Rep. Jim Jordan Demands Dr. Fauci Tell Him When Americans “Can Get Their Liberties Back”
[guest post by Dana]
Things got heated this morning between Rep. Jim Jordan and Dr. Anthony Fauci today at a House Coronavirus Crisis Subcommittee meeting:
Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) had to intervene in a shouting match between Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) and Dr. Anthony Fauci by telling Jordan to “shut your mouth.” Jordan ranted at Fauci for several minutes, demanding the doc provide definite answers on when the pandemic will end, when public health mandates will be lifted, and when Americans will have their “liberties” back. “You’re indicating liberty and freedom. I look at it as a public health measure to prevent people from dying and going to hospital,” Fauci said, adding that life will return to normal when people get vaccinated.
When Jordan complained that no one was allowed to criticize Fauci, he shot back: “You’re making this a personal thing.” Jordan claimed he wasn’t but Fauci said, “You are, that’s exactly what you’re doing.” Jordan kept ranting after his time expired, prompting Waters to yell, “You need to respect the chair and shut your mouth!” Jordan’s home state of Ohio is experiencing a nearly 25 percent surge in new cases
You can view the exchange here. I’m sorry I am unable to embed it. However, the seven-minute clip is worth your time as it lays out two different viewpoints of the situation. Most Americans seem to hold one or the other of these viewpoints, so it’s a good representation of a polarized COVID-19 America. With his hyperventilating theater, it appears that Jordan doesn’t really want answers from Fauci, rather he just wants to rally his base (MAGA) and show them that he’s on the job!
Here is a snippet of the exchange:
.@Jim_Jordan: "You don't think Americans' liberties have been threatened the last year, Dr. Fauci?"
Fauci: "I don't look at this as a liberty thing… I look at this as a public health thing."
Jordan: "You think the Constitution is suspended during a virus, during a pandemic?" pic.twitter.com/A4lRuFFCPM
— Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) April 15, 2021
Full video here. Go to the 54:15 mark.
–Dana
Hello.
Dana (fd537d) — 4/15/2021 @ 11:54 amI’m surprised Jim Jordan isn’t too busy not drinking coke or not watching baseball, or not reporting the child abuse he was aware of to have this conversation.
Time123 (ea2b98) — 4/15/2021 @ 12:17 pmIn secret, Jordan sips Coke and watches baseball on his Delta flights.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 4/15/2021 @ 12:20 pmIt’s pretty bad when Maxine Waters tells you to “Shut your mouth!”
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 4/15/2021 @ 12:21 pmIt’s Covid theater on Jordan’s part. This is how he keeps his base (the MAGA base) happy. Fauci would be a fool, and an irresponsible one at that, if he gave specific dates and/or numbers as Jordan demands.
Dana (48d5e0) — 4/15/2021 @ 12:34 pmMaxine Waters is the last person to tell anyone to respect and shut their mouth. She needs to do that to herself.
Hoi Polloi (093fb9) — 4/15/2021 @ 12:35 pm#6 Well since she is the head of the committee she is the first and best one to tell another ranting representative to can it.
Victor (4959fb) — 4/15/2021 @ 12:58 pmsince jordon is a trumper, if he says 2+2=4 i suppose we’re obligated to question it and call it math theater and keeping his base happy
asking a government official for the criteria to remove restrictions is irresponsible in some world somewhere
JF (6fcdbe) — 4/15/2021 @ 1:47 pmI was trying to avoid too much commentary in this post, but had to add:
Dana (fd537d) — 4/15/2021 @ 1:48 pmJim Jordan is one of many reasons I hate my party. I doubt he could actually explain how the Constitution was “suspended” by Fauci or whoever.
Paul Montagu (26e0d1) — 4/15/2021 @ 2:52 pmWith his hyperventilating theater, it appears that Jordan doesn’t really want answers from Fauci, rather he just wants to rally his base (MAGA) and show them that he’s on the job!
Pretty much the modus operandi for about 415 of the House members. Everyone has a base.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 4/15/2021 @ 2:54 pmNever let it be said that the respectable Mr. Jordan doesn’t enjoy what we appears to think his job is, which is angrily yelling for the manager.
There probably are bigger wastes of skin walking around, but I’m having trouble thinking of one right now.
john (cd2753) — 4/15/2021 @ 3:19 pmThere probably are bigger wastes of skin walking around, but I’m having trouble thinking of one right now.
There’s a list right here
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 4/15/2021 @ 4:52 pmWrestleMania, eh, Jimbo!?!!
Birth of a SNL sketch; writers, roll up your sleeves and get to work!
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 4/15/2021 @ 4:59 pmThis is nothing but direct-to-social-media posturing by Jordan.
norcal (01e272) — 4/15/2021 @ 5:08 pmThis isn’t political theater. It’s poisonous rhetoric. To claim that government measures and policies enacted to contain the spread of the virus and its variants, lower infections, hospitalizations and deaths are an assault on the Constitution, deprivation of individual rights, freedom and liberty, is to say that the Capital insurrection was a peaceful protest by patriotic Americans, which several MAGA-Republicans have actually claimed and believe.
A segment of the GOP, known as the QOP, has become a party of liars, grifters and conspiracy theorists, and apparently perverts and sex traffickers, who are in complete denial of reality. This type of anger-based delusional ranting has one source of origin, the vulgar mouth and wounded ego of Donald J. Trump. It may appeal to the MAGA-base, who think Trump is their messiah and his middle initial stands for Jesus, but it is repugnant to the vast majority of the electorate.
It was the ignorance, ineptitude and inaction of Trump that allowed the virus to spread unimpeded across the country in the first place. Now it’s a raging wildfire that cannot be put out by peeing on it. But the MAGA-base refuses to accept that and insists that 565,000+ dead in a year and 60,000+ new infections per day are the result of an evil leftist conspiracy, or a communist Chinese bioweapon, meant to make Trump look bad.
That the poisonous rhetoric of the QOP is intended to fire up the MAGA-base is partially true. However, its real purpose is to appeal to Trump and the shadow government he seeks to form in a wet dream.
https://www.cnn.com/2021/04/14/politics/donald-trump-2024/index.html
MAGA-candidates truly believe they can win control of the House and Senate in the mid-terms by making themselves mini-Trumps. That is their delusion in the alternate universe they occupy. The reality is, if this is the kind of rhetoric, campaigning and politicking they intend to run on in the primaries and the election, the result will be the unification and strengthening of the Democrats, the alienation of Independents, traditional Republicans, libertarian conservatives, and suburbanites, not to mention the loss of support from corporate and wealthy donors. It is not a winning strategy.
Gawain's Ghost (b25cd1) — 4/15/2021 @ 5:53 pm7. Victor (4959fb) — 4/15/2021 @ 12:58 pm
Sammy Finkelman (6975b4) — 4/15/2021 @ 6:21 pm“Why have restrictions on normal social and business activity been in place for so long?” is not a question. It is an assertion.
Dr. Fauci should be commended for focusing on the medical response to our national pandemic situation. He has made recommendations, and we all have evidence of the consequences when these recommendations are discounted or ignored.
When I last checked, the CDC has no power to abridge constitutional rights, nor has it claimed such power.
John B Boddie (55235a) — 4/15/2021 @ 7:01 pmThis type of anger-based delusional ranting has one source of origin, the vulgar mouth and wounded ego of Donald J. Trump. It may appeal to the MAGA-base, who think Trump is their messiah and his middle initial stands for Jesus, but it is repugnant to the vast majority of the electorate.
That is both funny and well-written.
norcal (01e272) — 4/15/2021 @ 7:05 pm4.It’s pretty bad when Maxine Waters tells you to “Shut your mouth!”
It’s a black thang; she was just giving him the Shaft!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q429AOpL_ds
‘Can ya’ dig it?” – Isaac Hayes ‘Shaft’ 1971
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 4/15/2021 @ 7:09 pmI think it can be both, GG. Ultimately, it is all on behalf of the MAGA crowd. And even though his term ends in 2023, he has his reasons to stay in Trump’s good graces and keep the base happy. What’s particularly interesting to me is that he is really pushing hard the framing that it is yet more of us (MAGA, disenfranchised, angry Americans) against them (educated elite Dems) all the while ignoring the very real fact that Fauci is an expert in his field. His rhetoric continues Trump’s divisiveness. He is making sure the lines of demarcation remain clear. To sum up: he’s looking at the next election.
Dana (fd537d) — 4/15/2021 @ 7:13 pmFurther, Jordan is mimicking Trump’s bullying tactics. He doesn’t really want an answer, he just wants to show his people that he can and will flex his muscles and try to ride roughshod over the so-called experts.
Dana (fd537d) — 4/15/2021 @ 7:29 pmRep. Jim Jordan Demands Dr. Fauci Tell Him When Americans “Can Get Their Liberties Back”
Didn’t Jimbo take a few liberties himself w/some wrestlers a while back?
Still, never forget: a Buckeye is a useless nut.
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 4/15/2021 @ 7:55 pmI agree that it can be both political theater to some extent and poisonous rhetoric to a larger extent, Dana, but this is something different. Political rivals of the same party often attack and insult each other, sometimes viciously, but that’s usually limited to the primaries. Once the nomination is secured, they agree to put their differences aside in order to form a unified front against the opposing party in the election. This is not that.
https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2021/04/13/mcconnell-trump-republican-party-spat-481222
Very rarely does a losing candidate continue to attack and insult members of his or her own party after an election. Yet that is what Trump is doing, railing against his own Vice-President, the GOP Senate leader, Senators, Representatives, governors, state legislators and elected officials for not perpetuating the Big Lie of voter fraud and election theft, and for not supporting the Capital insurrection on his behalf–that is, for not lying about it. For Trump, there is one litmus test, abject and absolute fealty to him. Certifying the actual vote count in the election, and certifying the electoral college votes in Congress, is in his devilishly narcissistic mind a betrayal. Thus, every Republican who does not demonstrate slavish devotion and fealty to him is as a Judas to Donald Jesus Trump. In his mind, it’s all about worshipping him. Nothing else matters.
The basis for this psychological disorder, or psychopathy, is that Trump never was a Republican or a conservative to begin with. He was a lifelong Democrat and sometimes a pretend Independent, or some sort of macabre third party member. The only reason he registered as a Republican was so that he could run against Hillary Clinton, for reasons unknown to anyone but he and Bill, whom he consulted before deciding to switch parties and enter the presidential race. (Personally, I think Bill advised him as a means of inflicting further degradation on his wife. There can be nothing more humiliating politically than winning the popular vote and losing an election to Donald J. Trump.)
Trump doesn’t give a damn about the GOP and couldn’t care less about the collateral damage to the party he causes. That’s why he’s forming a shadow QOP. Losing not only the popular vote but the electoral college to Joe Biden, of all people, who won more votes than any presidential candidate in history, shattered his psyche. He cannot accept it, and so he lashes out in scorched-earth tactics.
What mystifies my is why so many Republicans go along with it. A party divided cannot win against a party united. There are a few Republican leaders trying to return the party to its original principles, but they face an uphill battle. The mistake Trumpublicans, their submissive supporters make is that they assume the MAGA-mob is larger than it really is.
Self-identified Republicans make up about 26% of the electorate. Even if 80% of those are MAGA-voters, still that’s only 80% of 26%, which is nowhere near gaining a majority. Self-identified Democrats make up about 28% of the electorate. That gives them an advantage if they stayed unified. 40% of the electorate is made up of center-right and center-left Independents. It is they who will determine the outcome of elections. Neither candidate from either major party can win an election without a majority of the Independent vote. The rest of the electorate is made up of Libertarians and other lesser third parties, which only matters as much as they take votes away from the two major parties.
So, what matters in every election, if your base is secure, is winning the majority of Independent and swing voters. The Republican base is not secure. It is in fact divided. This is Trump in his pathetic attempt to assume control of the electorate as the messiah. It is blasphemous in the extreme.
Gawain's Ghost (b25cd1) — 4/15/2021 @ 11:12 pmJim jordan wasnt concerned about the liberty of young wrestlers at ohio state.
asset (60dd95) — 4/16/2021 @ 12:23 amSammy,
You’re right. I jumped to the conclusion that Waters was chairing but it was Clyburn. I think her sentiments were accurate but she was at that point kibitzing and Clyburn should have been the one to take charge.
Victor (4959fb) — 4/16/2021 @ 12:27 amIts pretty bad when maxine waters represents Cantafordya.
mg (8cbc69) — 4/16/2021 @ 3:09 amIt keeps getting worse for massholeachusetts. A Lawyer and her accountant husband from Cantafordya bought the acreage next to us. Time to go from a fence to a wall.
mg (8cbc69) — 4/16/2021 @ 3:24 amGood for Congressman Jordan. He is doing his job and demanding answers instead of just accepting that we will be slaves to an ever increasing totalitarian state that changes its opinion on a whim and not on facts.
NJRob (6db786) — 4/16/2021 @ 6:12 amMeanwhile the left continues to increase their radical agenda and push ever more divisive policies to fracture our nation forever.
NJRob (6db786) — 4/16/2021 @ 6:13 amI wonder why Fauci keeps refusing to tell us the metrics he needs to open everything?
Science isn’t about secrets, political theater is about secrets.
BillPasadena (5b0401) — 4/16/2021 @ 6:39 amTits on a bull and House Republicans and the analogy does not end there.
nk (1d9030) — 4/16/2021 @ 8:29 amTo claim that government measures and policies enacted to contain the spread of the virus and its variants, lower infections, hospitalizations and deaths are an assault on the Constitution, deprivation of individual rights, freedom and liberty, is to say that the Capital insurrection was a peaceful protest by patriotic Americans, which several MAGA-Republicans have actually claimed and believe.
To claim this in general is as you say. To claim this in particular is not, as the Supreme Court has done a few times.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 4/16/2021 @ 8:38 amMeanwhile the left continues to increase their radical agenda and push ever more divisive policies to fracture our nation forever.
And we have Donald Trump to thank for undermining the opposition.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 4/16/2021 @ 8:40 amI agree, Bill. The optics would have favored Mr. Jordan if he had the benefit of your choice of words, but, alas, Dr. Fauci’s answer would not have materially changed, nor would Jordan have been recognized for any probity.
felipe (484255) — 4/16/2021 @ 8:42 amKevin M (ab1c11) — 4/16/2021 @ 8:38 am
Good comment.
felipe (484255) — 4/16/2021 @ 8:46 amAnother fine post that resulted in some very good discussions and comments, Dana. Well done. You deserve another cruise on the company yacht.
felipe (484255) — 4/16/2021 @ 8:52 amTake a good hard look at both parties and what you voted for. I say that generally and not to you specifically Kevin. I know you didn’t vote for Biden and his leftist supporters. But many on here did. They are getting exactly what we on the right said they’d get.
NJRob (eb56c3) — 4/16/2021 @ 12:34 pmBiden’s pandering to the woke, authoritarian left is a model of virtue compared to Trump’s assault on every democratic norm and institution, including most notoriously his incitement of an openly racist, insurrectionist mob. Given that choice, I couldn’t be prouder of my vote for Biden. My only regret is that Soros didn’t pay me enough to cast 100 more.
lurker (59504c) — 4/16/2021 @ 3:38 pmLurker,
you’re dreaming. Biden has the authoritarian left, the media, the establishment all on the same page pushing leftist propaganda day and night.
Enjoy watching the nation burn due to leftist falsehoods.
Those lies must be tasty you’re getting from the radical left. How many of the Russian falsehoods did you believe?
NJRob (eb56c3) — 4/17/2021 @ 6:05 am