For President Donald Trump, maintaining the economic trends he inherited from former President Barack Obama has been the strongest case for his reelection in November.
According to multiple reports, this is why the President routinely pushed against expanded testing and precautions for the virus that's gone on to kill over 140 thousand Americans.
As governors around the nation temporarily closed businesses and issued stay-at-home orders, Trump repeatedly railed against them. In some cases, he tweeted for anti-lockdown protesters to "LIBERATE" their states from said lockdowns.
Some governors, like Republican Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, heeded Trump's calls.
Weeks later, Florida and other states that took Trump's advice on reopening are seeing spikes in new cases and subsequent hospitalizations.
But according to Presidential Counselor Kellyanne Conway, these governors have no one to blame but themselves.
Watch below.
Conway said:
"Some of these states blew through our criteria, blew through our phases and they opened up some of the industries a little too quickly, like bars...Remember, the governors wanted complete latitude over when they would open their states. They pushed back heavily, handsomely, Republicans and Democrats, when it was falsely rumored that the President was going to be in charge of opening the states. He's a federalist. He believes in states' rights."
She claimed governors blew through the administration's Centers for Disease Control guidelines, but didn't mention that the President was actively contradicting these guidelines with his own statements.
Conway was reminded that Trump urged the governors to reopen their states. She countered that not all states heeded his advice and that he disagreed with Georgia's Republican governor, Brian Kemp, for opening hair salons as early as April.
She also championed Trump as an advocate for states' rights, but didn't mention that the President has unleashed anonymous militarized officers to detain protestors in unspecified locations in Portland, Oregon, despite opposition from state officials. The President said on Wednesday that he intends to do the same with Chicago.
People were quick to fact-check Conway.
It seemed like Conway was throwing Republican governors under the bus.
Trump is currently pushing for schools across the nation to fully open on schedule, but Conway's latest statement may call into question who will take responsibility if premature school openings result in case spikes.
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