From sea to shining sea, the doors are closing in the United States as a new wave of lockdowns emerges 11 months into the administration of President Joe Biden, who won the election promising not to “shut down the economy.”
Biden laid out his goals in an October 2020 Twitter post while campaigning against then-President Donald Trump.
“I’m not going to shut down the country. I’m not going to shut down the economy. I’m going to shut down the virus,” Biden wrote.
I’m not going to shut down the economy.
I’m going to shut down the virus.
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) October 30, 2020
But with the omicron variant of the coronavirus coming hard on the heels of the delta variant, and coronavirus cases skyrocketing, Biden’s brag has become a haunting reminder of what did not happen.
In New York City, which has emerged as a massive coronavirus hot spot, the world-famous Rockettes will not perform their holiday show, and “Saturday Night Live” went on without an audience, as the New York Daily News reported.
Restaurants in New York City and elsewhere are also closing.
A spike in cases forced Cornell University and Princeton University to close, while Harvard University and Stanford University have said students should expect that the spring term will begin with the return of remote learning, according to Fox News.
Public schools are following that trend in various ways as the traditional Christmas break approaches.
And as cases have risen, Vice President Kamala Harris has admitted the Biden administration, which took office vowing to follow the science, admitted it was blindsided.
“We didn’t see delta coming. I think most scientists did not — upon whose advice and direction we have relied — didn’t see delta coming,” Harris told the Los Angeles Times. “We didn’t see omicron coming. And that’s the nature of what this, this awful virus has been, which as it turns out, has mutations and variants.”
WATCH: Biden’s CDC Director Rochelle Walensky refuses to rule out new shutdowns, lockdowns pic.twitter.com/ByOL9xVrwv
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) December 4, 2021
When people start dropping like flies, Biden, the CDC, Fauci will blame the virus and unjabbed folks to try lockdowns and forced jabs, just like Australia, Austria, and Germany are doing.
That’s when all hell breaks loose in America! #DarkWinter
— Mike Engleman?? (@RealPatriot56) December 18, 2021
Polls have shown that the longer Biden has been president, the less Americans approve of his handling of the virus, according to The Hill.
“A large crisis, difficult to control, can overwhelm any president,” said Julian Zelizer, a professor of history and public affairs at Princeton University, according to The Hill. “This is certainly the case with a pandemic.
“Even though the Biden Administration has made great progress with vaccines and public health measures, the continued dangers from COVID mean voters are on edge, anxious, and insecure about what’s around the corner. As we’ve seen, COVID policies are also at the center of partisan division so the pandemic amplifies and heightens already severe party tensions,” he said.
The Hill report suggestion some problems were worsened by the Biden administration‘s own actions.
“Basically, their messaging has collapsed beneath them,” one unnamed Democratic strategist told the publication. “They had an early handle on it with the early vaccine distribution and it’s spiraled out of control since then.
“No one knows, ‘Should I wear a mask when I’m inside if I’m vaxxed? Should I go to a restaurant if I’ve had two vaccines but I don’t have a booster? Is it safe to send my children to school if their classmates aren’t vaccinated? It’s all a mess. And all of that messaging comes from the administration,” the strategist said.
Another Democratic strategist pointed to Biden’s July announcement that the virus was conquered as a victory of hubris over facts.
“When you say the pandemic is over in July, don’t be surprised people will be upset and angry when it’s still raging in December with no end in sight,” the strategist said.
Democratic strategist Brad Bannon predicted Biden’s approval numbers “will suffer as long as COVID causes widespread death and suffering and disrupts the lives of millions of Americans.”
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
