Stefanik says U.S. was better off 4 years ago — and is brutally reminded of March 2020
Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) told the nation Wednesday that Americans are much worse off now than they were four years ago, spurring Americans to do some quick math and issue a swift rebuttal — that was March 2020.
Stefanik made this declaration at a press conference for House Republican leaders on the heels of a victorious Super Tuesday for former President Donald Trump.
"As Ronald Reagan famously asked us, 'Are you better off today than you were four years ago?" Stefanik asked. "The answer for hard-working Americans across the country is a resounding no."
Stefanik once again threw her support behind the Republican candidate who was four years ago the nation's commander-in-chief, arguing President Joe Biden had led the U.S. into a state of crisis.
Specifically, Stefanik bemoaned a southern border situation that has led to a "tragic loss of life of American citizens."
The hole in Stefanik's argument is that, while some "hard-working Americans" may very well have been better off four years ago, there are more than a million people who cannot make the comparison because they were killed in a global pandemic.
This point was not lost upon viewers who saw Stefanik — whose own state was at the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020 — and decided to share their views.
Also read: Trump lawyers 'could face discipline' if they shrugged off Weisselberg lies
"She doesn't know what the hell she's talking about," wrote X user BlueDog. "Four years ago the country was in the middle of a mismanaged pandemic."
"Four years ago today Donald Trump was explaining that this new virus going around was no big deal because people on Fox News were telling him that a lot of people die from the flu," said Matt Gertz, senior fellow at Media Matters.
Gertz also shared a transcript from that interview in which Trump pivots from COVID to express concerns about Fox News' ratings.
"Nobody wants to even think about 4 years ago," wrote the political group No Dem Left Behind. "Trump in office and a DEADLY pandemic was beginning to spread. This series of events ended up changing all of our lives for the worse. MAGA has the dumbest messaging of all time."
X User Ron Dorland turned to dark humor in his response.
"The bidet businesses flourished under his leadership!" Dorland wrote, referring to the shortage of toilet paper on grocery stores shelves amid panic buying.
"Hospitals were busy, undertakers made bank."
"