Republican Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio has said a lot of nonsensical things over the years. His specialty is statements that are rooted in outrage while also being entirely free of facts, like that time he railed against gender-neutral pronouns while also making it clear that he didn’t know what a pronoun actually is. That’s the level of discourse we’ve come to expect from Jordan, and it’s clear he’s not planning to move away from that legacy anytime soon.
Last week, Jordan tweeted the bizarre statement that “Real America is done with #COVID19,” adding, “The only people who don’t understand that are Fauci and Biden.”
Real America is done with #COVID19.
The only people who don’t understand that are Fauci and Biden.
— Rep. Jim Jordan (@Jim_Jordan) December 2, 2021
What exactly does it mean to be “done” with COVID? Everyone is tired of dealing with this pandemic and we would all love to be done with it, but we don’t get to make that decision because the virus is not “done” with us, and pretending otherwise won’t change that fact.
It is true that a lot of people have decided they’re “done” thinking about COVID. A recent Washington Post article on the issue summed up the problem with the headline, “As omicron emerges, a tired public has little appetite for new restrictions.”
No one has an “appetite” for pandemic restrictions! But some people have resisted giving in to the comfortable and dangerous illusion that this problem can be ignored out of existence—that because we think we “should” be done with all of this by now, we can just decide we are. That’s not how any of this works.
Look, pandemic fatigue is very real, and many people have simply given up to all sorts of varying degrees. But for Jordan to claim that this sort of denial is a sign of patriotism is completely absurd.
“Real America is done with #COVID19” is an interesting way to acknowledge fully vaxxed and boostered, liberal Democrats are, in fact, Real America https://t.co/uHfMSs5GHN
— Brandon Friedman (@BFriedmanDC) December 3, 2021
This isn’t the first time Jordan has said this sort of thing. Back in June, he said during an interview, “Look, I think we’re way past this. I think the country is ready to move on and we’re done with this, but you guys just keep wanting to talk about it.”
He also said that he has not been vaccinated. Since then, he’s repeatedly refused to comment on his vaccination status. So, Jordan is likely still not vaccinated, he’s fought against vaccine mandates, and yet, he thinks the media is at fault for the continuing prevalence of this deadly virus.
On the day Jordan tweeted his statement, 1337 people died from COVID-19 in the U.S. So, yes, journalists are going to “keep wanting to talk about it.”
The virus isn’t done with real America.
The only people who don’t understand that are unvaccinated or those not taking public health precautions. https://t.co/AgbUkHEmHc
— Katelyn Jetelina (@dr_kkjetelina) December 3, 2021
What makes all of this infinitely worse is that Jordan sits on the House Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis, which is charged with examining the government’s management of the pandemic from all sorts of angles. That is probably not a great job for a person who refuses to accept that there is even a crisis happening to begin with.
(image: Greg Nash-Pool/Getty Images)
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