Mike Barnicle

Listen in on this Morning Joe conversation with Joe Scarborough and Mike Barnicle as they discuss the Republican Party’s push against President Joe Biden’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate after Texas Gov. Greg Abbott issued an executive order prohibiting COVID-19 vaccine mandates by any “entity,” including employers. “This is a continuing tragedy in this country because what the governor of Texas has said, what other Republicans have said has nothing to do with public health or public policy. It’s all about politics….Congressman Jim Jordan of Ohio, the guy with no coat, the guy who never wears a coat, he urged an end to all – he urged Ohio to end all – mandates of all vaccines. Not just the COVID vaccines, all vaccines: Rubella, Polio, Measles, all vaccines. That’s where this is going. And it’s not just Congress, Joe. You know this; it’s not just Congress. It’s various Republican-led states with Republican governors and Republican legislatures. And this is, I think – I might be wrong, I’m often wrong – this could be the epic issue of our age. Can we hold on to our democracy in the light of all of these public people? Elected governors, elected members of Congress, elected members of the United States Senate. We just had, you reported on it the other day, the number two Republican in the House of Representatives, Steve Scalise of Louisiana, still refusing to admit that Joe Biden is the legitimately elected president of the United States. This is all happening right in front of our eyes. From my point of view, from my grandchildren’s’ point of view, who I think about all day long, this is the issue of our time because they’re not going to have the country that we have if we shut our eyes to this. Build Back Better is really important, this is more important,” says Barnicle about thwarting the Republican Party’s effort to prevent President Biden’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate. Join the conversation here.