This is really a remarkable admission from MSNBC reporter Alex Seitz-Wald, who gave a grim assessment of the Democrats’ challenge in lifting COVID-19 restrictions across the board and returning the United States to some sense of “normal.”
A recent poll showed a whopping 65% of Democrats who believe it “too early to rescind mask mandates” as opposed to just 20% of Republicans who think that way.
How does that mesh with Democratic governors who are in the process of lifting mask mandates in their states?
“And you see this kind of emerging message from some Democrats basically saying, ‘Mission accomplished,’ that, you know, the policies of the Biden White House, the Democratic Congress, Democratic governors, they worked, our sacrifices were worth it, we got vaccinated, it’s now time to enjoy those benefits. But that message hasn’t really been that loud because, as you pointed out, the base is divided,” the NBC reporter said. “A large number of Democrats are not there yet. So I think there is going to be a challenge for a lot of Democratic leaders to get their base comfortable with the idea of going back to normal.”
It’s more than just getting “their base comfortable” with loosening restrictions. It’s that the COVID rules have become part of the liberal’s identity.
“I mean, for the past two years, so much of the identity of what is meant to be a Democrat, to follow the science, was tied up in masking and following these rules and regulations. And if you didn’t do that, you were you know, a bad person, you were Ron DeSantis, you’re a denier. So, now these Democratic leaders need to get their base comfortable with unwinding all of that,” Seltz-Wald added.
Just an absolutely amazing admission here. An MSNBC reporter notes that the biggest challenge for Democrat governors ending their mask mandates is that liberals have made mask-wearing such an important part of their identity that they might not be able to give it up. pic.twitter.com/LhCp4T279A
— Dan O'Donnell (@DanODonnellShow) February 17, 2022
Seitz-Wald is correct. Urban Democrats especially have taken mask-wearing to a whole other level, making the kind of mask you wear sort of like gang colors. That’s not an easy identifier to lose under any circumstances.
Beyond that, masks always gave liberals a sense of superiority over the “rubes” in flyover country. They “followed the science” — until the science said something else and then they simply pretended it didn’t and continued to mask up.
Now they’re fighting a rearguard action to keep the emergency going. On one level, it’s truly pathetic. Finding meaning in life by wearing a mask proves Thoreau’s point of the “mass of men living lives of quiet desperation.”
But losing the mask also denotes losing control of the rest of us. For a left-wing authoritarian, that’s got to hurt.
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