Townhall Review | Commentaries

“The era of big mandates is over,” NBC News declared after six blue states acted to reverse indoor mask mandates over the past few days. Starting in New Jersey, Democratic governors in five states rolled back COVID-19 mandates after facing voter anger and parental fury over requirements that never had a firm basis in science in the first place. 

With the Omicron wave of cases fast receding, it appeared for a brief moment that the White House got the message. Instead, the CDC used a hastily arranged press briefing on Wednesday to announce that their guidance wouldn’t change at all. Despite the hint from NBC and the clear message from voters across the political spectrum, the Biden White House wants to cling to mandates rather than shift to an endemic posture on COVID-19.

A reporter asked Jen Psaki whether the CDC risked becoming irrelevant to Americans as states begin ignoring their outdated guidance. She essentially just doubled down. The Biden administration has proven its irrelevance.

The administration will get left behind. Americans are done with big mandates.

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I don’t feel sorry for politicians very often.

But last week in my normally genteel blue-state town, four state legislators came to gauge community sentiment about the statewide mask mandate. And boy, did they get an earful.

There were concerned dads in attendance. And a few speakers advocated continued caution. But they were overwhelmed by the moms—impassioned moms, who are done putting masks on their children.

There were stories of little kids, who’ve never seen their teachers smile. Of older students, disaffected and depressed because they haven’t had a normal school day for two years. Of children with rashes around their mouths, speech impediments, developmental delays, and more.

Through all of it ran a palpable sense of betrayal from good citizens who’ve tried to do the right thing. They’ve come to realize the sacrifice demanded of their children has been both damaging and largely unnecessary. They’re angry. And I don’t blame them one bit.

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There have been plenty of smash-and-grab robberies recently, but what GoFundMe tried to do to Canada’s Freedom Convoy takes stealing to a whole new level.

A fundraiser hosted on GoFundMe for the Canadian truckers protesting vaccine mandates had raised $8 million dollars.

Then GoFundMe tried to claim the protest violated its terms of service, which prohibits “the promotion of violence and harassment.” So GoFundMe announced it would just take the donated money and distribute it to other charities instead.

What disgusting, politicized hypocrisy. GoFundMe was willing to host Black Lives Matter fundraisers, despite the numerous riots that occurred throughout the summer of 2020.

After pushback from Republican leaders, GoFundMe has backed down, promising automatic refunds of all donations. And those who want to support the Freedom Convoy can do so through GiveSendGo.

But everyone should remember: GoFundMe tried to keep millions of dollars, and direct them far from their intended beneficiaries. It should never be trusted again—with anyone’s money.

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It has been more than five months since Joe Biden disgracefully abandoned thousands of Americans and tens of thousands of our allies in Afghanistan. For most of that time, our national media has steadfastly averted its eyes from this moral stain on the presidency. While individual journalists have pressed the State Department for answers and updates, their employers have rarely if ever reported on the topic.

Now, the liberal media outlet The Atlantic finally delivered a devastating report on Biden’s catastrophic retreat from Afghanistan. George Packer oddly avoids the topic of abandoned Americans, but he makes clear the lack of empathy or purpose in Biden’s actions, other than indulging his vanity at the expense of American credibility. His chaotic withdrawal, Packer concludes, “added moral injury to military failure.”

Biden isn’t the only perpetrator of this moral injury. The American media disgraced itself by ignoring Biden’s dishonorable abandonment of Americans and allies alike. Will other media outlets follow the example from Packer and The Atlantic and cover this story, or will they continue to carry Biden’s water instead?

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Nebraska Democratic Party chair Jan Kleeb lamented this week that “we’re doing all these good things as Democrats, and yet the voters don’t seem to be on our side.” Like the White House and Democratic leadership in Congress, Ms. Kleeb gets this entirely backward. 

Inflation, shortages, the pandemic, and crime touch most Americans’ lives every day, either directly or indirectly. Spiking crime rates limit our freedom of movement. Inflation erodes our buying power, while pandemic policies and the supply chain crisis keep grocery shelves empty. 

Rent has spiked upward by as much as 40 percent in urban areas. Yet Democrats remain focused on their climate-change policy in Congress while President Biden demands even more inflationary spending to buy votes.

Jen Psaki scoffed at crime concerns, calling them a figment of a Fox News “alternate universe.” In the real world, homicides and carjackings have exploded over the past two years and retail thefts have shockingly exploded.

Democrats’ problem isn’t that voters aren’t on their side. It’s that Democrats aren’t on voters’ side—and voters have figured it out.

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This is Carol Platt Liebau for Townhall.com.

President Biden will soon nominate a black female for the Supreme Court.

In so doing, he’ll be fulfilling a pledge made to secure the endorsement of South Carolina Congressman James Clyburn.

But by announcing his nominee’s race and sex in advance, the president has made his selection about her identity, not her accomplishments. And in doing so, he’s cheapened her achievements.

The President’s approach highlights the pitfalls of affirmative action. It was intended to allow consideration of immutable characteristics—as one factor of many—to level the playing field.

But now, the left’s obsession with identity politics leaves even those with the best intentions to wonder: Is Biden’s nominee being chosen for the Supreme Court because she’s the best person for the job, or simply because she’s a black woman?

The president’s nominee deserves better. And so does America.

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Nebraska Democratic Party chair Jan Kleeb lamented this week that “we’re doing all these good things as Democrats, and yet voters don’t seem to be on our side.” Like the White House and Democratic leadership in Congress, Ms. Kleeb gets this entirely backward.

Inflation, shortages, the pandemic, and crime touch most Americans’ lives every day, either directly or indirectly. Spiking crime rates limit our freedom of movement. Inflation erodes our buying power, while pandemic policies and the supply chain crisis keep grocery shelves empty.

Yet Democrats remain focused on their climate-change policy in Congress while President Biden demands even more inflationary spending to buy votes.

Jen Psaki scoffed at crime concerns, calling them a figment of Fox News “alternate universe.” In the real world, homicides, and carjackings have exploded over the past two years and retail thefts have shockingly skyrocketed.

Democrats’ problem isn’t that voters aren’t on their side. It’s that Democrats aren’t on voters’ side—and voters have figured that out.

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I was recently preparing to interview former national security adviser General H.R. McMaster, retired from the United States Army and re-visited his 1996 book on the Vietnam War: “Dereliction of Duty.”

It’s difficult not to apply the lessons of the United States’ ultimately terribly destructive commitment in Vietnam to what we have experienced in the very different crises presented by Covid-19.

The similarities are surprising and striking.

President Johnson’s Defense Secretary Robert McNamara demonstrated a dramatic willingness to lie that was astonishing. Criticisms of Anthony S. Fauci today are likewise rooted in misrepresentations the doctor has made.

This “Fauci as McNamara” comparison has now settled in my mind. A new NBC poll asked respondents if they trust the CDC. 44 percent said yes; 43 percent said no. That’s a crisis of trust, in not just the CDC and other public health authorities, but especially in Tony Fauci. It’s a new so-called “credibility gap”—and it is itself a public health crisis.

We’re in the middle of a domestic equivalent of the Vietnam catastrophe brought about by the latest iteration of those purported to be our “best and our brightest.”

Let’s stop. Look around. Something’s happening here and we have to stop it.

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As we continue our national discussion over voter reform, let’s remember some basic math. The candidate who gets more votes than the other candidates is supposed to win.

This means that victory is not just a matter of getting votes. It’s a matter of candidate A not surpassing candidate B as a result of illegal votes or ineligible voters. Simply put: Every illegal vote cancels out someone else’s legal one.

In other words, the election reform efforts we’ve seen in recent days that, for example, require some form of voter identification, are not voter suppression.

Actually: It’s actually voter fraud which is the real vote suppression. That’s because counting someone’s fake ballot has exactly the same mathematical effect on the outcome as throwing your legal ballot out.

Representative government—if it’s going to work over the long haul—requires both that every legal vote gets counted and that no illegal one does.

Anything else is really suppression of the consent of the governed.

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This is Jerry Bowyer for Townhall.com.

Is the world starting to look like a ’70s rerun? We certainly have high inflation, especially in food and energy, plus the growth outlook is not good, which adds up to stagflation. And now on top of all that, it looks like an ally might be falling under Russian domination. It’s not Afghanistan this time—though we lost that too—now it's Ukraine. 

But remember what came out of the ’70s stagflation, appeasement and malaise: we got Morning in America. Reagan’s combination of supply-side economics, sound money, and firmness in the face of the foreign threats. Everything that failed in the ’70s is failing now. And: everything that succeeded in the ’80s will succeed now—if we turn to it again. 

We should continue to engage in our current era of history with the hopeful optimism of a Ronald Reagan. The American story has chapter after chapter when the future looked ominous and bleak—but renewal was in the wings.

Yes: We can have Morning in America again.

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