Trump COVID Adviser Roasted for Suggesting People Should ‘Rise Up’ Against Coronavirus Restrictions

By Staff, Agencies

Trump administration COVID-19 adviser Scott Atlas has unleashed a tsunami of criticism upon himself after tweeting that “the only way this stops is if people rise up” in response to new anti-coronavirus measures in Michigan.

“You get what you accept,” the Stanford University doctor, who has emerged as President Donald Trump’s top adviser on responses to the COVID-19 pandemic, said in a Sunday night tweet that also featured the #FreedomMatters and #StepUp hashtags.

Such an ambiguous appeal triggered a wave of angry replies accusing him of seeking to kill people, incite violence, or even attack Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, as well as calls for Twitter to ban Atlas immediately.

In a follow-up tweet, Atlas attempted to clarify that he was “NEVER talking at all about violence,” but rather about resisting through peaceful means of “voting” and “protest.”

Atlas tried to explain that the US pandemic policy is federally supported, but state-managed and locally implemented, insisting that is how federalism works – but the damage was already beyond repair and the torrent of criticism only intensified.

Whitmer, who earlier in the day introduced a new set of anti-coronavirus measures, personally fired back at Atlas, telling CNN she is “not going to be bullied into not following reputable scientists and medical professionals.”