Even Though Donald Trump Was the President Who Actually Implemented COVID Lockdowns: There has been growing speculation that as cooler weather returns, mask mandates could also make a comeback.
The country has seen a late-summer spike in Covid cases, which has already prompted some schools, hospitals, and businesses to once again encourage – and even require – that people start masking up.
NPR cited data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which showed that Covid hospitalization increased by nearly 19 percent in a single week last month, while deaths also shot up by 21 percent. However, the numbers are still far lower than the number of hospitalizations that the U.S. saw at its highest point in August 2022.
“We’re in a much different and better place in August of 2023,” CDC Director Mandy Cohen said Tuesday via Tweet. “We have stronger immunity and tools to protect ourselves, we have vaccines, at-home tests, effective treatments and common-sense strategies like washing your hands and staying away from people when you’re sick.”
Cohen added that Covid remains risky for people who are unvaccinated. Moreover, whilst the Omicron variant EG.5 — nicknamed Eris — has become dominant in the U.S., the newer BA.2.86 strain is starting to spread. It may be more capable of spreading infections, and that has driven some institutions to reinstitute mask mandates.
Donald Trump Isn’t Having It – This Time
Former President Donald Trump, who contracted Covid-19 in October 2020 just weeks before Election Day and likely lost due to his handling of the pandemic, criticized even the suggestion of mask mandates via a video address that was posted to X – the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.
“The left-wing lunatics are trying very hard to bring back covid lockdowns and mandates with all of their sudden fearmongering about the new variants that are coming. Gee whiz, you know what else is coming? An election,” Donald Trump said in his video message, which has so far been viewed 2.4 million times.
“They want to restart the covid hysteria so they can justify more lockdowns, more censorship, more illegal drop boxes, more mail-in ballots and trillions of dollars in payoffs to their political allies heading into the 2024 election—does that sound familiar?” Trump added. “To every covid tyrant who wants to take away our freedom, hear these words: we will not comply, so don’t even think about it. We will not shut down our schools; we will not accept your lockdowns; we will not abide by your mask mandates; and we will not tolerate your vaccine mandates. They rigged the 2020 election and now they’re trying to do the same thing all over again by rigging the most important election in the history of our country.”
The former president also made the pledge to cut federal funding to “any school, college, airline or public transportation system that imposes a mask mandate or a vaccine mandate.”
Trump has repeatedly claimed the 2020 election was rigged, despite a lack of evidence that corroborates his allegations.
Fact-Checking Trump
Readers added context to Trump’s video address, noting that “The Trump Administration along with other federal agencies began the lockdown and social distancing rules in 2020,” and “President Trump issued national guidelines that included closing schools and avoiding bars, restaurants and groups of more than 10 people.”
It was in March 2020 that Trump stated, “If everyone makes this change or these critical changes and sacrifices now, we will rally together as one nation, and we will defeat the virus, and we’re going to have a big celebration all together.”
On Thursday, conservative commentator Ann Coulter also called out Trump on X – labeling him a “COVID tyrant.” Coulter, who was an outspoken critic of the Clinton Administration, soured on Trump due to his policies. Last month she suggested that Trump has no grasp of the English language while she also told The New York Times that she doesn’t believe Trump will be the Republican nominee. Coulter has said Trump should be convicted for his actions that led to his 91 indictments.
Author Experience and Expertise
A Senior Editor for 19FortyFive, Peter Suciu is a Michigan-based writer. He has contributed to more than four dozen magazines, newspapers, and websites with over 3,200 published pieces over a twenty-year career in journalism. He regularly writes about military hardware, firearms history, cybersecurity, politics, and international affairs. Peter is also a Contributing Writer for Forbes and Clearance Jobs. You can follow him on Twitter: @PeterSuciu.
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