CNN’s Jake Tapper raked Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves (R) across the coals over his opposition to mask and vaccine mandates while his state currently has the highest Covid death rate in the country.
Reeves appeared with Tapper on Sunday’s State of the Union and pronounced mandates “an attack by the president” and a distraction from Joe Biden’s recent political setbacks. Tapper pointed out that the coronavirus has killed over 660,000 Americans to date, then asked Reeves what better cause Biden needs to justify mandates under the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA).
After Reeves continued to denounce the idea of granting Biden the authority to implement his proposed mandates, Tapper focused on the fact that Mississippi is now the state with the highest number of Covid deaths per capita.
“In fact, if Mississippi were its own country, you would be second in the world only to Peru in terms of deaths per capita,” Tapper said. “So with all due respect, Governor, your way is failing. Are you going to try to change anything to change this horrible statistic from what you’re doing already?”
Reeves responded by initially deflecting to Mississippi’s legislature, then he compared his state’s spike to the spikes seen in other parts of the world. He also argued that “fatalities is a lagging indicator when it comes to the virus…so timing has as much to do
Tapper went on to ask “what are you going to do to change this?” as Reeves stood by his stance of personal responsibility. The two kept locked horns as the CNN host noted once again “your way’s not working” while Biden is attempting to use the government to save lives.
Watch above, via CNN.