GOP ex-congressman rips into ‘idiotic’ Republican Party for declaring war on mask mandates

On Wednesday's edition of CNN's "Cuomo Prime Time," former Gov. John Kasich (R-OH) and Rep. Charlie Dent (R-PA) tore into their party for its attack on medical science and its rebellion against mask mandates in the coronavirus pandemic — exemplified by Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) coming down with the virus after weeks of not wearing masks and making his staffers ignore CDC guidelines.

"I don't like when the government tells me what to do, but this is science," said Kasich. "This is not like the government telling me to paint my house pink. This is science that's telling me that not only do you have to be responsible for myself, but I have to be responsible for others ... there's personal responsibility. That's, like, a republican hallmark. Personal responsibility not to hurt somebody else."

"My big fear is that a year from now, we won't have the same kind of cases, but people are going to have these funky ailments in the aftereffect that they never would have had to have," said Chris Cuomo. "I don't want people to go through what I went through. A lot of guys are seeing this mask as a scarlet letter — if you wear a mask, it pisses off Trump. There's reporting out there that people have been told, don't wear masks, man, he doesn't like it."

"The whole thing is idiotic," said Dent, himself a survivor of COVID-19. "We all wear our seat belts, because it's in the public interest. Nobody hops in a car without putting on a seat belt. Motorcycle helmets don't cause injuries either. Congressman Gohmert has a history of being defiant and contrarian, in this case he's being reckless. This is also unsurprising. And [former House Speaker] John Boehner, he — Louie would get in the face of the leaders quite a bit. He said Louie was operating without a functional brain. Louie shouldn't try to prove him right."

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