Gov Gianforte Bashes Biden on Fox News
Earlier this week, Texas and Mississippi joined other states like Montana in lifting their mask mandates. This created a huge controversy about whether or not the move is smart for the states economies, or if it will be counter productive against the fight to end COVID 19. The debate, much like all the arguments these days, has boiled down to partisan politics. Meaning that the states that lifted the mask mandates all have Republican Governors, and the others still under mask mandates are Democrat. Weeks after Montana lifted our mask mandate, hospitalization rates for COVID 19 have gone down. Businesses are starting to open back up, and the economy is beginning to slowly rebound.
President Biden did not care much for the fact that Texas and Mississippi lifted their mandates and are allowing full capacity at bars, restaurants, concerts etc. Biden called the Governors decision to lift the mandates "Neanderthal thinking." Both Texas' Governor Abbott and Mississippi Governor Reeves did not take the "name calling" very well. And, even though the name calling wasn't specifically pointed at Governor Gianforte, he wasn't fond of the comment either.
Gianforte believes that the mask mandates are not a "one size fits all" kind of thing. Not every state is the same. And, in the case of Montana, not every county is the same. While some counties in Montana have larger populations others do not saying "of the 56 counties in the state, one county is nearly three times the size of Rhode Island with only 1,000 residents." That is why Gianforte feels the choice should be left up to the individual counties and individual residents, on whether or not to wear masks.
Check out Governor Ginaforte's interview from this past week on Fox News.