Kellyanne Conway complains that Michigan ‘lets you smoke grass but not cut it’

White House advisor Kellyanne Conway backed demonstrations against governors who had 'gone too far' with coronavirus measures

After Donald Trump called for the liberation of Michigan on Twitter last week, senior White House advisor Kellyanne Conway has claimed that the state’s coronavirus shutdown doesn’t make sense.

Complaining that coronavirus measures in Michigan had “gone too far”, Ms Conway commented that “In Michigan, you can basically smoke your grass but not cut your grass. This makes no sense to many people.”

Ms Conway then made light of social distancing orders by saying that “Some of these governors have basically physically distanced from common sense.”

The Fox News appearance on Monday came amid multiple state-based protests against coronavirus shutdown measures.

Anchor Sandra Smith asked Ms Conway “what is the president saying about that this morning, the fact that these protests are calling for the end of some of the guidelines that he set to begin with?”

After calling for the “liberation” of Michigan, Virginia and Minnesota on Friday, the president has continued to back demonstrations against Democratic governors and added that Americans were “allowed to protest”.

“Some have gone too far, some governors have gone too far. Some of the things that happened are maybe not so appropriate,” the president said on Sunday.

Those comments were echoed by White House counselor Ms Conway who, at the same time, acknowledged that the administration was committed to CDC guidelines on social distancing.

Accepting that protesters had ignored those same guidelines, Ms Conway told Fox News that “We need physical distance of six feet, wear that face covering, that mask.”

She defended the right to protest on the basis that governors were going beyond “common sense” with coronavirus shutdowns.

As confirmed US cases of the coronavirus neared 800,000 on Monday, the BBC reported that Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer told the White House during a call that protesting was “dangerous”.

She added that the White House needed to “reiterate the importance of staying home until we get these numbers down... would be incredibly appreciated”.