President Donald Trump can’t have rallies right now, so he held a virtual town hall instead on Fox News.

Entitled “America Together: Returning to Work” and taking place at the Lincoln Memorial, President Trump was answering questions that had been submitted via social media while sitting in appropriately socially distanced chairs from Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum. (The optics of having the large statue of Abraham Lincoln also “sitting” with them was a neat look.)

President Trump is a firm believer that the economy can be restarted and put up good growth numbers by the end of the year. But he still believes that the shutdown was the right thing considering the scale of the numbers involved. He’s pleased that the FDA has cut some red tape to get medication like remdesivir to patients. But he is seriously annoyed with certain governors who he thinks need to either be more responsive to their citizens, or work on getting supplies and not just go to the federal government for their handout first. While the question was centered around Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan, Trump took the opportunity to slam Jay Inslee of Washington state.

The President goes after Governor Whitmer and Governor Inslee pic.twitter.com/SYBOTb0M27

— Acyn Torabi (@Acyn) May 3, 2020

Trump bashes Washington Gov. Jay Inslee again. He says Inslee asked for help obtaining swabs and he responded that Inslee should get them himself, but the federal government could help if needed.

— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) May 3, 2020

As a lifelong resident of Washington state, I hereby give President Trump carte blanche to bash Jay Inslee as much as he likes. The state “stay at home” order was just extended last Friday to now last until May 31st, and the citizens of the state are mad. The tide of public opinion has definitely shifted against Inslee, and even though he’s trying to sound “measured” and “science-driven,” the long and the short of it is that Inslee is a giant chicken.

Inslee is a follower, not a leader, which is why his presidential campaign was such a joke. When Inslee dropped out of the presidential race, he announced that he would run for a third term for governor of Washington. And given this state’s proclivity to just elect the candidate with the “D” after their name, he probably would have coasted to another electoral victory this November. In this current climate, and Inslee’s continued timidity along with his heightened profile is not inspiring confidence. While he doesn’t want to be wrong about anything, Trump singling him out as a whiner who came to the federal government first instead of trying to source his own swabs is actually dead-on hilarious. Trump makes Inslee sound like the kid who can’t remember where he left his toy, and makes himself sound like the long-suffering parent who asks “where did you have it last?”

Trump has had conflicting messages to the states before, of course, but some governors seem confused about what federalism actually means to them. The media, of course, has a different take on each state reopening depending on whether the governor has an “R” or a “D” after their name, betraying their narrative. I would love it if President Trump would settle down and stick to a consistent message when it comes to jump-starting the economy and reassuring the public that we can get through this, while encouraging states to open up. But if he feels like snarking at Governor Jay Inslee, please, be my guest. He deserves it.

Featured image: President Donald Trump on April 27, 2020 (official White House photo by Andrea Hanks via White House Flickr, public domain)