In the capital cities of Michigan, Kentucky, and North Carolina, hundreds of conservatives staged mass protests on Wednesday against social distancing orders—and top right-wing media figures are cheering them on. Despite coronavirus causing over 30,000 deaths in America alone, the pro-Trump and largely mask-less protesters, some of whom flew Confederate flags and open-carried AR-15 and AK-47 variants, gathered to demand an end to outbreak-reduction efforts and a premature return to normalcy.

The largest protest was staged in Michigan, where conservatives formed a tight-knit crowd around the steps of the Lansing capitol building and blocked off surrounding streets in the self-titled “Operation Gridlock” effort. The protesters’ ire was aimed at Democratic governor Gretchen Whitmer, who, while facing the third-worst outbreak in the U.S., extended Michigan’s stay-at-home order last week to April 30, banning gatherings of 10 or more people and the reopening of nonessential businesses and schools. She issued the executive action after over 20,000 Michiganders had become infected with COVID-19 and nearly 1,000 had died, leading to capacity issues at Detroit-area hospitals.

Her most radical GOP constituents have called the order tyrannical, as they made evident by blaring car horns, waving signs that likened Whitmer to Hitler—including one that read, “Trump, lock up the Nazi woman from Michigan”—and chanting, “Lock her up!” and “We will not comply!” on the capitol front lawn. The protest was organized by the Michigan Freedom Fund and Michigan Conservative Coalition, the former of which is backed by the billionaire family of Betsy DeVos, Donald Trump’s education secretary. MLive reporter Malachi Barrett highlighted the president’s influence on the rallygoers, calling it “half protest, half Trump rally,” an unsurprising connection given that Trump has recently upped demands for “OPENING UP AMERICA AGAIN!”

Over at Fox News, a number of top hosts had nothing but praise and encouragement for protesters demanding a return to normalcy. “They want to keep us away from churches and synagogues. They want to make sure we don’t go back to work. They don’t get it. The American spirit is too strong, and Americans are not gonna take it,” host Jeanine Pirro said on Sean Hannity’s Wednesday show. “And what happened in Lansing today? God bless ’em, it’s gonna happen all over the country.” An hour prior, Tucker Carlson hosted Michigan protest organizer Meshawn Maddock and thanked her for her service. “Thank you for coming on tonight, and thank you for exercising your constitutionally protected rights as an American. Bless you,” he said, denouncing Whitmer’s “mindless and authoritarian” leadership and saying he hopes “she loses her job.”

Laura Ingraham lionized the protesters in a Wednesday tweet, writing, “Time to get your freedom back,” in response to a video of cars heading to the Lansing rally. The Fox prime-time host, who called scientific findings about the virus “wrong” and envisioned many more Americans throwing rallies “for their right to work, travel, assemble, socialize, and worship,” previously advised her fans to continue air travel, tweeting last month that it was actually a “great time to fly.” Elsewhere at Fox News—where most employees are working from home and others are being advised to heed the CDC’s precautionary guidelines—a “NO TO THE ‘NANNY STATE’” headline led the website on Wednesday, and Fox & Friends host Brian Kilmeade mocked Democratic governors’ “ridiculous” mitigation efforts on Thursday, while anticipating more protests flaring up across the country.

With every passing day that lockdowns are extended, Ingraham’s prediction appears more and more likely, especially if conservative pundits have their way. Infowars host Owen Shroyer, a conspiracy theorist currently facing a lawsuit for promoting hoax claims about the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, has already scheduled an April 18 “You Can’t Close America” rally in Austin, Texas. “It’s time for citizens to stand up and take our country back, just like President Trump promised during his inaugural address,” Shroyer said on Tuesday, downplaying the risk of a mass gathering by telling viewers he was not afraid to catch COVID-19 and ginning them for a revolt. “Are we in martial law right now? Because we’re acting like it.”