LAS VEGAS (AP) — Far-right politicians across the U.S. are warning that state governments are using the coronavirus pandemic to trample on civil liberties.
They are railing against efforts by state government leaders to close churches and gun stores and to prevent large public gatherings.
The restrictions reinforce a long-held belief in right-wing circles that government officials would eventually use a national emergency to sharply limit freedoms.
The complaints have emerged across the country but run particularly strong in the conservative stronghold of eastern Washington state.
Prominent state lawmaker Matt Shea says the coronavirus is a foreign bio-weapon and claims Marxists are using the pandemic to advance totalitarianism.
