MSNBC host vents over top House Democrat's opposition to mask mandates: 'Depressing and frustrating'
'Depressing and frustrating on both levels,' Hasan said
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}MSNBC host Mehdi Hasan criticized Democrat Rep. Sean Maloney, D-N.Y., on Tuesday for saying he was "completely over mask mandates" in an interview with Axios.
"I don't think they make any sense anymore. I'm for whatever gets rid of mask mandates as quickly as possible," the Democratic member of Congress and Democrat Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) chair told the outlet.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (Jacquelyn Martin/Pool via Reuters)
Hasan responded to the article on Twitter and said Maloney was taking an anti-mask position that "goes against" science and an anti-mask mandate position that "goes against public opinion."
"Depressing and frustrating on both levels," he continued.
Many others from both sides of the political aisle expressed frustration with Maloney. The communications director for the National Senatorial Republican Committee (NRSC) criticized the inconsistent messaging from the Democratic Party when it came to masking.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Information signs are displayed at a retail store in Buffalo Grove, Illinois, on Feb. 10, 2022. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)
"The Democrats' 2022 midterm strategy is to campaign against the Democrats' 2021 agenda," he wrote.
Gregg Gonsalves, epidemiologist and professor at Yale School of Public Health, suggested Maloney "talk to the immunocompromised, disabled, parents with unvaccinated <5s" in his district. He said that Maloney "got the Impact Research/ALG Polling memo" and that "Politics over public health" was now the congressman's brand.
"Just put the dead, dying, and immunocompromised over there under a tarp for the midterms. very unsightly," Karl Bode, a freelance reporter, said.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}REPUBLICANS SLAM DEMOCRATS' ‘SCIENCE’ ON MASKS AS CHANGING WITH ‘POLITICAL WINDS’
"Translation: the polling on mask mandates is really, really, really bad for the DCCC," Scott T. Parkinson, the vice president for government affairs at Club for Growth, said.
A Republican candidate for governor in New York, Rob Astorino, said the science didn't change, but rather "the political science changed."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"They are running for their political lives now. Don’t let them evade accountability," he said.
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Air travelers pass a sign mandating face masks at Phoenix international airport in Arizona on Sept. 24, 2021. (Reuters/Mike Blake)
Axios reported that a group of Democrats, including Maloney, were considering backing a Republican-led repeal of mask mandates. The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) recently extended the mask mandate an extra month following a letter from 92 Republicans demanding David Pekoske, a TSA administrator, to end the mandate by March 18, as they originally planned.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Maloney said on "Morning Joe" last month that Democrats shouldn't be "falling in love" with mask mandates.