‘We will not comply!’: Trump says ‘leftwing lunatics’ are pushing for return to Covid mandates in election lead-up

"The left-wing lunatics are trying very hard to bring back Covid lockdowns and mandates with all of their sudden fear-mongering about the new variants that are coming," Trump began.

"Gee whiz, you know what else is coming?" Trump asked, "an election."

Trump said that these people want to "restart Covid hysteria so they can justify more lockdowns, more censorship, more illegal drop boxes, more mail-in ballots, and trillions of dollars in payoffs to their political allies heading into the 2024 election."

"Does that sound familiar?"

Trump declared that "we will not comply" with "every Covid tyrant who wants to take away our freedom."

"We will not shut down our schools. We will not accept your lockdowns. We will not abide by your mask mandates. And we will not tolerate your vaccine mandates."

Trump said that these people "rigged the 2020 election and now they’re trying to do the same thing all over again, by rigging the most important election in the history of our country, the 2024 election."

The former president stated that when he is back in the White House, he would use "every available authority" to cut federal funding to schools, colleges, airlines, and public transportation systems that impose mask or vaccine mandates.

Mask mandates began popping up once again in the fall, with colleges, schools, and healthcare settings reintroducing them.

In California this month, Santa Clara County requires patients and providers to wear masks inside healthcare facilities, while Alameda, San Mateo, Contra Costa, and Sonoma Counties joined San Fransico and began requiring masks for all healthcare workers, but this does not extend to patients. This is expected to last until at least March 2024.

In September, a Maryland elementary school reinstated masking requirements for students, while in August, a black Atlanta college required students and staff on campus to wear a mask.

In late October, it was revealed that just 7 percent of US adults and 2 percent of children received the latest Covid-19 booster. According to PBS, around 40 percent of people who participated in a national survey said that they probably or definitely would not get the shot.

According to CBS News, the CDC estimated on Monday that around 1 in 10 new Covid cases are from the BA.2.86 variant, triple that of two weeks ago.