Crises like coronavirus and unprecedented numbers of private sector workers out of work fuel fears and fears fuel anger so it’s natural we’re seeing protests that mirror those emotions.

Now, in any crowd of emotional protestors it’s simple to video clips of bad behavior – then, if you flash a few trigger words,  like ‘Nazis,’ with those videos of angry protestors, you have the Washington Democrats’ recipe for firing up ‘their base,’ getting hits on donate buttons, and reelecting Governor Cooper.

The Democratic Governors Association did just that in its new ad telling viewers that unemployed workers protesting against Governor Cooper’s shutdown orders are dangerous for North Carolina.

Let’s put politics aside for a moment and look at a couple hard facts: over a million North Carolina workers have lost their jobs. And, a month later, many of them never received their first unemployment check. Why? Mismanagement of Governor Cooper’s Division of Employment Security. And if an unemployed worker tries to call the Cooper Administration to find out what he must do to get his check, he may spend ten hours in phone-hold purgatory.

People don’t always express their fear, hurt, and anger well. It’s natural. If Governor Cooper did an experiment and suddenly stopped checks to government employees, I suspect we would see outbursts of anger dwarfing these protests.

Here’s the bigger question: What should the Governor be doing? Should he be exploiting the unemployment crisis with cheap political videos? Or should he be straightening out the mess at DES – and getting those unemployment checks out the door to people who need them?

Governor Cooper’s allies in Washington have given us their answer. But it won’t help a single worker.