OPINION:
President Joe Biden, just blundered a big one, as President Joe Biden is wont to do, and issued an executive order that put most all American citizens into face masks — and then he went out and about without his own face mask.
Oops.
Hypocrisy at its finest. Elitism at its ugliest.
“[T]he president was briefly seen without a mask at the Lincoln Memorial after signing an executive order mandating the wearing of them on federal grounds,” Newsweek wrote. “Biden was seen not covering his face while giving an address to the public … just hours after he signed a mandate requiring masks on federal property as well as interstate travelers.”
Seems pretty clear.
He told Americans to wear face masks.
He took off his own face mask.
He was caught, captured, completely mask-free. If even for only a few minutes — he was mask-free.
So out come the Biden-fawning media members.
And the worst of the worst is Snopes. Snopes, the very organization that pretends its job is to sift through truths and lies in the media — Snopes comes forward with this: “Did Biden Violate His Own Mask Mandate? … False.”
Pictures be danged. Photos be hanged.
“This argument,” one Snopes’ fact-checker found, “appears to be based on a willful misunderstanding of Biden’s new mask policy.”
Here are the mental contortions Snopes had to make in order to arrive at this finding: Biden’s mask mandate actually mandates that Americans follow the “best available data and science-based public health measures” to stop the spread of coronavirus, and that “put simply, masks … reduce the spread of the disease … and thus save lives.” The order then goes on to state, “accordingly, to protect … individuals … on-duty or on-site federal employees, on-site federal contractors, and other individuals in federal buildings and on federal lands should all wear masks, maintain physical distance and adhere to other public health measures, as provided in CDC guidelines.”
That was taken to mean by all of America that Biden ordered masks to be worn on all federal properties. Why? Because, umm — he did.
Make way for the Snopes special.
“Biden’s executive order says that people in federal buildings must comply with the CDCs public safety guidelines to combat the COVID-19 pandemic,” Snopes wrote. “The CDC’s mask guidelines encourage mask use in most instances, but the agency also notes a number of exceptions to that rule.”
Voila.
There it is.
The magic mask theory, today’s modern propaganda equivalent of yesteryear’s J.F. Kennedy magic bullet theory.
Biden’s order is only an order if people take it as an order — and that’s why he can’t be considered a hypocrite. ‘Cause it’s not really an order.
Unless, of course, it’s assumed to be an order.
• Cheryl Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com or on Twitter, @ckchumley. Listen to her podcast “Bold and Blunt” by clicking HERE. And never miss her column; subscribe to her newsletter by clicking HERE. Her latest book, “Socialists Don’t Sleep: Christians Must Rise Or America Will Fall,” is available by clicking HERE.
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