Mike Huckabee on protests ramping up over stay-at-home orders
Former Arkansas governor and Fox News contributor Mike Huckabee join ‘Fox and Friends.’
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Elected officials in support of the ongoing lockdowns in various U.S. states should forego their paychecks until their residents can return to work, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee argued on "Fox & Friends Sunday."
"I think one thing we are beginning to recognize is part of the reason this has extended is because, all of the government people who are telling us to lock our doors and not go anywhere, they’re all getting their paychecks, every last one of them," Huckabee said.
HUCKABEE ON LOCKDOWN PROTESTS: 'PEOPLE AREN'T STUPID'
"Not one government employee is failing to get their paycheck. So if we really want to solve this let's say this: if you’re a government person and you’re telling other people they can’t get their pay, you don’t get yours. And that includes Nancy Pelosi and the members of Congress," he added.
"If you’re a government person and you’re telling other people they can’t get their pay, you don’t get yours."
Huckabee made the comment Sunday morning, following a weekend of protests as fed-up residents across the U.S took to the streets in opposition to the strict quarantine measures imposed on their states.
"I think governors across the country are recognizing that people have had about enough of just being told to stay home, don’t go anywhere, don’t do anything. Everybody wants to be safe," Huckabee argued.
CALIFORNIA PROTEST ERUPTS OVER STATE'S CORONAVIRUS STAY-AT-HOME RULES
"People have applied extraordinary measures to protect themselves and their friends and their neighbors – but there’s also a point in which we cannot live hunkered down forever," he explained. "It’s not like bombs are dropping on top of London. We’re at a time when we’ve got to get back to work or there’s not going to be anything to get out of the house to go back to."
Huckabee praised Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for moving forward with their plans to safely reopen and slowly get their respective economies up and running.
Though widely criticized at first, Kemp announced Saturday that the state had the lowest number of hospitalized coronavirus patients it has seen in just over a month – while DeSantis, once ridiculed for his lack of immediate action to the virus, has received much praise for properly protecting Florida's older population.
"These governors who have managed by saying, 'Let’s not shut everything down too quickly,' have actually had far better results than the ones who closed the doors, locked the key and started arresting people for doing such things as getting a haircut or buying seeds to plant tomatoes in their garden," Huckabee said.
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"There may be a political incentive" for governors to extend their lockdown orders, Huckabee argued.
"You know, there’s certainly a power grab that I find revolting. We don’t live in a police state. I’ve been all over the world ... to places that are authoritarian, totalitarian governments. And every time I’m there, I’m thinking, I want to get out of here. This is not America. I like freedom. And I’ve visited some police states. I don’t want to live in one."
Asked to comment on the World Health Organization's (WHO) attempts to knowingly deceive the world on the threat of coronavirus, Huckabee did not mince words.
GORDON CHANG: CHINA, WHO ACTED 'MALICIOUSLY'
"The way that the World Health Organization, WHO, has kowtowed to China is disgusting and revolting and President Trump is exactly right to do what he’s done," he said.
"Let me just say this," he concluded, "I’ve got more confidence in the rock band [The] Who than I have in the WHO, World Health Organization."
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