Show Notes
Fighting the spread of COVID is hard enough without having to also fight government incompetence. But the Biden administration’s policies demonstrate both over-reaction and under-reaction, often at the same time. What else can we think of the administration’s pushing vaccine mandates on Americans, while massive numbers of illegal (and untested) immigrants pour through the southern border?
On the latest episode of the podcast, Eric Eggers speaks with former congressman Jason Chaffetz, a distinguished fellow at the Government Accountability Institute and author of a recent article for FoxNews.com on this topic. Peter Schweizer is away this week.
While the Administration under-reacts to record numbers of illegal migrants crossing our southern border by not requiring COVID testing, it over-reacts to the so-called Omicron variant of the COVID virus by banning travel from eight southern African nations. While it over-reacts by imposing a vaccine mandate on essential travelers legally crossing the border – including truck drivers, emergency response workers and government officials – it under-reacts to the need to inspect cargo arriving at US ports.
Jason notes that by law all cargo is supposed to be inspected by the Customs Service, but only two percent of it actually is. Jason calls it “political theater.”
When President Trump imposed a travel ban on China in January 2020, his challenger Joe Biden criticized it, calling Trump “the worst possible person to lead our country through a global health emergency.” He said the same of Trump’s ban on travel from Africa the following month: “Trump further diminished the U.S. in the eyes of the world by expanding his travel ban. This new ‘African Ban,’ is designed to make it harder for black and brown people to immigrate to the United States. It’s a disgrace, and we cannot let him succeed.”
Hypocrisy is saying one thing and doing the opposite. But what is the word for when you say both things but also do both things? Duplicity? Schizophrenia?
Eric points out that the 1.3 million people have been taken into custody since President Biden took office, 192,000 in October alone. And they are not required to be vaccinated, or even tested, unless they exhibit symptoms. Yet the administration’s vaccine mandates for federal employees include the border patrol agents, which could decimate the border patrol work force, right in the middle of a crisis at the border. As of mid-November, “Twenty percent of U.S. Border Patrol agents and employees have not complied with President Biden’s coronavirus vaccine mandate or requested an exemption from the requirement,” according to internal data obtained by The Washington Post.
As Jason puts it, “America needs a second opinion.”
