J.D. Vance, a Senate candidate in Ohio, issued a statement calling for nationwide civil disobedience after President Joe Biden unveiled a new COVID-19 vaccine mandate aimed at workers in the private sector. CNN on Friday criticized Vance's statement as just another craven political move.
Biden told the country on Thursday the new rule will be created and enforced by the Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) which will require businesses that employ more than 100 people to have a vaccine mandate. If employees do not get the vaccine, they have to conduct weekly testing. Any business caught violating the rule will face heavy fines.
"So, David, J.D. Vance is calling for mass civil disobedience. The only requirement for private companies is weekly testing. So, he's basically saying that he wants the right to walk into companies untested," anchor John Berman said.
"You know, I think that the Biden Administration knew they were going to face this, right? That's why they waited, arguably too long, to push this hard to get mandates, to really push and prod. By the way, a lot of companies already did this. They complied way back when there was an initial urging to do this. The irony of all of this, because we're in the political sphere and its silliness — I mean, I would love to talk to J.D. Vance, maybe he could talk about why he felt President Trump, his guy now — he wasn't his guy before, but it's his guy now — launched an unprecedented, highly successful and laudable effort to get a vaccine in the first place? Oh, yeah, and then he took the vaccine," David Gregory said.
"The only thing President Trump didn't do — and maybe if we had called it the Trump vaccine to appeal to his ego, which I think would have been a good idea — he hasn't been out there proselytizing about taking the vaccine. But he did everything else, including bringing it to us. And yet the Duceys and the J.D. Vances are just — you know, it's just craven politics saying, 'We're not going to be dictated to,'" Gregory added.
In response to CNN, Vance tweeted, "I'll repeat myself: don't comply."
I’ll repeat myself: don’t comply. If all of us ignore this garbage they won’t be able to enforce it. https://t.co/6vhaAjBShn
— J.D. Vance (@JDVance1) September 10, 2021