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Conservatives Fuel Protests Against Coronavirus Lockdowns Conservatives Fuel Protests Against Coronavirus Lockdowns
(about 1 hour later)
AUSTIN, Texas — In a public act of defiance, more than 100 protesters in Texas converged on the steps of the Capitol building in Austin on Saturday to call for the reopening of the state and the country during the coronavirus pandemic. AUSTIN, Texas — Dave Litrell stood at a socially un-distant length from his fellow protesters on Saturday.
The “You Can’t Close America” rally rode a wave of similar protests at statehouses and in city streets this past week, with people also gathering on Saturday in Indianapolis; Carson City, Nev.; Annapolis, Md.; and Brookfield, Wis. Some shook hands. Others hugged. More than a hundred people rubbed elbows and shoulders, their signs and flags touching, many with their faces unmasked. Mr. Litrell, 46, held his 6-year-old daughter as those surrounding him chanted to reopen the American economy outside the State Capitol building in downtown Austin.
With more than 22 million unemployment claims nationwide in the past four weeks, some conservatives have begun arguing for an immediate restarting of the economy. Many businesses have been shuttered in an attempt to slow the spread of the virus, which has killed more than 34,000 people in the United States. “I don’t fear a potential pathogen,” he said of the fast-spreading coronavirus that had compelled most governors to shut down their states, including the closing of nonessential businesses. “I think there’s potential pathogens around us all the time, and for the most part, we’re healthy.”
The protests have been encouraged by President Trump, but polls show that most Americans support restrictions meant to combat the virus. This month, a poll by Quinnipiac University found that 81 percent of registered voters supported a theoretical nationwide stay-at-home order, including 68 percent of Republicans polled. Mr. Litrell, wearing a MAGA-style red cap reading “Make Austin Weird Again,” is a bartender in Texas’ capital city. At least he used to be. The restaurant where Mr. Litrell works has cut his shift to five hours a week, from 35. He started getting unemployment.
Others, though, are openly violating the stay-at-home orders replicated by governors across the country by assembling to express their dissatisfaction. In Austin, dozens of people gathered on the statehouse grounds in hats and shirts with President Trump’s slogan, “Make America Great Again.” Some carried American flags, and few wore masks that are mandated by the city. The pandemic has caused an overreaction of fear and an overreach of government power, Mr. Litrell said, and that is what brought him to the demonstration.
There were cheers at the sight of Alex Jones, the founder of the website Infowars, which traffics in conspiracy theories. There were chants of “Fire Fauci,” in reference to Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the federal government’s top infectious disease expert. “It’s sad how easily, with the snap of a finger, they’ll just shut down society, and it’s even more sad that most of the people just acquiesce,” he said.
But there were also citizens who said they were simply angry about being shut out of their workplaces by the governor, who, like almost all of his counterparts, has closed many businesses in an effort to save lives. Polls show that most Americans support restrictions meant to combat the virus. But the modest crowd at the “You Can’t Close America” rally was proudly defiant of the local and state stay-at-home orders they were violating simply by assembling. Gov. Greg Abbott’s executive order states that all Texans shall “minimize social gatherings,” and city and county officials in Austin have required people to wear face coverings in public.
Jax Weaver, 33, an out-of-work photographer who lives in Austin and came to the protest with her daughter, Brooklyn, 7, said she was frustrated with the limits on daily life. Among other things, her wife was forced to cancel her in vitro fertilization. A few of the demonstrators wore masks, but most did not. Not Mr. Litrell. And not Jax Weaver, 33, an out-of-work Austin photographer who went to the protest with her 7-year-old daughter.
“I’m not worried about catching the virus,” she said. “If we did catch the virus, I feel that we’re healthy enough to fight it.” “I’m not worried about catching the virus,” Ms. Weaver said. “If we did catch the virus, I feel that we’re healthy enough to fight it. And I think it would help us build immunity.”
The urgency of the Texas rally was dampened somewhat on Friday by Gov. Greg Abbott, who announced that he would do precisely what protesters are demanding: reopen Texas. The rally rode a wave of similar protests at statehouses and in city streets this past week, with people also gathering on Saturday in Indianapolis; Carson City, Nev.; Annapolis, Md.; and Brookfield, Wis. As some governors expressed interest in reopening their states, some prominent local conservatives turned to Facebook groups and other social media to set up protests. Eric Moutsos, a former Salt Lake City police officer, organized a protest in his city for Saturday evening.
Mr. Abbott, a Republican, said he was starting a “phased-in” approach to reopen the state economy, including lifting some restrictions in the coming days on medical procedures unrelated to the virus, retail shopping and public access to state parks. “Thank you government officials for your recommendations, but we’re going back to work,” Mr. Moutsos said.
In the same week that some governors expressed interest in reopening their states, prominent local conservatives turned to Facebook groups and other social media to set up protests. Eric Moutsos, a former Salt Lake City police officer, organized a protest in his city for Saturday evening to demonstrate against what he said was government overreach. The protest in Austin, whose Capitol steps are a frequent background for demonstrations, was small compared to past rallies there, with dozens of people assembling on a chilly and overcast day. At times, it was a cacophony of conservative anger and frustration.
“Thank you government officials for your recommendations, but we’re going back to work,” Mr. Moutsos said in an interview. There were Trump signs, flags, caps and T-shirts. There were loud chants of “Let us work! Let us work!” but also “Fire Fauci! Fire Fauci!” — a reference to Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the nation’s leading expert on infectious diseases. People shouted conspiracy theories about the coronavirus. Alex Jones, the founder of the website Infowars, described the spread of the virus as a “Chi-Comm globalist bioweapons attack,” a reference to the Chinese Communist Party.
He said he had asked protesters to stay several feet apart, as public health officials recommend. “We obviously know people are going to violate that but we can’t enforce that, just like the government can’t,” said Mr. Moutsos, who supports Mr. Trump. “America knows it’s a hoax,” Mr. Jones said of the pandemic.
Among other protests on Saturday, organizers of a “ReOpen Maryland” event in Annapolis asked protesters to stay in their cars and to bring canned goods to donate to a local food shelter. In Indianapolis, protesters assembled outside the home of Gov. Eric J. Holcomb. And in Brookfield, hundreds of people lined a road, waving flags that said “Don’t Tread on Me” and signs that urged Gov. Tony Evers to allow businesses to reopen. The rally was organized by Owen Shroyer, the host of a show on Infowars, which is headquartered in Austin and traffics in conspiracy theories. Mr. Jones used Infowars to spread the false narrative that the Sandy Hook school shooting in 2012 was a hoax or staged by the government to confiscate Americans’ firearms. He has been largely banned by Apple, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, which Infowars celebrates as a badge of honor.
The rally in Texas was organized by Owen Shroyer, the host of a show on Infowars, which is headquartered in Austin. He disrupted a House impeachment hearing in December by shouting that the Democrats were committing treason and that Mr. Trump was innocent. State troopers and officers wearing N95 masks patrolled the event, but the sometimes loud demonstration unfolded peacefully, and there were no arrests. Beneath the extremist voices, there were Texans of all ages who were frustrated with the state’s stasis but did not necessarily support Mr. Jones.
Mr. Shroyer told his Infowars audience this past week that the coronavirus was part of a scheme by the Chinese Communist Party and the “Deep State” to undermine Mr. Trump, that President Barack Obama “sold China the Wuhan virus” and that reports of overwhelmed hospitals were “propaganda.” A group of children held up their homemade sign — “Open our school: Education is a God-given right” — while others waved placards reading “Shut down the shutdown.” Nicole Adkins, 37, a stay-at-home mother and Army veteran who lives near San Antonio, held a sign that said “Flatten the Fear.”
One of the country’s first rallies in defiance of the coronavirus restrictions was on Monday in Columbus, Ohio, where scores of people shouted at the state’s Republican governor, Mike DeWine, through the doors of the statehouse. It was the first protest Ms. Adkins had ever attended. The day before, the governor had announced his plan to reopen Texas, but Ms. Adkins was disappointed that Mr. Abbott was taking a gradual approach. He said he was reopening the state’s parks on Monday but would require all visitors to wear face coverings.
Melissa Ackison, a Republican candidate for State Senate and a supporter of Mr. Trump, said she was moved to join the protest after hearing from farmers about their devastating economic losses and seeing the severe limits on daily life. “It’s a park,” Ms. Adkins said. “Viruses don’t float through the air. You’re not going to catch it walking in a park, so there’s a lot of misinformation.”
“It triggered in me something that I couldn’t stop,” Ms. Ackison said. Ms. Adkins and others were convinced that the government and the news media were lying to the public about the dangers of the virus, or at least were exaggerating the risks. Standing together in a crowd, mask-free and well within the six-foot social-distancing zone, was a physical manifestation of their anger and suspicion. They denied they were being reckless, and viewed the shutting down of society as a kind of hysteria, regardless of the numbers of infections and fatalities being reported.
Since then, modest groups of people have turned out to demonstrations, saying they are eager to get back to work. The largest of the protests, by far, was on Wednesday in Lansing, Mich., where thousands of people surrounded the Capitol in their cars in a campaign that organizers called “Operation Gridlock,” in protest of Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s stay-at-home order. Sandra Riley, 77, a retired real estate agent who lives in Austin, was one of the most covered-up protesters on the steps of the Capitol, but her outfit had nothing to do with safety. It was political theater.
On Friday, hundreds of people gathered in front of the Capitol in Boise, Idaho, to protest Gov. Brad Little’s stay-at-home order, holding signs that supported Mr. Trump and featured messages such as “My liberties are not yours to take.” She was wearing a purple-tinged sheet that covered her head and her entire body. She had cut out two holes so that she could see. The sign around her neck read “Feel safer now?”
At one point the group chanted, “We do not consent.” “The message is that they’ve gone too far,” Ms. Riley said. “So Big Pharma can take over, give us all vaccinations and make us all stupid and sit home on our couch and comply. There’s an underlying agenda that most people don’t see.”
Manny Fernandez reported from Austin and Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs from New York. Mike Baker contributed reporting from Seattle. She was not worried about getting infected despite her age, which makes her more vulnerable to the virus. “I take care of my body and exercise,” she said. “I’m not the least bit worried.”
Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs contributed reporting from New York.