I don’t understand Kim Reynolds. When this pandemic started, it was weird when she didn’t shut down the state like the rest of the country. Granted, it was similar to the rest of the country, but she refused to call it what it was. I did not think that it was a terrible idea. People need to work and make money. I get it. We live in a capitalistic society where money means everything which is an unfortunate fact.
Then she started to open everything up. Like way too early. In fact, so early, cases in Iowa were still hitting their peak. Sure enough, cases fell, due to the previous social distancing (love the two-week lag time!), and it looked like Kim was right. She stopped doing daily press conferences, and she went about her business as if the state was back to normal. COVID-19 had been stopped or at least, was seriously weakened.
Yet, any eagle-eyed statistics observer realized as the cases went down, they never went below the CDC recommendation of 14 days below a 5% positivity rate to reopen. Based on science, it was only expected to jump back up. Lo and behold, the COVID-19 cases started to rise. Fortunately, Iowa, so far, has not become like Florida and Arizona where cases shot off like a rocket. Since late June, the positivity rate has crept up from the high 5%’s to mid 10%’s. This is not good. If one looks closer, testing has gone down in the last week or so. Need proof? Go look at John Hopkins positivity coronavirus tracker.
But still, none of this scares Kim. She never mandated masks. It was up to Iowans to be responsible, but now her line of thinking is out of wack. She is demanding students and teachers go back to school. She wants the state to dictate over local control. This is hypocritical.
Let the school districts do their job. Kim Reynolds is committing political suicide She gains nothing from bullying schools. No one is happy with being forced by the governor to send their children back to school.
If a school thinks it is safe to come back, let them. No one will blame you, Kim, if locally the decision is wrong. But by forcing schools to open up for in person learning, that’s committing to a no-win situation. Kim is not winning over the state’s rights people by forcing kids back into the classroom, and she is definitely not winning over anyone else to the left of them. Guess what, some school will have an outbreak sooner than later. Then that falls on Kim. If local control, no one blames Kim. Simple as that.
No governor knows every school district’s situation. Let the schools make their own decisions. That’s all everyone wants. Republicans, Democrats, Independents, or cows. The state government does not need to force this issue. I feel like a chump who thought Obummer was going to take my gun, but in this case, my feelings actually are rooted in facts.
In the end, I don’t understand Kim Reynolds. The only through line I see is she is performing for a party of one, Mr. Trump. Who else has tried to play down the pandemic, push to reopen the economy sooner than later, stopped doing press conferences, pushed schools to reopen using government might, and starting doing press conferences again? None other the DJT. I don’t know if Kim Reynolds is angling for a cabinet position next year if 45 wins, or Kim Reynolds’ weird infatuation with Trump is fulling her Iowa GOP credo. Seriously, I don’t know what it is, but all I see is Kim Reynolds appeasing to Trump.
Unfortunately for Kim, she never ran on the outsider, no-nonsense approach. She ran as Iowa’s friendly neighbor mom. I saw a few of her speeches, and I swear she dropped a few warshes and cricks to win over the common folk. It worked because Fred Hubbell was the exact opposite, and Kim possessed all the charisma Fred lacked.
The COVID-19 pandemic has worn off Kim Reynolds’s façade. She recently obtained the lowest approval rating of all governors at a measly 28%. We all wanted to believe she was a nice mom who cared about every last one of us, but it turned out she’s only in it for herself. She only cares for a select few and performing for a party of one. I guess now I understand.