Crazy Comes to Wisconsin

Protesters rally at the state Capitol for an end to COVID-19 restrictions.

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They came from all over, the people of my state, to take a stand against tyranny and oppression.

At least that’s how they saw it.

On Friday, thousands of Wisconsin residents descended on the state Capitol to declare their independence from all the crackpots who insist on keeping the economy shut down because of COVID-19. They gathered on the corner of the Capitol Square nearest to The Progressive’s office, also now largely shut down. 

They came with signs declaring their disgust with Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers, who recently extended the state’s Safer at Home order through May 26. One couple with a sign proclaiming “Defy Tyrants” brought their baby in a stroller. Other signs proclaimed “Evers is the Virus” and “Recall Evers.”

The Republicans who control the state Legislature are asking the state Supreme Court, which they also control, to strip Evers of his power to take what he feels are appropriate actions to protect the public against the spread of the virus.  

As I walked around the protest, wearing a mask and keeping to the periphery, I saw only a handful of others wearing masks. And while there was perhaps more space between people than at, say, a Brewers game, almost no one was standing six feet apart.

They didn’t have to, according to one speaker. He began his remarks by saying that he was not a doctor, and not a scientist, and yet had in his more than sixty years on the planet lived through thirteen global pandemics, some of which killed more people than this one. Yet in none of these cases were schools and businesses closed, so what gives?

This rhetoric may be crazy, but it’s not really surprising given that a significant minority of the people in this country, and a significant majority of the people at the protest, worship President Donald Trump, who just yesterday suggested that Americans should take aim against COVID-19 by injecting themselves with disinfectants like bleach.

Early Friday afternoon, as the protest played out, the state Department of Health Services reported that 304 new cases of COVID-19 were confirmed in Wisconsin since the day before—by far the largest single-day increase since the pandemic began. The tally has been higher for each of the past three days than at any prior time. 

To date, 5,346 Wisconsinites have tested positive for COVID-19 and 262 of them have died. Wisconsin now ranks twenty-second among states for the highest number of deaths.

I spoke to one protester, who came to the event carrying what looked to me like an assault rifle and a holstered handgun. His face was covered with a scarf, which I sensed had more to do with wanting to remain anonymous than not getting sick. I asked him why he was so heavily armed and if he was thinking that he just might have to shoot someone today. He said he was just exercising his rights.

Besides the thousands of people standing around the Capitol, thousands more sat in their cars, in traffic lanes that extended from the Capitol for a full mile. I walked past many hundreds of these cars, most with their engines still running as they remained in place. I did not hear a single vehicle playing the audio of the event, which they otherwise could not hear. These people essentially missed the whole thing.

They didn’t seem to mind. “Isn’t this great?” I heard more than one person say. A guy carrying a wooden cross with the words “Are U Ready?” was talking about people’s God-given rights. Another car-bound protester contributed to the cheery atmosphere by yelling into a bullhorn, “I’m sorry, you might have to vote”—a reference to the fact that state Republicans got the Supreme Court to overrule Evers attempt to postpone the state’s April 7 election, forcing people to put their health in danger to cast in-person ballots.  

At least nineteen state residents have been diagnosed so far with COVID-19 after taking part in the election. The number of new cases tied to Friday’s protest will be greater.