This quarantine has been hard on all of us, but some of us have handled it better than others. If you haven’t been keeping up with the news lately then let me fill you in: in over a dozen states there have been people protesting the new laws and restrictions put in place by the governors. These people are throwing fits about the fact that they have to stay home for a couple of weeks to save millions of lives. 

But the main problem isn’t that they are protesting, because they have a right to do that no matter what’s going on in the country. 

The problem is that these people are doing it violently and dangerously. 

For example, instead of protesting in their cars safely people have been getting out and standing in big crowds going against social distancing and helping the spread of the virus. 

Some of these protests have also included AR-15s and Confederate flags. Not only is this disgusting, it endangers the public and police with automatic rifles, it also inspires more hate and discrimination in a time when our country should be uniting to solve this huge problem. 

These people are turning an issue of public safety into one of political parties and hatred towards fellow Americans.

I have no idea what a hateful, racist flag has to do with a deadly pandemic. Tens of thousands of people have died now is not the time to be inspiring hate and division among our country, instead, we should be rallying together to raise support for the medical and emergency people who have saved millions of lives. 

These people protesting have signs complaining about not being able to get haircuts or go to bars. This is saying that getting your hair done and drinking is more important than millions of people’s lives. They’re also claiming that the government has no right to “restrict their freedoms” by having Shelter and Place orders. They have signs that say stuff like “Set us free” and “Give me liberty or give me COVID 19.” These people act like the government is saying that you can not ever leave your house again, but no, all they want is a couple of weeks with the least amount of people leaving their houses as possible. The lawmakers are trying to save lives, they are not imposing on our rights at all 

This protesting is a hard problem to solve when our very own President is advocating for violent protests. 

On April 17th Trump tweeted “LIBERATE VIRGINIA! and save your great 2nd Amendment. It is under siege!” This tweet sparked outrage among not only the citizens of the country but also his fellow lawmakers. Washington Governor Jay Inslee said to ABC News that Trump’s “unhinged rantings and calls for people to ‘liberate’ states could also lead to violence.” 

When the President encourages people to break the laws set by Governors because he doesn’t support them causes not only a divide in our country, but it also puts tons of people in more danger. Encouraging an entire state to break laws when in such a high position of power should be seen as anti-American, and there should be consequences for the President.

Inslee also said that Trump’s tweets were “dangerous” because some might take them as an encouragement to ignore stay-at-home orders and other measures taken to stop the spread of the virus, which has killed almost 60,000 people in the U.S. 

Inslee expressed disbelief at seeing the “president of the United States basically encourage insubordination” against the shelter and place laws. These laws are saving lives but the President is wanting people to ignore them to protect the second amendment and because people just want to go outside? Maybe he should be more concerned with the thousands of Americans dying every day and not guns. 

This is not a time for war over policy or between parties. The President needs ignoring the extreme hatred he has for Democrats to help the country survive this.