President Joe Biden at the White House on Thursday referred to local officials enacting mask mandates in schools as “heroes” and condemned protesters who oppose their efforts.
“To the mayors, school superintendents, educators, local leaders who are standing up to the governors politicizing mask protection for our kids – thank you,” he said.
The president showed up two hours late for his scheduled speech on lowering the cost of prescription drugs, and while reading from his teleprompter, he began excoriating Americans protesting mask mandates.
“I know there are a lot of people trying to turn a public safety measure, that is children wearing masks in school so they can be safe, into a political dispute,” Biden said disapprovingly.
“This isn’t about politics; this is about keeping our children safe,” he continued.
The president referred to a video of a Tennessee school meeting where parents chanted, “No more masks!” after deputies escorted an anti-mask doctor out of a school meeting:
Later, the protesters shouted, “We will not comply!” and confronted public health officials as they left the meeting.
Biden defended the officials for just trying to keep children safe from the coronavirus, noting that healthcare workers are also caring for people who refuse to get vaccinated.
“Thank God, we have heroes like you,” he said. “And I stand with you all, and America should as well.”