Jen Rubin — the Democratic establishment’s token “conservative” who rarely seems to hold any right-leaning opinions — announced today that “we can stop agonizing over ‘cases’ and focus on those who are hospitalized or at risk of dying” because we now know “that covid-19 is not a deadly or even severe disease for the vast majority of responsible Americans.”
That is nothing new to many Americans — particularly those who actually hold conservative beliefs and critical thinking skills.
But, beyond the obviousness of her statement, it also signals that Democratic media allies are shifting their rhetoric on the virus to benefit President Joe Biden and the Democratic Party.
Jennifer “pro-voting” Rubin — as her Twitter name states — advised Biden in her Washington Post op-ed today to quit worrying about “right-wingers” skeptical of the vaccine and let them face the consequence of their own actions. She also praised the administration and medical community for a variety of therapeutics and vaccines:
Almost two years after the country first shut down to protect itself against the coronavirus pandemic, President Biden is grasping a changing environment, both medical and political. The result could well encourage responsible Americans to get on with their lives while allowing recalcitrant vaccine refusers to face the consequences of their reckless conduct.
On the medical front, not only have we developed multiple vaccines (including boosters), along with oral treatments for those who get covid-19, but we also now have far more reasonable rules for quarantine.
[…]
He should continue to drive vaccination efforts and treatment breakthroughs, but he cannot keep wringing his hands over those who recklessly endanger themselves. Right-wingers who keep whining that federal mandates are intrusive (or even tyrannical) will see which Americans are responsible and which are not. It will be quite a reflection of the benefits of embracing scientific reality and tuning out right-wing nonsense and MAGA blowhards.
Yet those therapeutics have been created in spite of Biden, not because of any federal initiative.
In fact, Governor Ron DeSantis (R-FL), perhaps the most vocal and well-known anti-mandate conservative, was one of the main drivers of the highly-successful monoclonal anti-bodies treatment and repeatedly criticized the president for his mishandling of the treatments.
As for allowing Americans to make their own choices regarding their health, conservatives have been advocating this since the spring of 2020.
Nonetheless, Rubin presented her opinions as if she had reached a remarkable epiphany:
As we recognize that covid-19 is not a deadly or even severe disease for the vast majority of responsible Americans, we can stop agonizing over “cases” and focus on those who are hospitalized or at risk of dying.https://t.co/S4OQD7R58u
— Jennifer ‘pro-voting’ Rubin (@JRubinBlogger) December 28, 2021
For this, Rubin was mocked profusely.
The Daily Wire’s Ian Haworth noted, “Like @brianstelter, @JRubinBlogger is a member of our pseudo-intellectual class of elites who think that the first time they have a politically-advantageous thought, it’s the first time ANYONE has had that same thought.”
“We’ve known exactly what Rubin is saying for a year, btw,” he added.
Like @brianstelter, @JRubinBlogger is a member of our pseudo-intellectual class of elites who think that the first time they have a politically-advantageous thought, it’s the first time ANYONE has had that same thought.
We’ve known exactly what Rubin is saying for a year, btw. https://t.co/VT8KVF34Rm
— Ian Haworth (@ighaworth) December 28, 2021
Writer and Claremont and Hoover Institute alumna Erielle Davidson tweeted, “Remember when we were all called murderers for stating *exactly* this? They destroyed businesses, families, and lives. And not one person in our lousy, clownish ruling class will pay.”
Remember when we were all called murderers for stating *exactly* this? They destroyed businesses, families, and lives. And not one person in our lousy, clownish ruling class will pay. https://t.co/SKVDgorF4L
— Erielle Davidson (@politicalelle) December 28, 2021
National Review’s Nate Hochman noted that Rubin essentially just repackages whatever the White House puts out in press releases:
“Jen’s columns are literally just whatever the White House’s talking points are this week,” Hochman said. “It’s the most mind-numbingly boring genre of partisanship imaginable”
Jen’s columns are literally just whatever the White House’s talking points are this week. It’s the most mind-numbingly boring genre of partisanship imaginable https://t.co/Hf59xUHi5p
— Nate Hochman (@njhochman) December 28, 2021
The Daily Wire’s Virginia Kruta offered her opinion of what Rubin’s piece really meant, “Translation: Now that we can’t weaponize the death toll against a president we don’t like, it’s time to recognize what millions of Americans figured out around May of 2020.”
Translation: Now that we can’t weaponize the death toll against a president we don’t like, it’s time to recognize what millions of Americans figured out around May of 2020. https://t.co/ekpAoOGRxs
— Virginia Kruta (@VAKruta) December 28, 2021
There were thousands of other reactions on Twitter, all generally pointing out that Rubin is late to the game in terms of understanding the virus is not as deadly as once thought for most Americans — even those unvaccinated.
Rubin’s updated COVID-19 view would usually be welcomed, but the language in her opinion column makes it clear she has a motive different than health, safety, and freedom behind her change of heart. Like much of the Democratic establishment and mainstream media, she is now trying to claim that Biden ended the pandemic through his supposed “herculean efforts to educate [the unvaxxed], enlist conservatives in vaccination efforts and push them toward vaccination with mandates.”
This is nonsense. On Monday, Biden himself admitted there is “no federal solution” to the pandemic. He shifted responsibility back to the states after spending his entire presidential campaign and then some promising he would “shut down” the virus as president.
But pro-Biden media pundits will try to convince you any way that Biden returned America to “normal” in hopes of staving off the opening red wave in the 2022 midterm elections.