Ahead of Donald Trump’s arrival for a photo op on Friday, Gov. Janet Mills called out his dangerous rhetoric and warned him not to bring his divisiveness to Maine. Read more below: 

Maine Public Radio: Mills Clashes With Trump Over His Call To 'Dominate' Protestors And His Plans To Visit Maine

  • “Maine Gov. Janet Mills on Monday told President Donald Trump that his planned visit to a factory in Guilford later this week could provoke additional unrest and become a security concern for the state.”
  • “Tensions between Mills and the Trump administration have escalated in recent weeks [...] the Mills administration has challenged the White House to provide more personal protective equipment for health care workers and testing supplies.”

Portland Press-Herald: Mills raises security concerns about Trump’s plan to visit maker of test swabs in Maine

  • “‘Both the tone and the substance of the president’s comments were troubling,’ Mills told reporters Monday evening during a news conference outside the governor’s mansion in Augusta.”
  • “Mills said the country needed leadership ‘not more hatred and more division, not more animosity and more distrust.’”

WCSH: Mills to Trump: 'Check [your] rhetoric at the door' before coming to Maine

  • “The governor said she has not seen leadership in the President, and said she called for ‘empathy, compassion, courage and understanding’ for protesters against injustice instead of hatred, division, animosity, and distrust. She said she asked that Trump ‘check his rhetoric at the door’ when he arrives in Maine.”

Boston Globe: Trump to visit Maine; Mills wants him to ‘check the rhetoric at the door’

  • “Democratic Governor Janet Mills urged Republican President Donald Trump to ‘check the rhetoric at the door’ when he pays a visit Friday to a manufacturer of specialized swabs used in testing for the coronavirus.”
  • “Mills criticized the president’s strident tone during a teleconference in which he accused governors of being ‘weak’ and urged them to “dominate” towns and cities besieged by racial unrest and to arrest and imprison protesters.”
  • “‘Abandon the divisive language that sows seeds of distrust among our people,’ she said Monday. ‘Lead with trust and compassion.’”

###