI driver kills me, or whatever the demon du jour is). I am not a conspiracy theorist. This shit is real. But a precedent for restrictions on freedom is even more real and longer lasting. You want to take away MY freedom to make MY choice. MY choice is to comply with medical instructions because _I want to live_. I do not want to die of this. I reject your notion that your freedom is worth more than the lives of other people. What good is “freedom” if it kills me? The constitution, the bill of rights, and society are not and should not be a suicide pact. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2020, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-republicans-want-to-end-the-corona-virus-restrictions/852128/56 "2020-04-20T01:58:40Z")
> [@Oredigger77](#): > > Like I said; I’m not in a good position to opine. I’ve made more money since my state was locked down then I had the rest of this year. I couldn’t dream of a better working environment for myself except I wish my kids could go to school. I also know that for my friends who were a banquet manager at a hotel, a bartender, a waiter, and a facilities manager at a bar this question wasn’t theoretical and when faced with staying home unemployed or risking getting the virus every one of them got jobs are grocery stores. > > Let’s put the question to you. Why haven’t you quit your job rather than risking getting the virus? If I remember other threads correctly you work in a grocery store. It seems you’re ok risking permanant disability rather than unempolyment. I actually addressed this in another thread. Those who work in grocery stores were not given a choice. If we quit we do NOT get unemployment because you don’t get it if you leave “voluntarily”. So if I leave I will have zero income, no health insurance, and with no other jobs available I would shortly blow through my savings and lose everything I currently have and be left homeless. During a pandemic. So… granted all those millions laid off are having a hell of a time trying to get onto unemployment, but once they do they at least get something, and extra money a week at least for awhile. So… either risk illness and death, or risk being homeless and destitute. That’s a hell of a non-choice don’t you think? ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2020, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-republicans-want-to-end-the-corona-virus-restrictions/852128/57 "2020-04-20T02:47:54Z")
> [@GIGObuster](#): > > Uh, no. > > [Trump's False Claims about Pelosi and Chinatown - FactCheck.org](https://www.factcheck.org/2020/04/trumps-false-claims-about-pelosi-and-chinatown/) oh, sorry. i said that Pelosi said people should go to Chinatown and celebrate. You ‘refuted’ that with a quote that admits that Pelosi DID tell her constituents to go to Chinatown and celebrate. Do I have that right? The rest of your quote was just another ‘Orange Man Bad’ description, which has zero to do with what I said, and contains stuff I never disputed and actually agree with. You need to stop jerking your leg and rushing out to Google every time you see a message that differs from your priors in any way. or id you are going to, you should at least attempt to stay on point. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2020, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-republicans-want-to-end-the-corona-virus-restrictions/852128/58 "2020-04-20T02:49:19Z")
> [@dasmoocher](#): > > And to correct another inaccuracy: > > It was the CDC that developed the coronavirus test, which initially contained a contaminated negative control reagent that came up positive for the virus. It was up to the FDA to approve the CDC test for use. > > [Contamination at CDC lab was likely cause of critical early delays in rolling out coronavirus testing](https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/18/politics/cdc-coronavirus-testing-contamination/index.html) Yep sorry, I conflated the FDA with the CDC on that one small point. Since I was talking about failures at all of them, it hardly changes the point. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2020, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-republicans-want-to-end-the-corona-virus-restrictions/852128/59 "2020-04-20T03:01:19Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > oh, sorry. i said that Pelosi said people should go to Chinatown and celebrate. You ‘refuted’ that with a quote that admits that Pelosi DID tell her constituents to go to Chinatown and celebrate. Do I have that right? Wrong again, the most accurate way is that it was advised to go to get takeouts, keep social distancing, visit. Not to go to celebrations. > [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > The rest of your quote was just another ‘Orange Man Bad’ description, which has zero to do with what I said, and contains stuff I never disputed and actually agree with. Wrong again, I was pointing where those items came from, it is really sad to realize that while you can be dubious of Trump the sad thing is that what he declares you got it by osmosis from some dubious sources. > [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > You need to stop jerking your leg and rushing out to Google every time you see a message that differs from your priors in any way. or id you are going to, you should at least attempt to stay on point. The point I make is very clear, at the same time you post some good information there are some very shitty items inside the candy shell. Just saying that you should be continuously put on notice that you should stop relying on those sources for information, you are just then using a lot of trash to prop up very, very dubious points. And BTW, you should use Google too before referring to very regurgitated dubious points, it is not just for liberal minded fellows ok? ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2020, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-republicans-want-to-end-the-corona-virus-restrictions/852128/60 "2020-04-20T03:45:29Z")
Both of you shut up about each others Google habits - or any others - or it will not go well for you. I hope that’s clear. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-republicans-want-to-end-the-corona-virus-restrictions/852128.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-republicans-want-to-end-the-corona-virus-restrictions/852128.md?page=4)