As is often the case, there is a lot going on in the world of American politics. But something rather remarkable has taken place over the last week or so among Democrats.
Some of the same Democrats who for months lectured Republicans on how their push for reopening their states showed a callous disregard for their fellow citizens during the pandemic are all of a sudden pushing for… reopening.
Heading the pack has been none other than New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who announced a stunning reversal in a tweet posted on Jan. 11.
“We simply cannot stay closed until the vaccine hits critical mass,” the man dubbed the “Luv Guv” by the New York media tweeted last Monday. “The cost is too high. We will have nothing left to open. We must reopen the economy, but we must do it smartly and safely.”
Had one not known it was Cuomo who uttered the words, one might have thought they came from President Trump, who made similar remarks in 2020 even as Democrats and the mainstream media — who are adoring fans of Cuomo — accused Trump of being willing to sacrifice the lives of senior citizens just so the economy could get back up and running.
In addition to Cuomo, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot — who was once such a staunch proponent of lockdowns that she advocated for police to monitor social media feeds in order to bust block parties — said last week that she wants “to get our restaurants and bars reopened as quickly as possible,” not just to stop private parties but also because she says they need to be able to reopen in order to survive.
“They’ve gone above and beyond to put in mitigation controls inside of the restaurants,” Lightfoot stated. “I feel very strongly that we are very close to a point when we should be talking about opening up our bars and restaurants.”
Newsweek magazine, who like many other news organizations has played shame games with Republicans who advocated for reopening in 2020, also published a report last week on a study that found COVID lockdowns have shown “no clear benefit versus other voluntary measures.”
Does it just so happen to merely be coincidental that talk of reopening among Democratic leaders and media outlets is occurring just as Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden is preparing to be inaugurated as America’s 46th president?
In my opinion, no. This is reminiscent of what Democrats and the media did with the coronavirus vaccine whenever Trump talked about how it could be available by the end of the year. His political opponents said it couldn’t happen, but that if it did, it would be unsafe.
Yet a week after the election, when it was announced that the first vaccine doses would soon be rolling out, magically the vaccine was safe again, and the media and Democrats launched campaigns to urge people to get it.
Biden, his running mate Kamala Harris, and others on the left and in the media undermined the vaccine in the months leading up to Election Day — and then stopped doing so afterward. I think the reasons why are pretty obvious.
In addition to that, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi admitted a month after the election that she deliberately stalled the COVID relief bill, not on principle, but because she wanted to give Biden a superficial legislative victory in the event that he won the election.
How many American people suffered as a result of the left’s willingness to deceive them on reopening, the vaccine and the COVID relief bill because of politics?
For anyone wondering why so many are not on board with the “unity and healing” Democrats and the media have called for over the last two months, well, maybe now they can better understand why.
Media analyst Stacey Matthews has also written under the pseudonym Sister Toldjah and is a regular contributor to RedState and Legal Insurrection.
