Biden Fans Say They Plan To Attend Inauguration In Person Despite COVID Threat

Fans of Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden say they’re willing to risk the threat of coronavirus in order to attend his inauguration in person, according to The Daily Beast.

Much of Biden’s inauguration is likely to be virtual, and his White House transition team is actively courting inauguration donors with the promise of interactive, online events rather than the typical in-person meetups, cocktail parties, and balls that typically herald a new president.

Biden’s swearing-in ceremony will likely be traditional, however, and his voters say that despite the ongoing coronavirus pandemic — a pandemic many of them believe President Donald Trump mismanaged — they will travel to the National Mall to witness the inauguration in person (though they promise to follow social distancing and masking recommendations).

“Due to the surging number of coronavirus infections across the country, President-elect Joe Biden has encouraged his supporters not to attend his inauguration—an event that could easily have drawn hundreds of thousands of people to the Capitol,” the outlet reported. “Tickets to the event will be heavily restricted and the surrounding events notably toned down. It seems like the rational choice for a man who derided Donald Trump for hosting massive rallies in hotspots around the country and superspreader events at the White House. But some Biden supporters say they’re still planning on attending—warnings and hypocrisy be damned.”

Oddly enough, many of them say they understand the risks and are willing to accept them, though they don’t support others making similar choices for themselves. One of the Biden supporters the Daily Beast spoke to even admitted to being a self-appointed masking enforcer.

“I’m not a MAGA. COVID is real and you need to do things to try to prevent it,” she insisted. “I understand it’s a risk going to the inauguration, but at the same time I feel like I’m at the same risk going to the grocery store or going out to eat,” one said.

“All of the Biden supporters who spoke to The Daily Beast were similarly COVID-conscious, name-dropping Dr. Anthony Fauci and talking up the benefits of masks and vaccinations. ([one interviewee] without a hint of irony, described how she would shout down people who entered her workplace without a mask, telling them: ‘Your civil liberties are not as important as me not getting sick.’) But the chance to see Biden sworn in—or, if they were speaking candidly, Trump ushered out—just seemed worth it,” the outlet noted.

The situation seems similar to the anti-racism protests that took place over the summer. Although there was just as significant of a risk gathering in those demonstrations as gathering outside for things like sporting events, many left-leaning individuals seemed to believe the virus would be intelligent enough to avoid political rallies of the right persuasion, even if there was no scientific evidence of such selection.