Trump economic adviser predicts blue states near 'rioting in the streets' if shutdown continues

A key 2016 Trump campaign adviser and current member of the Trump Economic Recovery Task Force said he predicted "almost rioting in the streets," particularly in Democratic-held states, if people are kept in "state of impoverishment" through a continued economic shutdown due to coronavirus.

Stephen Moore, now an informal Trump economic adviser who served during the Trump 2016 presidential campaign, told Just the News on Thursday that the widespread coronavirus economic shutdown should not have occurred at all and that it is dragging on for too long, especially in Democratic-held states.

"My prediction is if these blue states try to stay closed down for more than two or three more weeks, you're going to start to see almost rioting in the streets because people are not going to put up with the government keeping them in a state of impoverishment, which is what they're doing," said Moore, who was nominated in 2019 by President Trump to join the Federal Reserve Board of Governors. Moore later withdrew his nomination.

"I'm a big, big, strong believer of federalism," Moore said of Trump's approach focused on governors deciding how to re-open the economy. "I think it's one of the greatest features of our Constitution is that power resides in the states, not the federal government. And, you know, I'm from Illinois. We have a dunce cap governor in Illinois. He's talking about another several weeks of keeping the state shut down and, look, the people voted for him, they're gonna have to suffer the consequences. Maybe they'll vote for change leadership, you know, next time."

Moore said because of federalism, Trump's powers to order states were limited and that "the real role of the president is to cheerlead these, try to talk these governors into reopening and telling them how it can be done safely, and give them guidance and guidelines about how to do it." 

Moore said as of right now, he would not advise Trump to go on offense and help coordinate the legal strategy for some closed states to reopen and try to force governors' hands.

Trump praised the Wisconsin Supreme Court for rejecting a bid by the governor to continue a stay-at-home order. The lawsuit challenging Gov. Tony Evers (D-Wisc.) was brought by Republican lawmakers.

"I think that's very appropriate to go to the courts," Moore said of Wisconsin. "But that was a state court, not a federal court. So citizens are fighting back. And it's about time, and you're seeing protests in the streets, people taking it to the courts."

Moore said he'd spoken with many mid-size business owners who were frustrated by the shutdown and could vote with their feet to leave for other areas that have reopened. "They say, 'If Wisconsin doesn't open up, I'm going to Arizona. If Michigan doesn't open up, I'm going to Tennessee.' And so the Democratic governors are keeping their economy shut down at their own extreme peril," Moore said.

Emphasizing that the president can "use the power of the bully pulpit," Moore said, "that's one of the strongest powers the president has, is to say 'Look, you know, the governor of New Jersey or New York or Illinois, you're shut down. Meanwhile, we have commerce, and we have healthy people, and we're combatting the disease in Tennessee and Texas and Iowa and Nebraska and all these other places. Why in the world aren't you getting with the program?'"