{"id":1766,"date":"2023-09-16T20:09:03","date_gmt":"2023-09-16T20:09:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cccfornews.com\/index.php\/2023\/09\/16\/remain-calm-and-give-covid-the-same-attention-as-president-biden\/"},"modified":"2023-09-16T20:09:03","modified_gmt":"2023-09-16T20:09:03","slug":"remain-calm-and-give-covid-the-same-attention-as-president-biden","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cccfornews.com\/index.php\/2023\/09\/16\/remain-calm-and-give-covid-the-same-attention-as-president-biden\/","title":{"rendered":"Remain Calm and Give COVID the Same Attention as President Biden"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n
By Joshua Arnold<\/span><\/a><\/span>, Op-ed contributor
\"\"\/<\/a>\"\"\/<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/header>\n
<\/source><\/picture>
SAUL LOEB\/AFP via Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A Medal of Honor\u00a0ceremony<\/a>\u00a0spun sideways Tuesday after President Biden exited the White House East Room before the closing benediction. When asked about it, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre\u00a0said<\/a>\u00a0Biden\u2019s actions were done \u201cvery purposefully.\u201d Explained the press secretary, \u201cHe left as planned, as it was planned. He left when there was a pause in the program in order to minimize his close contact with attendees who are about to participate in a reception.\u201d President Biden apparently sought to minimize contact because his wife, First Lady Jill Biden, has contracted COVID-19 for a second time.<\/p>\n

As an added precautionary measure, President Biden wore a mask. \u201cWe planned for the president to leave when there was a pause in the program so that it would minimize him being in the room. He did just that,\u201d said Jean-Pierre. \u201cAnd I also would want to add that before the event started, the president spent a good amount of time with the captain, Capt. Taylor, and his family. And everybody was masked because he wanted to spend that quality, important time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Captain Larry Taylor was a Vietnam War hero who flew a helicopter into heavy enemy fire to rescue four fellow soldiers. The now 81-year-old veteran\u2019s sunken eyes and emotional face suggested that likely no civilian can imagine the things he witnessed and experienced during that dreadful conflict. The day rightly should have been about him.<\/p>\n

Did I say Biden \u201cwore a mask?\u201d That lasted less than two minutes, and Biden exited in less than 20 minutes. Biden slipped off his mask during the opening prayer \u2014 before he ever approached the lectern \u2014 and then it simply disappeared. After Biden finished speaking, he stood \u2014 maskless \u2014 at Taylor\u2019s shoulder for two minutes, in which time he touched his face at least twice. Then Biden spent another two maskless minutes bestowing and adjusting the medal \u2014 close enough to touch and breathe on Taylor \u2014 before walking out of the room \u2014 through the audience \u2014 without his mask on. The only person to wear a mask after the initial entrance was the young officer who handed the medal to Biden.<\/p>\n

For those who want to know, a cursory Google search revealed that\u2019s not how Medal of Honor ceremonies normally proceed \u2014 not even for President Biden. On July 5, 2022, Biden stayed through all 43 minutes of a\u00a0ceremony<\/a> that awarded four Medals of Honor. At a December 21, 2022, Medal of Honor\u00a0ceremony<\/a>, when all attendees were wearing masks, Biden kept his mask on until he stepped up to the podium. On that occasion, Biden also forgot to put his mask back on for the first honoree, but then he remembered and put his mask back on for the next two honorees \u2014 but again he stayed until the ceremony\u2019s end.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, Biden\u00a0held his mask in his hand<\/a>\u00a0while taking the stage at an East Room event. \u201cHello everybody,\u201d the president began. \u201cLet me explain to the press, I\u2019ve been tested again today. I\u2019m clear across the board. But they keep telling me, because this has to be 10 days or something, I\u2019ve got to keep wearing it. But don\u2019t tell them I didn\u2019t have it on when I just walked in.\u201d<\/p>\n

The White House has taken criticism online for both Biden\u2019s\u00a0early exit<\/a>\u00a0from the Medal of Honor ceremony and his\u00a0maskless entry<\/a>\u00a0at an event the next day.<\/p>\n

Perhaps you\u2019re thinking, \u201cWhat\u2019s the big deal? COVID is old news. Newer variants are less dangerous, and the pandemic is over. So, who cares how Biden wears a mask?\u201d And you\u2019d be right.<\/p>\n

The problem is whoever Biden meant by \u201cthey\u201d \u2014 the people telling the quadruple-vaccinated president \u2014 who also had and recovered from the virus \u2014 that he must still wear a mask in public for 10 days merely because he is exposed to a less severe form of COVID \u2014 not infected with it. Whomever \u201cthey\u201d are, they still control levers of power, and their petty totalitarianism is so tiresome and unnecessary that even President Biden refuses to abide by their diktats.<\/p>\n

The reason it matters is because the COVID tyrants have much more power over ordinary Americans than over President Biden. An uptick in COVID cases has not only launched rumors about a return to the same failed policies, but the vampiric policies themselves have slid out of their unholy graves \u2014 or never even went away. Over 100 colleges, including Harvard, Johns Hopkins, and Rutgers, still\u00a0require<\/a>\u00a0students to get the jab, according to an August report by No College Mandates. Not that COVID ever posed a significant risk to college-age adults.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, elementary students in Montgomery County, Maryland were\u00a0required<\/a>\u00a0to wear K-95 masks after three out of 541 students tested positive over 10 days. If the post-pandemic data should have taught us anything, it is that lockdown- and mask-related learning loss inflicts far worse consequences on young children than a possible COVID infection.<\/p>\n

Biden\u2019s flippant rebellion against his own administration\u2019s mask guidance underscores the absurdity of these restrictions on everyone else. \u201cIf only children in Montgomery County public schools also had the freedom to not wear a mask,\u201d\u00a0tweeted<\/a> Senator Ted Cruz, R-Texas. Biden could joke about getting in trouble for breaking the rules because he wouldn\u2019t really face consequences. Yet Biden wants to stick the rules on ordinary people who lack that same luxury.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s clear from these incidents is that even the COVID president doesn\u2019t take the risks seriously anymore when it comes to his personal behavior. Will he reimpose mandates forcing the rest of us to pretend it is serious again? On Thursday, a bill to prevent another federal mask mandate\u00a0failed to gain unanimous consent<\/a>\u00a0on the Senate floor \u2014 which means someone wants to keep the option open.<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t tell them I didn\u2019t have [my mask] on when I walked in,\u201d said Biden. Heritage Foundation research fellow Lora Ries\u00a0responded<\/a>, \u201cWe\u2019re right there with you \u2014 don\u2019t tell us to mask either.\u201d<\/p>\n\n

Originally published at The Washington Stand.\u00a0<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

\n

Joshua Arnold is Media Coordinator for Family Research Council.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Free<\/span> Religious Freedom Updates<\/h2>\n

Join thousands of others to get the FREEDOM POST<\/strong> newsletter for free, sent twice a week from The Christian Post.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n