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Conservatives in the DMV have been very loud in their opposition to mask and vaccine mandates — but how many are practicing what they preach?
Truckers in Canada are risking their livelihoods to protest vaccine mandates, the US military is discharging service members who refuse to get the shot, and families have been thrown out of restaurants by police because their young children wouldn’t wear masks. Meanwhile, many Republican politicians and conservative organizations seem to be sacrificing very little in the name of ending Covid restrictions.
Cockburn is constantly on the hunt for social gatherings — especially ones with an open bar — and couldn’t help but notice that conservatives were still scheduling events in DC before Mayor Muriel Bowser announced she would lift the city’s vaccine mandate.
The Federalist Society, which has helped get conservative justices appointed to the Supreme Court, sent an email to members yesterday morning about an event featuring the Honorable Douglas H. Ginsburg at the Capitol Hill Club in March. Cockburn reported last month that members of Congress walked out of an event at the Capitol Hill Club after being harangued for their vaccine cards and denied religious exemptions to the DC vaccine mandate. Representative Matt Gaetz canceled his membership entirely over the club’s strict enforcement of the mandate.
A tipster alerted Cockburn to two events with Republican senators Jim Inhofe and John Cornyn at Hill Country BBQ in downtown DC on February 15 and March 8, respectively. Invitations to the receptions were sent out by Bradley Patrick Group, a Republican fundraising firm, prior to DC lifting its vaccine mandate. It seems unvaccinated donors would have been required to take their money elsewhere — or maybe they’d just be encouraged to send a check in the mail.
On Capitol Hill, Republican members are mostly ignoring the congressional mask mandate. Cockburn, however, noticed a sign on Senator Lindsey Graham’s door last week reminding visitors of the Attending Physician Guidelines requiring persons who are not fully vaccinated to wear masks and stay socially distanced. A spokesperson for Graham suggested the sign went up ahead of an event promoting the EARN IT Act that included quite a few outside visitors, but added that the office did not require anyone to wear a mask. Graham did not wear one.
The spokesperson did not clarify who put the sign up or why, and it was still on Graham’s office door Tuesday. Congressional insiders tell Cockburn that Graham’s is the only Republican office they’ve seen explicitly posting the Attending Physician Guidelines.
Gaetz, along with Senator Rand Paul and Representative Thomas Massie — who were spotted dining at the Big Board, a DC restaurant shut down for defying the city’s vaccine mandate — seem to be among the few Republicans actually refusing to flash their vaccine cards or don their masks. Massie also announced his staff would not be allowed to order lunch from DC restaurants during the vaccine mandate nor would he meet with companies enforcing the mandate on their employees.
Cockburn applauds those conservatives actually inconveniencing themselves to protest Covid restrictions. Actions speak louder than words, they say.
