House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) argued Wednesday that reopening the economy in the middle of the COVID-19 outbreak, as President Donald Trump desperately wants, isn’t worth the deadly consequences.
“The fact is if you undermine science, if you underfund testing, if you exaggerate the opportunity that is out there for the economy at the risk of people dying, that’s not a plan,” Pelosi said during an interview with MSNBC host Andrea Mitchell.
“Death is not an economic motivator, stimulus,” she continued. “So why are we going down that path?”
The Democratic leader said that the government can mitigate the outbreak and thus end stay-at-home orders by “doing things in a way that is appropriate,” such as testing, social distancing and following health officials’ guidelines.
“But not cheering people on [who are] going with guns and swastikas to the legislature in Michigan, and saying ‘These are really good people,'” she said, jabbing at Trump for actively applauding the right-wing protesters, some of whom have been carrying semi-automatic weapons and waving white nationalist flags.
Watch Pelosi below:
Pelosi on the dangers of reopening the economy right now: "Death is not an economic motivator, stimulus." pic.twitter.com/Z5kkAT5wbf
— TPM Livewire (@TPMLiveWire) May 6, 2020
