Rand Paul: Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear Is ‘Drunk with Power’ for Refusing to Reopen the State

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) slammed Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, a Democrat, calling him “drunk with power” for refusing to reopen the Bluegrass State while other states, such as Florida and Texas, remain open for business.

Paul said Friday:

FL is open. TX is open. TN – mandates repealed. Even NEW YORK has set a firm date to fully reopen (not soon enough)

But still not Kentucky, because of drunk with power @AndyBeshearKY:

Indeed, Gov. Beshear has shown no immediate signs of fully reopening the state, promising to lift restrictions only when 2.5 million Kentuckians are vaccinated, dubbing it the “Team Kentucky vaccination challenge.”

“We need all Kentuckians of all ages to be doing it,” Beshear said this month, expressing the need to “accelerate our pace of vaccinations.”

“If you are a restaurant, a bar, a store, a public pool, a country club, a grocery, a funeral home, a wedding venue, a concert hall, a museum; if you put on festivals, if you are a distillery, this is what you’ve been waiting for. A clear number and a clear goal to hit,” he said, effectively placing further burden on business owners by urging them to “make sure” their staff has been vaccinated.

“We’re asking each of you to do your part,” Beshear said. “Make sure if you’re a restaurant that your entire staff has been vaccinated. Make sure if you are a business or retail location, all of your staff has been vaccinated.”

The Democrat governor even took it a step further, urging business owners to “reach out” to customers regarding getting vaccinated.

“Reach out to your customers, reach out to those that want to get back to normalcy,” Beshear said. “This is the way and this is the number.”

“We’re not trying to set this goal to upset anybody, it’s just basic math about how safe we are,” the governor said.

According to the state’s April 29 data, 1,751,541 people have been vaccinated in Kentucky, well short of the governor’s 2.5 million threshold to reopen the state.

The governor has also not signaled when he will lift the state’s mask mandate, which extends to those above the age of five.

Meanwhile, states that remain open, including Texas and Florida, continue to report fewer new cases of the virus per capita than many pro-lockdown blue states, such as Michigan, New York, and Pennsylvania.