Conservatives slammed the political Left this week for trying to shift positions on COVID-19 restrictions by claiming that “the science has changed.”
One of the most notable examples was CNN medical analyst Dr. Leana Wen, the former president of Planned Parenthood, who argued that restrictions could be loosened because “the science has changed.”
“There was, and is, a time and place for pandemic restrictions,” Wen said on CNN. “But when they were put in, it was always with the understanding that they would be removed as soon as we can. And, in this case, circumstances have changed. Case counts are declining. Also, the science has changed.”
Some Democrat governors have also started to lift mask mandates in their states.
Notable responses included:
- Ron DeSantis, Governor of Florida (R): “From the onset of the pandemic, corporate media outlets were advocating for lockdowns, school closures, and forced masking of children. Two years later? The facts show lockdowns didn’t work, masks didn’t reduce spread, and that Democrats followed politics – not science. Even worse, our school children were used as pawns in their political games. The legacy media will try to whitewash the Left’s failures and hypocrisy. Don’t let them just move on to the next narrative.”
- Kevin McCarthy, House Minority Leader (R-CA): “Don’t let them gaslight you. Democrats have spent two years championing lockdowns and mandates. In the name of ‘science,’ liberal politicians kept schools closed for months, shut down playgrounds, and completely altered the childhood of an entire generation of children.”
- Donald Trump Jr.: “18 months after everyone with a brain was against mask mandates and smothering our children and our freedoms Democrats are pretending to be campions [sic] of the reversal of their draconian Policies BS as though it never happened because SCIENCE… (polling).”
- Pradheep J. Shanker, physician: “Every single Democrat executive that ends mask mandates for everyone BUT SCHOOLCHILDREN is quite literally saying they don’t understand the science, and don’t care about the CDC’s own data on the matter. The reason schoolchildren are still masked? THEY DON’T VOTE. That’s it.”
- Rob Schneider, actor: “The ‘science’ hasn’t changed. The wind has… And they see which way it’s blowing.”
- Ben Shapiro, Editor Emeritus of The Daily Wire: “Joe Biden did not crush the virus. Democrats did not follow the data. Blue state elites did not even follow their own restrictions. Now they’re trying to gaslight you. Don’t let them. … The Science™ was always politics. When they say The Science™ has changed, therefore, they mean that the politics has changed. Which it has. But it was never actual science.”
- David Limbaugh: “It will be fascinating and outrageous to watch Democrats scramble to convince voters over the next months that they didn’t do an about face on Covid, but that the science evolved. ‘Science,’ what a malleable word, kind of like climate change — shape-shift it to suit your needs.”
- Rep. Brad Wenstrup (R-OH): “Keep in mind as you see blue states lift mask mandates and Democrats try to claim credit: The science on COVID hasn’t changed. The political science has. Remember: Republicans have fought to allow Americans to sensibly and methodically move past the pandemic. Democrats haven’t.”
- James Todaro, physician: “They destroyed businesses, kept kids out of school, forced masks on children, banned therapeutics, mandated vaccines, barred attendance at funerals/weddings, prohibited last moments w/ dying loved ones. Now they will gaslight us for the next 9 months with ‘the science has changed.'”