President Joe Biden mocked Americans who had the audacity to be concerned about individual liberty during a Thursday town hall with CNN’s Anderson Cooper.
Cooper mentioned the number of law enforcement officers and medical personnel who have said they would not comply with local vaccine mandates, and asked Biden whether he thought that mandates were a good idea and whether those who did not comply should lose their jobs. (RELATED: Biden Mocks Citizens Who Oppose Vaccine Mandates, Says First Responders, Police Should Be Fired For Refusing Shot)
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“Should police officers, emergency responders be mandated to get vaccines? And if not, should they be stay at home or let go?” Cooper asked.
“Yes and yes,” Biden replied, and the audience applauded.
Biden then made it clear that it was the American people who were really to blame for the mandates because they hadn’t complied with his calls to take the vaccine voluntarily. He claimed that the mandates worked before pivoting to mock those who were concerned that mandates were an overstep that infringed upon personal liberties.
“So the idea is that – look, two things that concern me, one are those who just try to make this a political issue. Freedom. I have the freedom to kill you with my COVID. No, come on. Freedom,” Biden said in a mocking tone before moving on to complain about misinformation.
There are a number of things wrong with what Biden said, starting with laying the blame on people who object to mandates and saying they were the ones who made vaccines political.
- Vice President Kamala Harris — and others — made the vaccines political when she said she wouldn’t trust them if former President Donald Trump recommended them.
- President Biden made the vaccines political when he took personal medical decisions out of the hands of the American people and enforced his will on private businesses.
His statement mocking Americans — “I have the freedom to kill you with my COVID. No, come on. Freedom” — is also problematic for several reasons. First, it assumes that all unvaccinated people are infected. In reality, the seven-day rolling average of infections in America is 73,079 in a population of over 330 million, many of whom are already vaccinated. Second, it assumes that unvaccinated people will infect everyone they contact, which is also highly unlikely. And third, by using the active voice, it implies that those who choose not to get the vaccine are intentionally putting those around them at risk.
But the condescending tone with which Biden addressed Americans who object to mandates — and the ease with which he spat out the word “freedom” as if it were an epithet — is what should truly give everyone pause.
Yes, Mr. President, it is about freedom. Because if the government’s response is to take freedom away every time Americans don’t make the “right” choices, the people never really had that freedom to begin with.