Lieutenant Governor Will Ainsworth is the latest to object to President Joe Biden’s edict that some employers with more than 100 employees must require COVID-19 vaccinations or a weekly test.
The Biden administration, which will use OSHA to implement the new mandate, has suffered a wide range of pushback, especially from state government officials who maintain the federal government’s executive branch does not have the power to impose such a mandate.
During a Monday interview with Mobile radio FM Talk 106.5’s “The Jeff Poor Show,” Ainsworth called it a “political move” intended to distract from the Biden administration’s beleaguered withdrawal from Afghanistan.
“I totally disagree with it,” he said. “I think it was strictly a political move by him to deflect from Afghanistan with 9/11 coming up. Obviously, his lack of leadership and Afghanistan — just a mess there. I think what his whole plan to do was just distract. And what better way than to come at something as outrageous as the mandate. And I think he tried to change the conversation. I don’t know necessarily if it worked or not, but that looked to me like one of the oldest tricks in politics, but that looked to me like trying to change the conversation on something foolish was what he was trying to do.”
The lieutenant governor questioned the constitutionality of Biden’s mandate and predicted it would not stand the test of the courts.
“I think he overstepped the boundary of his power, and I don’t think this will hold up in court,” Ainsworth added. “I think at the end of the day, states and individuals and businesses ought to be able to decide what’s best for them — certainly not the president on something like this. But again, you have to ask why did he do this, and I think the reason he did this is to try to change the conversation before 9/11 because of his disastrous leadership, and unfortunately, the lives that he cost us in Afghanistan. I think that’s all it is, but I’m encouraged by people pushing back and fighting, and I don’t think this will hold up.
@Jeff_Poor is a graduate of Auburn University and the University of South Alabama, the editor of Breitbart TV, a columnist for Mobile’s Lagniappe Weekly, and host of Mobile’s “The Jeff Poor Show” from 9 a.m.-12 p.m. on FM Talk 106.5.
