President Donald Trump, who acknowledged there could be a second wave of the coronavirus epidemic later this year, stated he wouldn’t let a second outbreak stop the economy.
“People say that’s a very distinct possibility,” Trump told reporters in Michigan Thursday. “It’s standard. And, we’re going put out the fires. We’re not going to close the country.”
According to Fox News, the president’s comments came as he toured the Ford Motor Co. plant outside of Detroit that is now making ventilators.
Conservative radio host Buck Sexton said Trump told him the same during a White House interview Wednesday.
“We will not do a lockdown for the second wave that is likely to come in the winter,” Trump said on Sexton’s show.
The president’s visit to Michigan was only the third time he’s left the White House since the pandemic began. The trip also comes at a time where Trump has battled Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer on several fronts.
On Wednesday, Trump said he would withhold federal funds from Michigan because the state sent absentee ballots to its 7.7 million voters. In April, Trump emboldened protesters who stormed the Michigan state capital in an armed, anti-quarantine protest of Whitmer closing the state.
The protest received so much media attention, state Rep Sarah Anthony was escorted by an armed group of African American volunteers back to her office several days later.
The president also made the visit as a Fox News poll shows him behind Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden. Trump’s reelection advisors are increasingly worried about how the president is viewed in the state as his attacks on Whitmer have been viewed unfavorably in the state.
Trump planned to use the U.S. economy, which was thriving before the coronavirus pandemic hit U.S. shores in February, as a significant part of his reelection bid. However, with unemployment numbers rising everyday and more than 100,000 dead due to the virus Trump will have to change his strategy.