Weeks ago, liberal Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms was publicly criticizing Republican Governor of Georgia Brian Kemp for loosening lockdown restrictions, and, according to local media, actively looking for legal avenues to buck his order. In fact, at the time, Bottoms promised she’d tell the governor she was “wrong” if there wasn’t the huge spike in hospitalizations and deaths that she feared and most certainly anticipated would transpire in the days and weeks following the state’s reopening.
Bottoms’ predicted apocalypse never materialized, of course. But neither has her admission to the governor that she was wrong.
During an appearance on MSNBC this week, the mayor admitted the reopening wasn’t “as bad” as she thought it would be, but refused to go as far as to admit she was “wrong.” She was given ample cover from left-wing anchor Brian Williams, of course.
“I think I remember you saying [before the reopening] that you hoped to be wrong, that you hoped the situation would be better than you feared, and that if you were in fact wrong, you would say to the governor, ‘I was wrong,'” Williams said to Bottoms.
“Is it a little muddier than being able to say, ‘I was right’ or “I was wrong’?” the liberal anchor generously told the liberal mayor. “Are we as of the time of this conversation somewhere in the middle, do you think?”
“Well, what I can say, Brian, is it’s not as bad as I thought that it would be,” Bottoms admitted.
“So, I am pleased about that, but I still think it’s too soon to say,” she said. “The reason being, whereas initially, we were seeing increases between deaths and people testing positive, rising anywhere from 25 to 30 percent over a seven-day period. Right now, we’re somewhere between 12 and 15 percent. And it’s better than it was, but it’s still not great. We’ve still not seen that 14-day decline, as recommended by the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention).”
Despite apocalyptic media predictions accusing Gov. Kemp of facilitating “human sacrifice,” Georgia’s hospitalizations rates have hit new lows weeks after the state’s reopening. With increased testing, the number of positive cases in Georgia have naturally increased, but their rate of increase has not.
Last weekend, Bottoms made headlines when she blamed the White House for the fatal shooting of Ahmaud Arbery.
“It’s 2020 and this was a lynching of an African-American man,” the mayor said on CNN airwaves, Fox News reported. “My heart goes out to the family. With the rhetoric we hear coming out of the White House, many who are prone to being racist are given permission to do it in an overt way we wouldn’t see in 2020.”
WATCH (relevant comments begin at the 3:30 mark):
"My big concern is as it gets warmer & warmer in Georgia…we will see fewer people with masks on. This is going to be the time that we really give a good look at our numbers & what impact our aggressive reopening has on our positive cases in the state." – Mayor @KeishaBottoms pic.twitter.com/c9Unu9PG74
— City of Atlanta, GA (@CityofAtlanta) May 18, 2020
Related: Atlanta Mayor Blames Trump For Ahmaud Arbery Killing: He Gives ‘Racists Permission’
The Daily Wire, headed by bestselling author and popular podcast host Ben Shapiro, is a leading provider of conservative news, cutting through the mainstream media’s rhetoric to provide readers the most important, relevant, and engaging stories of the day. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a member.