Tracking hypocritical politicians can be a full-time job, one that spans both sides of the aisle. That isn’t the case, though, when it comes to leaders breaking their own COVID-19 rules. Progressives dominate their peers on that front, to an almost shocking degree.
The following list may need an update as soon as Team Daily Wire hits the “publish” button. It seems like every day there’s a new Democratic politician ignoring his or her own warnings regarding the pandemic.
It’s hypocrisy on steroids, but the stakes are considerable. How many family members avoided their loved ones over the Thanksgiving break due to their city or state’s draconian rules? More importantly, how many businesses have shuttered thanks to politicians following fear over “science?” It’s why tracking these hypocrites matters. Their galling double standards deserve the utmost scrutiny.
San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo’s team got defensive when a local NBC investigation suggested he ignored health protocols to celebrate Thanksgiving with his family, including his aged parents.
Chief of Staff Jim Reed offered a generic response when NBC asked about the matter. “This is a private event – not public,” said Jim Reed, Liccardo’s Chief of Staff. “We are going to redraw the line between what is personal and what is public because that line has become blurred.”
The NBC reporter pressed for more details, but Reed just kept re-reading that statement in response. Just before the big holiday meal, Liccardo offered up this warning via Twitter: “Cases are spiking, in part because we’re letting our guard (and masks) down with family & friends.”
Once confronted by his actions, the contrite mayor regretted his decision. “I apologize for my decision to gather for Thanksgiving with my family, contrary to the rules,” Liccardo said via Twitter. ” I commit to do better.”
Tipsters, the kind government officials hope trip up ordinary citizens, caught Los Angeles Board of Supervisors Sheila Kuehl dining against her own rules. Kuehl ate at the outdoor patio of Il Forno Trattoria in Santa Monica just hours before voting to ban all outdoor dining in her region. The restaurant’s managers refused to snitch on Kuehl, but the tipsters had the upper hand.
Kuehl’s rhetoric prior to getting busted sounded as tough as her colleagues’ warnings:
“Well, I tell you the things we can’t control though, I really want us to control very strongly. There are a number of restaurants that said, ‘I’m not shutting down.’ So I’m saying, ‘Okay, I’m sending a health officer out there, and we’re pulling your permit, just try to open up when COVID is over.’
Yet Kuehl didn’t go into full apologetic mode after getting caught, per her spokesperson’s response:
“She did dine al fresco at Il Forno on the very last day it was permissible. She loves Il Forno, has been saddened to see it, like so many restaurants, suffer from a decline in revenue. She ate there, taking appropriate precautions, and sadly will not dine there again until our Public Health Orders permit.”
Local restaurant owner Michael Voltaggio said the obvious after hearing about the situation. “That sends a message that we’re getting direction from people that aren’t really believing in messages they’re making,” he said.
In redder than red Texas, Austin Mayor Steve Adler implored citizens during a Nov. 9 Facebook video that this “is not the time to relax” and to stay at home a little longer. It turns out Adler recorded the message while vacationing at a Cabo San Lucas timeshare with family and friends, a trip he made via a private jet as part of his daughter’s nuptial plans.
That wedding, held at the Hotel Saint Cecilia, involved a gathering with more than double the allowed people (10) due to the pandemic.
California Gavin Newsom is one of the highest-profile faces of Lockdown Nation, yet he committed arguably the most critical error of all his peers.
Newsom not only broke his own rules, but he did so along with members of the California Medical Association – AKA lobbyists. Newsom’s November meeting took place at the chic French Laundry restaurant, where he dined without a care, or restriction, in the world.
At first, Team Newsom stood their ground. The group claimed that their dinner did not violate the state’s coronavirus guidelines and claimed that it was held outside, despite a witness saying that sliding glass doors had to be closed because of how loud the group was.
The CMA, like most organizations, previously demanded mask wearing to slow the spread of COVID-19. Newsom’s office even recently warned about masking up between bites. Masks weren’t in heavy use at the meeting, according to photos leaked of the event.
“I made a bad mistake,” he said. “I should have stood up and … drove back to my house. “The spirit of what I’m preaching all the time was contradicted,” he added. “I need to preach and practice, not just preach.”
San Francisco Mayor London Breed looked at Gov. Newsom’s gaffe and said, “hold my hand rolled ricotta agnolotti.”
NOTE: That’s an item served at French Laundry restaurant
Breed joined a birthday soiree at Napa Valley’s French Laundry restaurant, the same spot where Newsom got busted the previous day. Her meal came 72 hours before she banned indoor dining in the City by the Bay. The gathering still didn’t adhere to existing dining rules.
Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney found a novel way to embrace his inner hypocrite. Since he declared indoor dining a no-go in the City of Brotherly Love, Kenney high tailed it to Maryland for an indoor bite.
Philly restaurant owners, pummeled by the city’s restrictions, howled in protest after the photo caught fire on social media. Kenney eventually apologized for his actions, defending his move by saying the Maryland region in question had far fewer COVID cases than his own city.
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi got a jump on the COVID hypocrite trend back in August. The 80-year-old legislator arranged to get a professional “blow out” while salons across the state still couldn’t open their doors.
And, of course, she went about her business sans mask. It actually got worse from here, though. Pelosi lashed out at the salon itself, saying she had been “set up.”
The store’s owner, Erica Kious, defended herself while critiquing the longtime politician. “We have been shut down for so long, not just me, but most of the small businesses and I just can’t – it’s a feeling – a feeling of being deflated, helpless and honestly beaten down,” she said.
“I have been fighting for six months for a business that took me 12 years to build to reopen,” she explained. “I am a single mom, I have two small children, and I have no income.”
Age is a critical factor when it comes to COVID-19, but one 87-year-old doesn’t seem so concerned about her birth certificate. Dianne Feinstein, the senior U.S. Senator from California, went mask-less at Dulles International Airport in September, a clear violation of her call that all fliers mask up. Two months prior, she said states lacking mask mandates shouldn’t qualify for federal assistance funding tied to the pandemic.
Joe Biden wasn’t declared the next U.S president on Election Night, but the media christened him President-Elect Biden several days later. The decision sparked a flurry of outdoor celebrations, a distinct violation of everything we’ve been told about safety in a pandemic.
That didn’t bother Sen. Chuck Schumer or Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot. The two were spotted whooping it up at separate Biden celebrations.
MSNBC reporter Stephanie Ruhle actually asked the critical question to the Mayor about her decision:
“What do you say to those who are criticizing you where less than a week ago you went out and stood before a massive crowd who was celebrating Joe Biden’s victory, and now you’re saying your city has to shut down? How do you have one and not the other?”
The mayor’s response would make Marie Antoinette green with envy.
“…there are times when we actually do need to have a relief and come together, and I felt like that was one of those times.”
“That crowd was gathered whether I was there or not,” she claimed. “But this has been a super hard year on everyone. Everyone feels traumatized. They feel threatened, their safety, and they don’t know what tomorrow’s gonna bring, and with this new surge in cases, we have just got to step up and do the right thing, and I think people understand that.”
Denver Mayor Michael Hancock has a lower profile than some of the aforementioned politicians. He still stood side by side with his fellow progressive hypocrites.
The Mile High Mayor penned a Nov. 18 letter urging city employees to stay home for the holiday. He doubled down on that sentiment via Twitter the day before Thanksgiving.
“Pass the potatoes, not COVID … Host virtual gatherings instead of in-person dinners. Avoid travel, if you can.”
That very day he hopped on a plane to visit his family for some turkey and, presumably, potatoes.
The decision, Hancock says, was a “decision I deeply regret,” and he vowed to stay home for Christmas.
The New York Daily News, a left-leaning outlet, caught a gaggle of local politicians living it up as if it were Nov. 2019.
The event, a Nov. 14 birthday party for a trade organization head, gathered revelers in a mostly mask-free setting. Among those partying it up were Deputy Brooklyn Borough President Ingrid Lewis-Martin and former Brooklyn Democratic Party Chairman Frank Seddio.
In one image, about two dozen people are seen mingling with one another in an ornate dining area while celebrating [Carlo] Scissura’s 50th. Only two of them are visibly wearing masks.
Seddio showed little remorse for the rule-breaking.
“I farted about four times, but fortunately it didn’t smell. That was a good thing that happened,” he said. “My wife punched me twice ‘cause she heard me do it. That was the most exciting part of the night.”
Seddio insisted, “[Scissura] and I and about 10 others got together.” But when told there were pictures of him at a party with at least two dozen other attendees, he sarcastically said, “That’s a great angle … I can’t even imagine that.”
Need an example of Republicans getting in on the COVID-19 hypocrisy? Here’s a tiny one.
Texas County Judge Glen Whitley (R) recently helped extend a local mask mandate to late February. He also once asked Texas Gov. Greg Abbott to fine mask-less citizens.
Yet Whitley may have gotten caught violating the core Thanksgiving ruling. Go virtual or stay home … alone.
A local activist took pictures of five vehicles and an RV parked outside Whitley’s home. The vehicles were gone by Sunday, according to TexasScorecard.com.
The views expressed in this opinion piece are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.