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.”

The debt-laden Dallas-based company has been left with few options after the pandemic forced it to temporarily shut all 43 of its Neiman Marcus locations, roughly two dozen Last Call stores and its two Bergdorf Goodman stores in New York.

Neiman Marcus is in the final stages of negotiating a loan with its creditors totaling hundreds of millions of dollars, which would sustain some of its operations during bankruptcy proceedings, according to the sources. It has also furloughed many of its roughly 14,000 employees.

NASCAR driver Kyle Larson appeared to use the N-word during a live stream of Sunday's iRacing Pro Series event.

Apparently not realizing his volume was on during the online simulation bout, Larson seemed to say to others on the stream, "You can't hear me? Hey, n*****."

There was a stunned silence afterward before Anthony Alfredo responded, "Kyle, you're talking to everyone, bud."

Added Aron MacEachern: "Yup, we heard that."

Said host of the viral stream, Justin Botelho: "Oh damn, he did not just say that."

A partial transcript of Cuban’s response:

Unique circumstances, you just never know Chris. I never would have considered it prior to a month ago, but now things are changing rapidly and dramatically. There’s different ways to get through those issues you mentioned. I'm not saying no, but it's not something I'm actively pursuing. I'm just keeping the door open.

So much can change. You just never know. This is not something we’ve seen before. This is obviously a unique set of circumstances, and so I’m just not going to say no. You just don't know what can happen between now and November."

The Trump administration is laying the foundation to push for a reopening of parts of the U.S. economy as early as the beginning of May amid rising pressure over unemployment numbers rivaling those during the Great Depression.

President Trump and top government officials in recent days have talked about seeing "glimmers of hope" and "light at the end of the tunnel" while publicly discussing ideas for how to revive the economy.

The president has floated reopening businesses in parts of the country that do not have outbreaks. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Wednesday unveiled guidelines meant to encourage those in critical sectors who have been exposed to the coronavirus but aren't showing symptoms to continue working.