As far as the protests go - were people seriously going to take his advice and "not go". Clearly not.
Hotel guards - In other states there was much more supervision. Also ask Dan the man about the security contracts that were offered to several companies who refused as the money on offer wouldn't cover costs. You get what you pay for. In the end, he paid for crap and got exactly that.
It's reasonable to expect prudent and sensible leadership with adequate processes to manage and monitor this sort of stuff. External assistance should have been here in much greater numbers weeks and months ago.
Now it may be months before even domestic borders fully open.