Aaron Rupar on the eruption:

President Donald Trump can’t help but sow division, even at a time when Americans are largely united in supporting stay-at-home orders and social distancing to slow the spread of the coronavirus.

It’s not that he can’t help it, it’s that he loves doing it. He can’t help being the person he is, I guess, but the person he is loves doing malevolent cruel destructive things to people who are more vulnerable than he is, and to people who are not Donald Trump.

Just after 11:21 am Eastern time on Friday, President Donald Trump posted a trio of tweets endorsing the so-called liberation of a trio of states with Democratic governors from measures they’ve taken to slow the spread of coronavirus.

Liberate the virus! Liberate the pandemic!

These posts — which are among the most dangerous of Trump’s tenure — appear to have been inspired by a segment he saw on Fox News minutes earlier.

…

At 11:19 — two minutes before Trump’s Minnesota tweet — Fox News ran a segment about small groups of right-wing protesters in Minnesota and Virginia who have been agitating for governors there to relax stay-at-home orders so they can resume normal shopping and traveling activities.

Fox has extensively covered right-wing demonstrations in Michigan on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday this week, which echo the same theme.

Because public health measures are a left-wing plot, I guess.