Mission Accomplished? House Democrat Says Party Should Take ‘Victory Lap’ on Covid

Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) said on Sunday that the Democratic Party should take a “victory lap” over its handling of the coronavirus.

“We need to start taking a victory lap,” Gallego told MSNBC’s Mehdi Hasan.

He continued:

You know, we’re about to break out of Covid. I think we’re going to be finally free of a lot of, you know, the threat of Covid. Our economy is going to pick up. You know, I think everyone is going to be going back to work and back to schools pretty soon. Our kids are going to be [vaccinated].

It’s time for us to take that victory lap and actually, you know, go out there and message that. You know, the fact that the United States has one of the largest — it is the biggest booming economy in the world is totally responsible because of the vice president and the Democrats, right?

And certainly once we get out of the Omicron variant, there’s going also to be a direct correlation to inflation going down, and that’s when we again go back with the victory lap.

We’ve done great things. We have saved this economy. We’ve gotten shots in people’s arms. We’ve gotten families going back to work and kids back in school, and the Democrats are responsible for that, and we should brag about that.

Gallego made the comment at a time when Covid cases have skyrocketed to four times the previous pandemic high as the Omicron variant rocked the U.S. Hospitalizations have dramatically increased as well, and more than 10,000 people are currently dying per week.

Putting aside the current Omicron wave, the Biden administration’s overall Covid response has faced criticism. Since President Joe Biden was inaugurated, 438,110 people have reportedly died of Covid in the U.S. — more than died under former President Donald Trump.

Many local Democrats, meanwhile, have faced criticism for school closures and other Covid restrictions.

Watch above, via MSNBC.