Trump-loving governors who took his COVID-19 advice are 'in retreat' as his 2020 campaign stumbles: report

Governors in multiple states who took President Donald Trump's advice on reopening their economies as quickly as possible during the COVID-19 pandemic have been forced to reverse course, which Politico reports is further damaging his campaign's prospects.

"Republican governors in Florida, Arizona and Texas followed Trump’s lead by quickly reopening their states while taking a lax approach to social distancing and mask-wearing," the publication writes. "Now each of them is seeing skyrocketing coronavirus caseloads and rising hospitalizations, and Republican leaders are in retreat."

Govs. Doug Ducey of Arizona, Ron DeSantis of Florida, and Greg Abbott of Texas have all been forced to slow down or even roll back their reopening plans as their states have been getting hammered by the disease.

Texas last week announced it was shutting down bars entirely, while Florida said it was banning on-premise alcohol consumption in bars.

The Biden campaign has capitalized on the president's stumbles by aggressively hitting him for pushing those states to open up too quickly, only to be struck with a fresh wave of COVID-19 cases, Politico reports.

"The reality is, when it comes to this president’s handling of the pandemic and the subsequent economic disaster that’s befallen our country -- which was totally predictable coming out of the pandemic and his handling of it -- Trump’s failed leadership has been exposed in a profound way," Biden campaign adviser Anita Dunn tells the publication.