On Sunday, Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) attacked Senator Rand Paul (R-KY), saying he was “throwing a tantrum” because Paul had issued a video challenging the “mandates, lockdowns and harmful policies of the petty tyrants and bureaucrats.”
Tlaib tweeted a map of the current incidence of the coronavirus in Kentucky with the caption, “The KY Senator is throwing a tantrum as his state is being swallowed whole by this virus, again. People are getting sick and dying 98 counties in Kentucky have a high incidence rate of COVID-19. He needs to put politics aside, and put people first. Start resisting the virus.”
The KY Senator is throwing a tantrum as his state is being swallowed whole by this virus, again.
People are getting sick and dying.
98 counties in Kentucky have a high incidence rate of COVID-19.
He needs to put politics aside, and put people first. Start resisting the virus. https://t.co/ZgfqVxN4KL pic.twitter.com/XmLIFvvR23
— Rashida Tlaib (@RashidaTlaib) August 9, 2021
But that very night, Tlaib reportedly attended a wedding at which she went maskless as she danced closely with other guests. “The footage was taken at a wedding in Wayne County, Michigan, by Bassam Saleh, a band from Dearborn, Michigan that was performing at the affair,” the Daily Mail reported. “Clips show Tlaib dancing among a cramped group of wedding guests, holding hands and hugging members of the crowd.”
On Friday, the Wayne County Health Department wrote, “The Wayne County Health Department is again recommending residents-including vaccinated residents- wear masks in public indoor spaces to slow the spread of the COVID-19 virus, especially with cases of the Delta variant on the increase.”
The announcement echoes updated guidance by the CDC on masks in indoor spaces. The CDC advises that even those who are fully vaccinated should “wear a mask in public indoor settings if they are in an area of substantial or high transmission.”
In the video Paul issued that precipitated Tlaib’s attack, he stated, “It’s time for us to resist. They can’t arrest all of us. They can’t keep all of your kids home from school. They can’t keep every government building closed, although I’ve got a long list of ones they might keep closed or ought to keep closed. We don’t have to accept the mandates, lockdowns and harmful policies of the petty tyrants and bureaucrats.”
“Nancy Pelosi, you will not arrest or stop me or anyone on my staff from doing our jobs,” he continued. “We have either had COVID, had the vaccine, or been offered the vaccine. We will make our own health choices. We will not show you a passport; we will not wear a mask; we will not be forced into random screenings and testings so you can continue your drunk-with-power reign over the Capitol.”
He turned to President Biden: “President Biden: we will not accept your agencies’ mandates or reported moves towards a lockdown. No one should follow the CDC’s anti-science mask mandates. And if you want to shut down federal agencies again, some of which aren’t even back to work yet, I will stop every bill coming through the Senate with an amendment to cut their funding if they don’t come back to work in person, Local bureaucrats and union bosses: we will not allow you to do more harm to our children again this year. ”
“Children are falling behind in school that are being harmed physically and psychologically by the tactics that you have used to keep them from the classroom in the last year,” he said. “We won’t allow it again. If a school system attempts to keep children from full-time, in-person school, I will hold up every bill with two amendments. One to defund them and another to allow parents the choice of where the money goes for their child’s education.”
“Do I sound fed-up to you? That’s because I am.”
We are at a moment of truth and a crossroads. Will we allow these people to use fear and propaganda to do further harm to our society, economy, and children?
Or will we stand together and say, absolutely not. Not this time. I choose freedom. pic.twitter.com/XrI2tjdAHW
— Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) August 8, 2021