Joe Biden promised to be the “unity” president, and his administration reminded us again on Wednesday exactly what they think that word means.
During a mid-week press briefing, a reporter laid out a scenario from the trucking industry that also applies to many other sectors of the workforce. That is, the American Trucking Association wants the Biden White House to delay the requirement it’s pushing among private companies that workers get the COVID-19 shot to remain employed because the association warns that some drivers would quit before they’d get the vaccine.
“Given the supply-chain concerns, is this something the administration might consider?” the reporter wanted to know.
“Well, I think it’s important for people to understand that the first step here is not firing or quitting,” Psaki replied. “The first step is counseling, and sometimes there are alternative options as well.”
In other words, Psaki doesn’t think the mandate is an issue because the answer to vaccine hesitancy is not termination. It’s “counseling.”
This wasn’t a slip of the tongue. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Rochelle Walensky used the same unnerving language just a few days ago when she was pressed on what happens when essential workers resist vaccination despite mandates. “There is a plan, should these people not want to be vaccinated, towards education and counseling to get people the information they need so that they are feeling comfortable in getting vaccinated,” Walensky said on Fox News.
The president removed all doubt about his posture toward vaccine-hesitant workers last week during his town hall with CNN when Anderson Cooper noted that as many as 1 in 3 first responders in some cities are not complying with vaccine mandates. When Cooper asked the president whether first responders and police officers should be mandated to get the shot or be let go if they refuse, Biden replied “yes and yes” and proceeded to mock their right to make their own medical decisions.
His next line was the most telling: “By the way, I waited until July to talk about mandating because I tried everything else possible.”
Here we find the bigger picture. Before vaccine mandates, Americans were free to look at all the research, assess the risks, and get the COVID shot if that seemed best for them. But when not enough Americans jumped in the vaccine line to propel Biden past his coronavirus goals, the president cracked down, first with mandates for federal workers and then with mandates for private-sector employees.
That still isn’t working. Health-care workers, first responders, police officers, students, pilots, and others are walking away in droves over the medical coercion, and as the American Truckers Association forecasts, this is likely just the beginning.
So when Biden says he “tried everything else possible” to encourage vaccination but it didn’t work so he coerced workers with threats of termination, he’s revealing that his political goals are more important than your freedom, more important than your bodily autonomy, and more important than your livelihood. Now the Biden administration must resort to “counseling” because compliance is more important than personal conviction.
If the word “counseling” doesn’t stand out to you, it should. The administration doesn’t mean that human resources will give you a brochure on vaccine efficacy and send you on your way to make your own informed decision. Workers have had access to that information all along. By “counseling,” they mean that somebody will confront you until you change your mind to align with their objectives. But don’t worry — you won’t lose your job, just your freedom.
According to Psaki and Walensky, there will be no reason for quitting when all those blue-collar workers are simply reeducated on the moral imperatives of vaccination. There will be no worker shortage because we’ll be unified in vaccination — because to this administration, unity doesn’t mean agreeing to disagree. It means coercing dissenters into believing as they do.
