Originally published September 1, 2023 8:07 am PDT
Former U.S. President Donald Trump has expressed concerns over the possibility of reintroducing COVID-related restrictions, suggesting that these measures could be a tactic by “left-wing lunatics” to influence the 2024 presidential election.
Trump, who has announced his candidacy for the 2024 election, shared his thoughts in a recent video, warning against the potential return of lockdowns and mandates.
“The left-wing lunatics are trying very hard to bring back COVID lockdowns and mandates with all of their sudden fear-mongering about the new variants that are coming. Gee-whiz, you know what else is coming? An election,” he said, according to a Breitbart report.
He elaborated, questioning the motives behind the potential resurgence of COVID-related restrictions: “They want to restart the COVID hysteria so they can justify more lockdowns, more censorship, more illegal drop boxes, more mail-in ballots, and trillions of dollars in payoffs to their political allies heading into the 2024 election. Does that sound familiar?”
Trump, the 45th president, added, “These are bad people, these are sick people we’re dealing with.”
Issuing a direct message to those he referred to as “COVID tyrants,” Trump declared, “But to every COVID tyrant who wants to take away our freedom, hear these words: we will not comply. So don’t even think about it.”
He expressed his opposition to renewed restrictions saying, “We will not shut down our schools. We will not accept your lockdowns. We will not abide by your mask mandates, and we will not tolerate your vaccine mandates.”
Drawing attention to the 2020 election, which he previously claimed was “rigged”, Trump asserted, “they are trying to do the same thing all over again by rigging the most important election in the history of our country — the 2024 election — even if it means trying to bring back COVID.”
He assured his followers, “But they will fail because we will not let it happen.”
If reelected, Trump also committed to “use every available authority” to oppose federal funding for institutions that enforce mask or vaccine mandates.
However, during the early days of the pandemic, President Trump did endorse national guidelines that recommended the closure of schools and the avoidance of large gatherings.
This recent emphasis on liberty for the American people might indicate a welcome shift in his stance on pandemic-related measures.
Trump’s message comes at a time when institutions, including schools and hospitals across the US, have been re-imposing mask mandates due to concerns regarding the emergence of the EG.5 an.d. BA 2.86 COVID-19 variants.
The World Health Organization identified EG.5 as a “variant of interest” in early August but highlighted the risk to global public health as low, Breitbart notes.
Even as COVID hospitalizations have seen a slight rise, the numbers remain significantly low compared to previous peaks.
Joe Biden recently mentioned his plans to request additional funding for the development of a new coronavirus vaccine.
He hinted that it might be mandatory for everyone, irrespective of prior vaccination status.
Given these developments, speculations have been rife on social media, with many suggesting that a return to stricter measures is on the horizon.
However, these claims have been largely refuted by fact checkers and labeled as “unsupported.”
Nick Spinelli, a CDC spokesperson, dismissed these allegations, telling FactCheck.org that “These rumors are utterly false.”
It’s crucial to note that during the initial stages of the pandemic, lockdowns were linked to numerous detrimental effects on American well-being.
A comprehensive study by the Institute for Economic Affairs, which included Professor Steve H. Hanke of Johns Hopkins University, disclosed that the impact of lockdowns on death rates was “negligible” when compared to the adverse collateral consequences.
