President Donald Trump is itching for a spring break.

The president wants to ease COVID-19 restrictions by April 12, Easter Sunday, hoping to see church pews packed with relieved worshipers, celebrating renewal — and possibly celebrating him for leading America to the post-pandemic promised land.

"It's such an important date for other reasons, but I'll make an important date for this, too,'' he said.

Trump's light-at-the-end-of-the-tunnel enthusiasm sounds like fantasy-land for the region's governors, who are fumbling around in the dark, lacking enough hospital beds, ventilators, masks and even basic statistics that could give the states a more confident forecast of where things are heading.

Trump wants to declare that the war is over. Governors are grimly reporting a rising death toll each day.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who has tried to woo Trump by staying positive, lost his temper, complaining that Trump's administration sent 400 ventilators when 30,000 are needed. "You pick the 26,000 people who are going to die because you only sent 400 ventilators,'' he said Tuesday.

Yet New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy is refusing to bash from his bully pulpit, couching his criticism in cautious diplomat-ese.

"We just don’t see that in the near term,'' Murphy said Wednesday, referring to Trump's call for easing of restrictions. "The order of business is pretty clear. We break the back of the coronavirus first and open up our economy and society second. If we transpose those things ... we pour gasoline on the fire of the virus and we pay a far bigger price down the road."

Murphy seems constitutionally incapable of raising his voice or lashing out in a way to seize a CNN chyron like his more sharp-elbowed and experienced neighbor across the Hudson. Cuomo and Trump are brawlers from Queens, where you yell, curse and sometimes destroy each other one day, only to act like pals the next. A kind of grudging respect emerges from the candor and combat.

Murphy comes from the leafy streets of suburban Boston, educated at Harvard, and joined President Barack Obama's diplomatic corps after two decades at Goldman Sachs. Murphy prefers charm and collaborative goodwill over conflict.

But if there was ever a time for Murphy to turn up the temperature, Trump's reckless Easter promise should have been it. Trump's forecasting creates a false sense of relief. It signaled that it's OK to begin planning those Easter dinner parties, social distancing be damned.

It completely contradicts Murphy's repeated calls for more indefinite sacrifice, and his vow to send state troopers to break up weddings and house parties, if necessary, to prevent further spread of the deadly pathogen.

Murphy is being whipsawed by the commander in chief. But he chose the slap on the wrist when maybe it was time to throw a verbal haymaker. We got milquetoast and a pledge for more data to build a "predictive" modeling about the contagion's spread.

"You can't flip a switch,'' Murphy said. "We took our most draconian steps Saturday. We need a longer runway."

Even Republican governors are getting into the act of publicly defying Trump with more urgency. New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu effectively told his residents to ignore Trump's Easter talk, saying "whatever message is coming out of Washington, we're going to take care of New Hampshire first."

So why the hesitancy?

Trump has returned Murphy's calls, and in the world of diplomacy, keeping open a line for negotiation and communication is invaluable, even if it produces limited results. Trump has twice tapped the national stockpile and shipped respirators, masks and surgical gowns, far below what the Murphy administration has asked.

If he's had any frustrations with Trump, he hasn't shown it. He hailed the new shipment as the result of a "productive conversation" with the president. The Trump administration has also pledged to build four "pop-up" hospitals to help absorb the surge of infected patients flooding the intensive care units of New Jersey hospitals.

Murphy is taking a better-than-nothing approach as part of a longer game. Muted praise will produce more results in the long run than bashing Trump. That may not be the ethos of a Queens street fight, but that's the way Murphy is playing it right now.

Yet Trump's Easter fantasy is putting lives at risk and undermining everything that Murphy attempts to protect. Murphy eagerly joined a tri-state compact with Cuomo earlier this month as part of a coordinated response to the crisis. Eventually, Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf joined the team.

Perhaps they could use the compact to speak in one collective voice and to back away from the Easter forecasting. You're putting lives at risk. Tell everybody to stay inside until it's over. It's not going to go away on your timetable.

Or, more simply, "Knock it off."

Charlie Stile is New Jersey’s preeminent political columnist. For unlimited access to his unique insights into New Jersey’s political power structure and his powerful watchdog work, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.

Email: stile@northjersey.com Twitter: @politicalstile