Trump refuses to stand down.
In an interview set to premiere on Monday, former President Donald Trump stated that all COVID-19 mandates should be reversed.
Speaking to Kash Patel, former chief of staff to the Acting United States Secretary of Defense, on EpochTV.com, Trump expressed his views that mandates “have to be ended, and they shouldn’t have started.”
Trump criticized President Joe Biden for failing to carry out his promise to “defeat the virus,” saying he was doing “such a horrible job” managing the pandemic.
He continued his criticism of the Biden administration, saying “It’s like they don’t know what the hell they’re doing,” before lambasting Biden’s administration for having more deaths during Biden’s first year, despite Trump’s administration developing “therapeutics [and] vaccines” and Biden promising to “solve COVID.”
Trump’s remarks come as the World Health Organization released guidelines on countries relaxing COVID-19 rules in instances where they have high immunity rates, a strong healthcare system, and epidemiological trends are following an advantageous path.
Despite the emergence of the virus during Trump’s tenure, the federal government never imposed vaccine or mask mandates, although several states –– like California –– issued such mandates.
However, after Biden took office, more jurisdictions began to implement mandates, requiring vaccines for activities like gathering for indoor dining and working with Biden mandating COVID-19 vaccines for military, federal agencies, and healthcare workers. Biden also pushed through a mandate that required companies with 100 or employees to require employees to be vaccinated or prove negative status through out-of-pocket tests.
The mandate was rescinded by the Supreme Court in January, citing that OHSA did not have jurisdiction to mandate vaccines.
Yet, with all these precautions, during Biden’s first year in office, there were more COVID-19-related deaths (2021) than during Trump’s last year as President (2020), according to a report by the Epoch Times.
During his time as President, Trump constantly urged cities under lockdown to reopen, saying that the “cure” should not be worse than the virus.
