“Donald Trump, who refers to himself as the “law-and-order president,” tried to thumb his nose at local health restrictions at a campaign rally Friday in Minnesota. Then he insulted officials who enforced the law. Crowds in Minnesota are restricted to no more than 250 people as the state grapples with a surge of COVID-19 cases — and deaths. And that’s exactly the crowd size local officials allowed at the Rochester airport for Trump’s rally. “The governor wants to play games,” a miffed Trump told reporters, referring to Democratic Gov. Tim Walz. “He’s a weak governor. He’s done a terrible job.” Trump claimed “thousands of people” were “injured” by the crowd restriction because they couldn’t see him. He insisted 25,000 people wanted to attend the rally. In truncated remarks to his dozens of supporters at the airport, he also blasted Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison for enforcing the law. “Your far-left Democrat Attorney General Keith Ellison and your Democrat governor tried to shut down our rally, silence the people of Minnesota and take away your freedom and your rights,” Trump told supporters. Authorities in a number of cities have reported spikes in COVID-19 cases after Trump rallies, where supporters often fail to wear masks or maintain social distancing. Five counties ― two in Minnesota, two in Pennsylvania and one in Wisconsin ― recorded surges in coronavirus cases following Trump campaign rallies held since mid-August, according to an analysis by USA Today. Trump addressed reporters immediately after arriving in Rochester, Minnesota, and bashed Tim Walz for \”playing games\” and doing \”a terrible job\” because he tried to required rally attendees to observe social distancing pic.twitter.com/RFKYkAe2oB— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) Oktober 30, 2020
