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Politicizing COVID-19 from the Start
Townhall.com ^ | January 13, 2022 | Victor, Davis Hanson

Posted on 01/13/2022 4:10:51 AM PST by Kaslin

From the moment COVID-19 appeared, the pandemic became inseparable from politics.

Political frenzy was inevitable since the SARS-CoV-2 virus may have escaped from a level-4 security virology lab in Wuhan, China.

The rapid-fire spread soon threatened to indict the Chinese communist government for nearly destroying the world economy and killing millions.

Western elites, in response, feared that their own lucrative investments in China would be jeopardized by such disclosures - and so acted accordingly in defending Beijing.

Nonetheless, one scenario that remains intriguing is that the escaped virus was birthed by gain-of-function research scientists, overseen by elements of the Chinese communist military. Worse, the lab was given subsidies by U.S. health authorities, routed through third parties. Hiding all of that damaging information warped government policy and media coverage.

Belatedly, a panicked China shut down all domestic travel in and out of Wuhan - but not flights abroad to Western Europe and the United States.

The rest is history.

From the outset, the World Health Organization simply spread false talking points about the outbreak from the Chinese government, delaying a robust global response.

Former President Donald Trump's political opponents initially told Americans to shop and travel as usual - only to pivot as cases mounted and they blamed the president.

The U.S. 2020 ban on travel from China was met with charges of racism and xenophobia from presidential candidates. Ironically, many were simply channeling racist and xenophobic China's propaganda.

(Excerpt) Read more at townhall.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial
KEYWORDS: coronavirus; covid19; covidvaccine; operationwarpspeed; who; wuhancoronavirus

1 posted on 01/13/2022 4:10:51 AM PST by Kaslin
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To: Kaslin

I remember CNN theorizing that an outbreak of the Wuhan virus in the US could give Bernie (the leading candidate at the time) a boost into the White House. They were politicizing it before it was here.


2 posted on 01/13/2022 4:18:18 AM PST by Gary from Dayton (Scary unvaccinated American )
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To: Kaslin

Its not like the decided to politicize it when it first appeared, they planned this from the get go


3 posted on 01/13/2022 4:18:26 AM PST by ronnie raygun
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To: ronnie raygun

NYS ended religious exemptions for vaccination in 2019.

What did Albany know and when did it know it...


4 posted on 01/13/2022 4:21:55 AM PST by mewzilla (Those aren't masks. They're muzzles. )
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To: mewzilla

To be fair, there were a number of stories posted right here on FR around that time about measles outbreaks in certain New York religious groups.


5 posted on 01/13/2022 4:33:58 AM PST by Alberta's Child ("All lies and jest; still, a man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest.")
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To: Alberta's Child

I’m not inclined to be fair toward Albany anymore.


6 posted on 01/13/2022 4:36:28 AM PST by mewzilla (Those aren't masks. They're muzzles. )
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To: mewzilla

Fine. Neither am I. Let’s not be fair, but let’s be factual. :-)


7 posted on 01/13/2022 4:38:38 AM PST by Alberta's Child ("All lies and jest; still, a man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest.")
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To: Alberta's Child

I’m not debating facts.

I’m curious about intent.

BTW, just ran across this while looking for something else...

https://www.wadsworth.org/programs/newborn/screening/families/opt-out

That made my hair stand on end. Wonder how many parents know about it.

What the heck is NYS doing with that info...


8 posted on 01/13/2022 4:51:59 AM PST by mewzilla (Those aren't masks. They're muzzles. )
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To: Kaslin

9 posted on 01/13/2022 5:09:43 AM PST by Diogenesis (Si vis pacem, para bellum)
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To: Kaslin

That Jr senator fr Kenya said it best.
Never let a crisis (even if you have to make it up or exaggerate a issue x10) go to waste.


10 posted on 01/13/2022 5:27:17 AM PST by Leep (Freedom: "What's the big deal" -joe biden)
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To: mewzilla

The David Axelrod Institute???

The same frothing moonbat Clintonista David Axelrod?


11 posted on 01/13/2022 5:45:02 AM PST by bk1000 (Banned from Breitbart)
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To: bk1000

Quite likely.


12 posted on 01/13/2022 5:46:19 AM PST by mewzilla (Those aren't masks. They're muzzles. )
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To: Kaslin

13 posted on 01/13/2022 5:59:48 AM PST by caww ( )
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To: Kaslin

and dont forget, the virus gave us all kinds of new voting techniques!!!


14 posted on 01/20/2022 1:34:14 PM PST by Nifty
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