Back on December 9, 2020 then-Democrat presidential nominee Joe Biden announced that
if his apparent victory was confirmed he would impose a nationwide mask mandate on “day one.”
And true to Biden’s form of keeping only his most destructive and anti-constitutional promises (e.g. banning fracking) he issued an “Executive Order on Protecting the Federal Workforce and Requiring Mask-Wearing” on January 20, 2021.
The Executive Order is full of all the bureaucratic gobbledygook one would expect from an administration trying to make it sound like Americans have to wear a mask, when it has no tools to enforce such an extraconstitutional mandate.
Our favorite part is this one: Encouraging Masking Across America. (a) The Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), including through the Director of CDC, shall engage, as appropriate, with State, local, Tribal, and territorial officials, as well as business, union, academic, and other community leaders, regarding mask-wearing and other public health measures, with the goal of maximizing public compliance with, and addressing any obstacles to, mask-wearing and other public health best practices identified by CDC.
The title of that section kind of reminded us of the feelgood Hands Across America Sunday, on May 25, 1986, in which approximately 5 to 6.5 million people held hands for fifteen minutes in an attempt to form a continuous human chain across the contiguous United States and raise money for African food relief.
Except Hands Across America was voluntary.
The general reaction of the public to Biden’s Masks Across America has been one of complete indifference – the only place the federal government can enforce it is on federal property, where President Trump put on a mask mandate months ago.
And those who aren’t indifferent to the Biden mask mandate are downright hostile.
KOTA TV reported Rapid City resident Jon Pokras speaking against any mask mandate " These masks are what’s causing the problem, there weakening people’s immune system, these masks are horrible”. Pokras believes masks are not the answer to keeping COVID-19 away.
Maryland resident Udayan Mallik told the BBC, “The mask mandate is utterly useless and merely forces people who work in federal facilities to wear a mask.”
Our friend Texas Congressman Chip Roy (TX-21) had this classic Texas response to the Biden Day One Mask Mandate via Twitter, “On day one I will tell you to kiss my ass. #StandUpForAmerica.”
Rather than defend his Executive Order Biden reacted by calling the congressman's remark "not very American."
While Biden loyalists, Democrats and liberals were aghast at Rep. Roy going full Texas on the new President, Twitter’s normal American users seemed to approve, with #Resist46 @Right_NJ tweeting, “Telling a tyrant to kiss your ass is pretty much the most American thing ever.”
Given its limited legal scope, Joe Biden’s mask mandate probably would have had more moral authority if he, along with his wife and VP Kamala Harris and her husband, hadn’t very publicly broken it just hours after it was promulgated. Biden’s mask mandate, like much of his week one agenda is more about showing the little people who’s Boss than it is about protecting Americans from the ravages of COVID-19. So, like Chip Roy said…
Joe Biden
Biden administration
Texas Rep. Chip Roy
federal mask mandate
COVID-19
Anthony Fauci
Trump vaccine
Biden Executive Order
Encouraging Masking Across America
Federal Property