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Feb. 27, 2021 - Epoch Times
11:28
Rep. Darrell Issa: Forcing Vaccinated Americans to Wear Masks Doesn’t Make Sense | CPAC 2021 | American Thought Leaders
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Here is a series of vaccines, safe and effective, 95 plus percent effective.
And what's happening?
They're telling us to leave our mask on, to continue social distancing.
That's absurd.
The reason I'm not wearing a mask right now is I've had my two shots.
I am immune.
So we're here with Congressman Daryl Issa from California, of all places.
A California conservative, go figure.
Yeah, well, there's been an increasing number of them, at least in this last election.
There was growth there, right?
Absolutely.
We were as low as six Republican congressmen.
We're now back to 11.
And we have hopes of picking up two or three more in 2022.
And we're, quite frankly, looking at picking up a Republican governor later this summer with the recall of Gavin Newsom.
So what strikes me is really interesting.
You came from California.
We're here in Florida.
California might be the most locked down state.
I don't know if that's entirely true, but at least it has been at times.
Florida, I think, is...
Certainly vying for the most open.
And you've certainly been very, very vocal about mask mandates, looking at vaccine distribution and so forth.
But I actually found you had a very thoughtful way of looking at this idea of the mask mandate.
Why don't you tell me what you're thinking?
For a hundred years almost, since we've been developing immunity capability, people have always known if you survive smallpox, you don't get it again.
You get chickenpox, you don't get it again.
You get a vaccine, you stop worrying about polio, etc.
For the first time ever, here is a series of vaccines.
Safe and effective, 95 plus percent effective.
And what's happening?
They're telling us to leave our mask on, to continue social distancing.
That's absurd.
The reality is that the benefit of taking this safe and effective vaccine is so you can get about your life, go back to doing things as usual.
And as a result, We should be celebrating mask-free.
Instead, Fauci, Dr.
Fauci, is telling us to put a second one on.
The President of the United States was immunized back in December, and yet he's still pretending that the mask serves a purpose.
It doesn't.
Well, okay, so let's think about this.
Perhaps the president is thinking that he should be modeling for the rest of Americans.
Perhaps he should, but if that's the case, then don't take it off at all.
Don't take it off when you speak.
Don't do all these other things.
The reason I'm not wearing a mask right now is I've had my two shots.
I am immune.
And I want everyone to know that the amazing work done under the Trump administration, paid for by Congress, but the fact was we ran through not one, not two, but now three drugs that were safe and effective, according to the FDA, effective enough that you should be able to remove your mask and get back to your life.
You mean vaccines, right?
Vaccines.
Okay, absolutely.
You've also been critical of the means of vaccine distribution in your state.
Well, you know, I always say that our founding fathers, for a reason, had multiple states and wanted them to compete.
Well, in this case, West Virginia, South Dakota, North Dakota, all kinds of states all over, including even ones like Connecticut and here in Florida.
They all perform dramatically better than California.
And the reason is very simple.
California decided to build a new bureaucracy, these drive-up massive immunization centers that have never been able to keep up with the vaccines that are coming into California.
We have more than 2.5 million vaccines that have not gotten into people's arms that have been in California for more than a week.
That kind of backlog is terrible.
In West Virginia, for example, they had a very simple question.
Who is it that puts vaccines into people's arms now?
And the answer was every corner drugstore.
So they said anyone that wants to sign up that is already doing vaccines, which includes your pharmacist, sign up.
And of course, as a result, they had plenty of places to do it and do it quickly.
And they've stayed up.
As soon as they get another batch of vaccine, they get it into people.
They've done their seniors.
My 88-year-old mother is still trying to get her vaccine in California.
Not because they didn't have enough vaccine, but because the system is so messed up.
And she just simply doesn't want to stand in a line for hours and hours.
So she's staying at home, waiting until they get their act together.
So you're basically proposing that they just follow the model that exists in other states?
Follow the model where it works.
Look, I never thought I was the smartest guy.
I still don't.
But smart people in business and in government look for what works and duplicate it.
Look for what doesn't work and stop doing it.
We've been digging a hole of inefficiency in California.
We need to start looking to at least use the best practices of other states.
And again, when West Virginia shows you how to do it right and California shows you how to do it wrong, we've come a long way from the stereotype.
It's very interesting.
So what are your goals in your, you know, basically in your new role as a congressman, 50th District in the San Diego area?
What is it that you're really trying to accomplish?
And I'll add more and more peace.
Does it have anything to do with the theme of the conference, you know, America Uncancelled?
When I came back to Congress having left to join the Trump administration, you know, that two years of being out gave me a real perspective on just how bad Congress has gotten, how dysfunctional they've gotten.
So, although I have plenty of legislative initiatives, I have to be candid.
My greatest goal is to work To get us into the majority and then to make us operate and function again.
The cancel culture, certainly, we need to lead against that.
We need to continue putting America and Americans at the top of our priority.
But at the same time, we also have to have Congress work We're good to go.
No, and that's very interesting.
I mean, a lot of people have been critical of Congress saying basically that it's almost like lawmaking is coming from the executive and the judicial branches now, which is really not where it's supposed to be.
If Congress does not act, others will.
There's no way to get around that.
And, you know, do I blame the executive branch for too many executive orders?
Absolutely.
But if you cannot act, And give them the guidance they need, they, in fact, will do what they can for the American people.
Now, I've watched President Trump do a great many things for the American people, and I saw most of them be clear with the intent of Congress.
I now see a new president who...
The courts are pushing back as we speak because President Biden is doing things that are clearly different than the legislation.
And when Congress gets back in Republican hands, we've got to push back and hold him accountable for doing things that are clearly counter to the intent of the law.
So, I think you mentioned earlier that there is going to be an election, most likely, right?
Is that certain at this point?
People tell me different things, right?
Over a quarter of a million signatures, more than were needed to qualify this, have been gathered.
A month Six weeks from now, when they've all been compared and counted, I expect that we'll be two, three hundred thousand, maybe four hundred thousand more than are needed.
So the answer is yes, we will have a recall.
Exactly when, whether it's in August or September, is not yet set, but before the end of the year.
Governor Gavin Newsom will have to face the voters, and the question will be, do you approve or disapprove of his job?
And I believe they're going to turn him out as a complete disapproval and take whoever is the best candidate to replace him.
So, and in your mind, who are the candidates that are contenders?
You know, there are a myriad of California...
Because that's how it works in California, right?
You can have, I think, is it unlimited people on the slate?
We had 135, more or less, when Arnold Schwarzenegger won.
But no matter how many people you have on the ballot, there won't be more than four or five that will be household words.
The former governor...
Mayor of San Diego has already announced.
John Cox, who ran two years ago, has already announced.
There's a number of others.
President Trump's former ambassador to Germany Rick Grinnell, I believe, is going to announce.
He's certainly doing an exploratory.
These are all very qualified, very talented people, each with their own skill set.
Being a San Diegan, of course, I know my mayor very, very well and the great work he did.
But every one of them would take the state in a different direction, one toward openness and one toward a production that would bring people back and businesses back to California instead of driving more.
Yeah.
So with Rick Grinnell, I think about a week ago or so, I actually asked him this question directly because we keep hearing about it.
And he said, no, absolutely not.
These are rumors.
Don't listen to them.
I don't know.
Maybe that's changed now.
Look, I've known Rick since he was on the staff of the mayor of San Diego a generation ago, Susan Golding.
We go back a long way.
He's a smart guy.
He served the Trump administration extremely well, and he's pretty fearless.
So it's up to him to decide if it's the right time.
The one thing I will say is these people are all...
Going to take California, if they can, back in the direction that you see here in Florida, openness and pro-business that's making this the envy of many, many other states, including California.
Congressman Issa, any final thoughts?
You know, just that it's great to be here at CPAC. This is such a celebration of freedom and of the desire to be free in a state that is proving you can be free even in a pandemic.
Well, it's such a pleasure to have you on.
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