There’s no denying that Joe Biden has it out for state officials who are choosing freedom over fear when it comes to COVID-19, but his latest attack on those elected politicians goes well beyond the pale.
In Florida and Texas, Governors Ron DeSantis and Greg Abbott, respectively, have chosen a path of personal choice when it comes to taking precautions against COVID-19, with the former even going so far as to threaten to pull funding from school districts who attempt to institute mask mandates for teachers and students.
The White House has now taken the nuclear approach to deal with the issue, pitting the Department of Education against individual states in a massive federal overreach.
President Joe Biden escalated a confrontation with Republican governors over school mask mandates Wednesday, directing the Education Department to “use all available tools” to aid local governments trying to institute the measures.
The battle over face coverings between the Biden administration and GOP governors who have moved to punish school districts for requiring them is roiling an already complicated start to an academic year where educators broadly support full-time, in-person learning. Despite the efforts to reopen classrooms, the number of children hospitalized with Covid-19 has shot up in many parts of the country.
There was no mistaking the intent here.
“We’re not going to sit by as governors try to block and intimidate educators protecting our children,” Biden said during an address on Wednesday.
The move could be seen as an assault on the sovereignty of these states, and isn’t likely to go over well with DeSantis in particular, who has been locked in a bitter feud with President Biden for weeks now.
