Vaccines for All Promised by May as Radicals Stay Radical

The David Pakman Show - March 3, 2021

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Texas Governor Opens Everything, Ends Mask Mandate

Texas Governor Greg Abbott has announced that his state will be doing away with all of its coronavirus restrictions including the mask mandate. Abbott announced in a tweet, “I just announced Texas is OPEN 100%. EVERYTHING. I also ended the statewide mask mandate.” This decision flies in the face of health officials’ wishes to stay the course on basic measures to fight the virus, at least for a few more months. While there has been great news recently on the fight against COVID-19, there are still millions of vaccinations yet to be administered and the concern over variant strains remains. The case rate reduction of 73% is a great sign, but it’s not a license to remove all restrictions and behave irresponsibly. If anything, it shows that doing the simple things like mask-wearing is working and that we need to keep it going at least into the early summer.

For Greg Abbott, this is not about science or medicine, it’s all about “owning the libs.” Removing the mask mandate at this time is incredibly irresponsible but it mainly serves as a way to virtue signal about how freedom is good and how science is bad. There’s a serious risk of this move by the Texas governor backfiring and resulting in a spike in cases and deaths. However, if that were to happen, the Republican voters of Texas would simply not care or shift the blame elsewhere. The right will still hail Abbott as a hero and claim that coronavirus restrictions shouldn’t have even existed in the first place. The governor’s decision could cause a chain of red states to remove their restrictions as well, potentially delaying the nation’s timeline to defeating the virus.

Trump Was Vaccinated in January But Kept It Secret

In news that is only now becoming public, then-President Trump and then-First Lady Melania Trump received coronavirus vaccines in January at the White House. While Trump was still in office he expressed that he might not need to be vaccinated since he had COVID-19 in October and thus had a “protective glow.” While it’s good news that the former president and first lady got their shots, it was highly irresponsible to not publicize this when it happened. Vaccine skepticism and hesitancy is a huge issue in the United States and some worry that it will delay when the nation can reach herd immunity on coronavirus. Trump announcing to the world in January that he got inoculated would have been highly useful in convincing his loyal supporters that the vaccine is safe and effective. Instead, this news is coming out far too late and when Trump is no longer a leader in any official capacity. Add this one to the long list of failures by the former president on battling COVID-19.

From yesterday’s show:

COVID Cases Down 73%, 7 Million Vaccines in 3 Days!

There are plenty of reasons to be cautiously optimistic about the trajectory of coronavirus in the United States. Cases are down significantly from their peak on January 11th when we saw 255,000 new infections in a single day. Now in early March, cases are down 73% with an average daily case rate of around 55,000 per day. Deaths and hospitalizations are also on a downward trajectory. This trend is likely a result of a number of different factors, including the virus having trouble finding new people to infect because of the millions of Americans who have already had it or have gotten vaccinated. President Biden has announced that every adult who wants a vaccine will be able to get one by the end of May. There are signs indicating we could have a somewhat “normal” summer, however it’s imperative to stay cautious because of things like variant strains and states like Texas opening up too early.

--More on the show:

--President Joe Biden advances the COVID vaccine timeline, promising enough vaccines for every American by the end of May 2021

--Joe Biden's nominee for running the Office of Budget and Management, Neera Tanden, withdraws her nomination after it becomes clear she would not get confirmed by the Senate

--Right wing media, absent any policy ideas or accomplishments to point to, become obsessed with Dr Seuss

--Outrageous radical right wing pastor Rick Wiles goes on a rant that sounds slightly leftist, but in reality is merely a conspiracy theory

--Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene rants on the floor of the House that going through a metal detector to enter the House is a form of voter suppression

--Law enforcement is on alert as March 4 is the next fabricated milestone on which conspiracy theorists believe Donald Trump will return to the presidency of the United States

--Voicemail caller explains that his COPD improved when he got off of processed foods and started eating a whole food diet with fruits and vegetables

--On the Bonus Show: Dems could gut filibuster without ending it, Twitch backtracks on "womxn," when will masks stop being a thing, much more...

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