Friday on FNC’s “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” host Tucker Carlson reacted to the new guidance from the CDC, which ends a mask requirement for those who have been vaccinated.
According to Carlson, the issue was a “troubling development” for those whose objective is power, and not necessarily public health.
Transcript as follows:
CARLSON: As you have likely heard, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have just issued new guidance on who must wear masks and when. It turns out, government scientists finally took a second to check the science and realized oh wait, everything we’ve been telling you for months is completely wrong.
Actually, people who have been vaccinated don’t need to wear masks most of the time because they’re vaccinated. That means they’re safe. Right.
So for the 151 million Americans who’ve already received the COVID vaccine, this would be good news. They can breathe freely for the first time in a year. They don’t need to be ashamed any longer to show their faces in public. They can be human. They can be Americans, and people like that are celebrating.
But for others, people whose main interest is not public health, but whose main interest is power, this new guidance is, as we often say in the news business, a troubling development.
For people like that, letting the vaccinated live without wearing masks raises all kinds of distressing questions beginning with: if people are permitted to dress any way they want to dress, how are we going to control them? And more to the point, if nobody has to wear a mask, how are we going to know who the Republicans are? How can we be certain who to scoff at? Who to feel morally superior to?
These are not small questions. News organizations are struggling with them as we speak.
For months, TV networks have attacked people who dared to go outside without their masks. You’ve seen the tape of the super spreaders. Some lady trying to buy oranges in the grocery store in Florida without her mask. You don’t know her name, but you know one thing about her, you know who she voted for, the orange man. She is one of the crazies. She has to be — no mask.
Except now, in the wake of this new guidance, you really can’t know and that’s the problem.
When everybody was told to wear masks, you could instantly identify party faithful on site. They were the ones obeying the rules. But now that the rules have changed. What do we do? Well, we could just act like it never happened. We could pretend the CDC guidance hasn’t changed at all. That’s many people’s plan. That’s David Hogg’s plan.
David Hogg is only 21 years old, but he’s got the crappiness and neuroses of a much older woman. David Hogg has been fully vaccinated, of course, but he announced this morning, he is going to continue to wear his mask when he is outside. Masking up is inconvenient, Hogg conceded, but it is quote, ” … more than worth it to have people not think I’m a conservative.” Good point, David Hogg.
When you wear a surgical mask, even after the doctors have told you not to, everybody is going to know your politics, not to mention your position in our society. You’re in the ruling class. That’s why you can afford to ignore the science and instead adopt a public health precaution as a fashion accessory.
It’s like ancient Chinese foot binding that way. It’s a mark of social distinction.
When you’re that powerful, you don’t need to walk or in this case breathe.
If you hate the idea of an egalitarian society, and people like David Hogg definitely do hate that idea, these new rules from the CDC are a disaster because they allow everyone to go maskless together and that’s bad.
Now, you can’t complain about that out loud, of course, this is a pandemic, so you’ve got to keep your game face on and talk about public health. Instead, you’re hearing people fret that allowing the vaccinated to go bare faced could be very dangerous. That’s Leana Wen’s position. Wen is the in- house doctor over on CNN.
Before this job, she was the President of Planned Parenthood, an organization that causes more deaths in America every year than all forms of cancer combined. So say what you want about Leana Wen, she knows a lot of what kills people, and she is highly distressed by this new guidance.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. LEANA WEN, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: And I do really worry now we’re going to be potentially going into grocery stores or other settings where they could be exposed.
So if you’re taking your kids to the grocery store or somewhere else, try to go at a time when there aren’t a lot of people around. And if there are a lot of maskless people walking around, you suspect that some of them could actually be unvaccinated, maybe leave and come back later.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARLSON: Oh, OK. Well, then there’s the problem right there. People lie. It’s human nature.
Not everyone who is not wearing a mask has actually been vaccinated. You just can’t tell.
Unvaccinated people are like Russian spies. They circulate stealthily among the rest of us pretending to be something they’re not, committing medical treason, undermining this nation from within. It’s terrifying when you think about it.
But wait a second, you ask, why would someone who has been vaccinated worry at all about encountering an unvaccinated person masked or not? Isn’t the vaccinated person entirely safe from COVID infection? Isn’t that the whole point of getting the vaccine in the first place? And honestly, that is a fair question. Unfortunately, we are not in a position to answer that question. We’re not physicians, we’re not practicing MSNBC anchors, we just don’t have the data.
But for reference, take a look at this perfectly well-adjusted couple on a cable news morning show. They’ve been fully vaccinated, but they plan to keep wearing their masks anyway. Why? Because it’s just common sense.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE SCARBOROUGH, MSNBC HOST: If you’re on airplanes, if you’re on buses, if you’re on public transportation, wear the mask. You still are expected to wear the mask and actually for your own health, you should still wear the mask. I’ve got to say, in the future, I mean, I haven’t gotten the flu in a year. Why am I going to start wearing a mask — stop wearing a mask on planes? That just makes good common sense.
MIKA BRZEZINSKI, MSNBC HOST: That’s right. It’s a good idea.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARLSON: It’s just common sense. It’s just common sense because masks protect you not simply from COVID-19, but from everything, including from the flu. They’re like magic that way. We ought to wear them forever.
So you’re headed over to Amazon to throw 10,000 surgical masks in the old shopping cart. But before you do, ask yourself, do we know that’s true? I mean, we should check, trust but verify. Someone has got to have those numbers, right, on masks? Someone must have checked.
Well, in fact, someone has checked.
Last year, the peer reviewed journal of the British Medical Association took a look at the effectiveness of cloth masks. Those are the kind that MSNBC anchors wear on airplanes. They’re the ones you see at Whole Foods.
Surprisingly, there wasn’t a lot of data on their effectiveness. The authors could find only a single randomized clinical study of the subject, in other words, a scientifically valid study. But the results of that study are worth knowing about. It turns out that people who wear cloth masks are at quote, “higher risk” of viral infection than people who don’t wear cloth masks. The masks turned out to be completely ineffective.
In testing, cloth masks allowed the penetration of 97% of vapor droplets. But actually the masks were worse than that, they weren’t just useless, they turned out to be dangerous. They were literally vectors for disease, quote, “Cloth may become damp and contaminated posing an infection and self-contamination risk.”
Oh, so it turns out according to the study, people who wore the kinds of masks that MSNBC anchors plan to wear in airplanes when they fly commercial, those people were more likely to get the flu, to get infected than people who weren’t wearing the masks. That’s amazing. Why haven’t we heard about that study before?
You know, because it was a study with math and stuff, old school science where you test your hypotheses, and then don’t lie about the results of the tests. In other words, it was racism, and we can’t have that.
If we’re going to beat this pandemic, we’re going to need fewer studies and more punitive measures. Watch this public health expert on MSNBC today explain.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANDREW ROSS SORKIN, CNBC ANCHOR: For all of the companies in America who say they want a better society and they say it all the time. The one thing they could actually do which they have been unwilling to do thus far is to actually mandate vaccination.
It baffles me to this day given the trillions of dollars that was pumped out directly to businesses to help them during the pandemic that the one thing they’ve been unwilling to do thus far is to help themselves and help society by mandating the vaccine.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARLSON: Well, yes, it is pretty simple. Don’t make the case, don’t convince people, it’s not like they’re citizens, they’re just peasants. Force them. Why aren’t big companies mandating vaccines and punishing people who won’t get the shot? It’s a fair question.
And, while we’re on the topic, why aren’t the NIH and the CDC doing the very same thing? A report tonight suggests that up to half of NIH and CDC employees have refused to get the vaccine so far.
Whoa. Who knew there were so many QAnon science deniers in science?
As the MSNBC guy might say, it’s baffling.
Well, Jeb Bush’s former flack is not baffled. She knows what the problem is: the problem is you’ve got too many rights, buddy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WALLACE: I mean why is it controversial for — I mean, I understand a right to privacy and a right to freedom, but I don’t have a right to go to my workplace unvaccinated. I don’t have a right to send my kid to school without testing him to make sure he doesn’t become a vector for disease.
Has this debate gone too far? I mean, people, so, sure you can do what you want, but it doesn’t mean you get to go on with your pre-pandemic life if you’re not willing to carry your burden in society.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARLSON: Why is it controversial? Well, exactly. You do it because you’re a good person. You need to get vaccinated because if you don’t get vaccinated, you might infect people who have been vaccinated, and how unfair would that be?
It’s not like abortion or something. You just don’t have the right to do that.
Now, some are claiming that this new standard is confusing, but it’s not, that’s a conspiracy theory. Shut up. Nothing could be clearer than the science on COVID: get vaccinated. Joe Biden said it this week: hurry up and get the shots. And while we are at it, vaccinate your entire family, including any child over the age of five months.
Now, your kids may be more likely to be killed by cheetahs than killed by COVID, but it’s still incredibly dangerous not to vaccinate them as often as you can right away. And, by the way, they can’t get an education or have friends or go to summer camp if they don’t get the shot, so just do it.
And then — and this is the key, so listen carefully — once you have all been thoroughly vaccinated, you must live as though you haven’t been vaccinated, because, although the vaccine is a hundred percent effective and therefore essential, actually it doesn’t work at all. It’s pretty much just saline solution, but with potentially fatal side effects.
So take the vaccine, but don’t trust the vaccine. Damn the CDC guidance.
And the next time you’re outside with your spouse, for example, just to prove you’re on the same page — your spouse, keep in mind, the person you’re legally married to, the person you sleep with, the person who, like you, has been fully vaccinated — the next time you’re outdoors with that person, be certain to wear at least one mask before you kiss her sexlessly, in the driest, falsest way possible, especially if there are network camera pools present.
Otherwise, if you fail to take these obvious, commonsense health precautions, millions will die and you’ll be helping the cause of white supremacy.
Vice President Kamala Harris herself demonstrated this guidance recently. It applies to all of us. “You may kiss the bride?” Sure, I will, but with a mask on.
There’s nothing confusing about this. But that doesn’t mean these rules are set in stone. They must be observed, but they can be expanded.
As with Mosaic Law, the pious will want to build from Archbishop Fauci’s edicts. Father Fauci says to wear a mask over your face. And that’s fair, of course, it’s your duty.
But especially good people might want to upgrade from there — from a mere mask to a plastic bag. Same civic-minded spirit behind the project, but more of it. Plastic is far less permeable than cotton, therefore it’s safer.
We dare a COVID germ to sneak through plastic. Go ahead. Try it, COVID. You can’t.
But for some out there, even conventional plastic may not be enough. It might not be good enough in a moral sense. Would you really trust your life to a sandwich baggie or a dry-cleaning bag? Probably not.
So, the truly pious will want to go ever further than that, and good for them. They’ll go with Hefty garden bags, or the higher-grade contractor version that demolition crews use to haul drywall off construction sites.
Tightly secured, of course, with bungee cords and electrician’s tape around the neck. Because it is about safety. It’s about sensible commonsense precautions.
And for responsible people who follow those precautions, with the contractor bags, life can finally return to normal. People like that can roast all the hotdogs they please on July 4th. People like that are patriots.
And by the way, they’re not doing this for themselves, they are not suffocating for themselves alone. They’re doing it for all of us. They’re storming the beaches of COVID so the rest of us could live as intended in a fully obedient country. Call them heroes, call them martyrs, actually. They’ve earned it.
CNN is going to celebrate these people in a primetime special probably posthumously. These are the brave Americans who believed in science. Anderson Cooper presents the ultimate sacrifice for public health. It’s coming.
So several states including New York and Hawaii are still in the face of this new CDC guidance refusing to relax their mask mandates Nancy Pelosi is on board with that. She is refusing to relax the mandates in the House of Representatives and she can do that.
Follow Jeff Poor on Twitter @jeff_poor
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