President Donald Trump cheered on Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) on Tuesday for ordering a lift on the state’s stay at home order and allowing some businesses to reopen during the COVID-19 outbreak.
“Texas to open businesses in phases beginning Friday,” the President tweeted. “Great job being done by @GregAbbott_TX.”
On Monday, Abbott issued an executive order to phase out his stay at home mandate, beginning this Friday until at least May 18.
The first stage will allow “all retail stores, restaurants, movie theaters, and malls,” along with state museums and libraries, to reopen on Friday. Under the order, those establishments are not permitted to exceed their 25 percent occupancy level.
Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins spoke out against his governor’s order during a CNN interview on Monday evening.
“Just because something can be open doesn’t mean it should be open,” Jenkins told CNN anchor Erin Burnett. “And just because something is open doesn’t mean you should go there.”
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R) also began rolling back his stay at home order last week, but unlike with Abbott, Trump publicly scolded Kemp and said he “totally” disagreed with the Georgia governor’s decision.
“Would I do that? No…I want to protect people’s lives,” Trump said during a press conference last week.
The President’s unexpected snub didn’t just come about because health officials on his COVID-19 task force reportedly had to push him to reject Kemp’s plan; Axios reported that Trump was also privately angry at the Georgia governor for appointing Kelly Loeffler to fill former Sen. Johnny Isakson’s (R-GA) seat instead of Rep. Doug Collins (R-GA), Trump’s recommended appointee.
