Trump tweets apparent support for protesters of stay-at-home orders

President Donald Trump appeared to lend support to protesters in several US states who have been demonstrating against stay-at-home orders imposed because of the coronavirus pandemic.

"LIBERATE MINNESOTA!" Trump tweeted on Friday. "LIBERATE MICHIGAN!" The Republican president followed those tweets with another saying: "LIBERATE VIRGINIA, and save your great 2nd Amendment. It is under siege!"
Trump also lashed out on Friday at New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, another Democrat, saying he should "get out there and get the job done."
Cuomo, who has said previously he does not want to get in a "fight" with the president, shot back: "If he's sitting home watching TV, maybe he should get up and go to work."
Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer told reporters on Friday that she hoped Trump's tweets were "not encouraging more protests."
Virginia Governor Ralph Northam shrugged off Trump's tweets. "As the governor of the commonwealth of Virginia I, along with my staff, are fighting a biological war," Northam said. "I do not have time to involve myself in Twitter wars."
"I just don't have time to try to figure out why something like that would happen," he said. "We're leading as we were asked. If I thought we could go back to work tomorrow that's exactly what we would do."
"His unhinged rantings and calls for people to 'liberate' states could also lead to violence," Inslee warned in a statement. "The president is fomenting domestic rebellion and spreading lies, even while his own administration says the virus is real and is deadly, and that we have a long way to go before restrictions can be lifted."
The Second Amendment reference in Trump's tweet refers to the part of the US Constitution giving Americans the "right to bear arms."
The Michigan protest in defiance of the stay-at-home orders imposed by Governor Whitmer attracted around 3,000 demonstrators, some of whom were armed. It was organised by a coalition of right-wing groups calling themselves "Michiganders Against Excessive Quarantine."