Tom McClintock compares COVID ‘lockdown left’ restrictions to Salem witch trials
Rep. Tom McClintock warned Thursday that Gov. Gavin Newsom is imposing COVID-19 restrictions that remind him of the “mass hysteria” of the Salem witch trials, French Revolution and communist scares of the 1950s.
Newsom’s policies, the Republican congressman told the U.S. House in a five-minute floor speech, are being driven by the “lockdown left,” “self-absorbed elitists” and “autocratic officials who seem oblivious to the damage they are causing.”
McClintock said COVID-19 survival rates are very high, and that he saw growing defiance.
“All mass hysterias are driven by blind fear fanned by politicians and charlatans who see opportunity in them,” he said.
“We have sadly learned that such fear can cause a free people to abandon their legacy of freedom and independence, their prosperity and their common sense. But only for awhile.”
He took solace in the past. “Every time in history that this has happened, there’s always a moment when the fear fever breaks, and the hysteria suddenly burns itself out.
“The French Revolution, the Salem witch trials, the Communist hysteria of the 1950s all had a moment when the absurdity of it all became so apparent that it overcame the fear and the people turned on their tormentors.”
The Salem witch trials took place in 1692 as people feared witches were bringing the devil to their community. The Communist scare involved usually unfounded allegations against people accused of being sympathetic to the Soviet Union and its allies.
McClintock did not say if the recent reaction to covid policies will trigger such a moment. But, he said, “every shopkeeper who defies these petty tyrants, every parent who confronts their school officials, every person who refuses to submit to this dysfunctional, dystopian world created by the lockdown left brings us one step closer to that turning point. It can’t come soon enough.”
McClintock only two weeks ago had praised Newsom for dining at the posh French Laundry restaurant. The governor attended a birthday party at the Napa Valley restaurant with several friends at the same time he’s been cracking down on public gatherings. He apologized for attending.
At the time, the congressman lauded Newsom because he “recently defied his own idiotic covid edicts as he partied at one of the few restaurants that he has not yet forced out of business.
“I defend him because he was doing what we all once did in a free society: Make our own decisions over what risks we are willing to run and what precautions we are willing to take according to our own circumstances to protect our own health.”
The same day McClintock spoke, Newsom announced that almost all state residents would be subject to a 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. curfew covering nonessential activities.
But COVID-19 cases have continued to climb, and earlier this week, Newsom said the state could take “drastic” action, possibly another stay-at-home order like the imposed this spring.
The governor said his health office predicts intensive care units could reach capacity statewide this month, and in the greater Sacramento area, that could happen before Christmas.
McClintock, though, saw panic.
The governor, he said, “has ordered Californians to run home before 10 p.m., lock their doors and hide from this insidious virus until daybreak. Unfortunately covid doesn’t seem to be following the curfew, so Newsom is now threatening yet another hard lockdown of virtually the entire state throughout the Christmas season.
“Don we now our plague apparel. There is just one nagging question the governor hasn’t bothered to answer. If these lockdowns are so successful, why do we need to keep having them?” McClintock asked.
He cited resistance to the lockdowns throughout the state, and encouraged more.
“This has to stop. The good news is that more and more Americans are questioning the lunacy of these policies and the hypocrisy of those who impose them,” the congressman said.
This story was originally published December 3, 2020 at 10:19 AM with the headline "Tom McClintock compares COVID ‘lockdown left’ restrictions to Salem witch trials."
.jpg)