Commentary: 2 Months After Biden Called End of Mask Mandate ‘Neanderthal Thinking,’ Texas Reports 0 COVID Deaths

Last week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention decided to, out of the blue, generously bestow upon Americans their official blessing to stop wearing masks in most settings, if, that is, said Americans have been fully vaccinated.

So, what changed? Well, absolutely nothing, really. Other than maybe devastating gas prices and shortages across the country — I’m sure that’s totally just a coincidence though.

The change was rather inconvenient for President Joe Biden, however, considering just a few months ago he declared it to be “Neanderthal thinking” for states like Texas and Mississippi to end their mask mandates.

When asked in March about those respective states’ governors and their choice to lift their mandates, Biden replied, “Look, I hope everybody’s realized by now, these masks make a difference. We are on the cusp of being able to fundamentally change the nature of this disease because of the way with which we’re able to get vaccines in people’s arms. We’ve been able to move that all the way up to the end of May to have enough for every American, to get every adult American to get a shot.”

“The last thing, the last thing we need is Neanderthal thinking that in the meantime, everything is fine, take off your masks, forget it. It still matters,” he added.

Well, it appears that not only has the CDC adopted this “Neanderthal thinking” for its inconsistently reliable COVID-19 guidelines, but one of the states Biden slammed back in March for supposedly prehistoric levels of stupidity seems to be doing just fine.

Better than fine, in fact.

On Sunday, Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott boasted his state reported absolutely zero COVID-related deaths for the first time since the early days of the pandemic, as well as several other impressive firsts that point to the elusive “return to normal” so many states have been chasing for well over a year.

“Today Texas reported: 0 Covid related deaths — the only time that’s happened since data was tracked in March, 2020, the fewest Covid cases in over 13 months, the lowest 7-day Covid positivity rate ever, the lowest Covid hospitalizations in 11 months,” the governor tweeted.

Well, well, well, what do you know?

Looks like freedom actually worked.

If you think perhaps Biden’s stance has loosened since he made his “Neanderthal thinking” comments, that is hardly the case.

Just last week, he issued a jaw-dropping (and also rather inexplicable) statement, tweeting, “The rule is now simple: get vaccinated or wear a mask until you do. The choice is yours.”

Now, I don’t know who the person telling Joe Biden what to tweet thinks they are, but for those who are perhaps a bit rusty on elementary school civics, the President of the United States does not, in fact, have the authority to make “rules” for the citizens of a federal constitutional republic.

Even the much-touted CDC guidelines aren’t actually rules, they’re just guidelines, and every state has always — no matter what you may be otherwise led to believe by medical tyranny zealots — had the authority to apply these guidelines as they see fit.

That’s something White House press secretary Jen Psaki pointed to last week, when she was pressed on Biden’s “Neanderthal” comments in light of the new guidelines, in lieu of any explanation for the apparent contradiction.

“I would say that even with this guidance that’s out there, the guidance is not telling states and localities exactly how they should implement,” she told Fox News’ Peter Doocy when he asked if Biden still thought Texas and Mississippi were guilty of “Neanderthal thinking.”

She added that “different localities, businesses will implement it in the way that they feel will help ensure their community is safe,” never directly answering Doocy’s question.

The answer she did give is even more ironic today in light of Texas’ great news. Psaki was absolutely right — but the whole reason Doocy was asking about Biden’s March comments likening governors to cavemen was due to the fact that it has always been well within their prerogative to apply CDC guidelines according to what the science is showing in their given locality.

While Biden was bashing Abbott for re-opening the Lone Star State, Abbott’s policies were working all along. The Democrats can’t quit COVID, clearly, but strong and sensible leadership can.

And Texas is showing us how it’s done.

This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.