The Patriot Post® · Hypocrite Squad Landlords Still Collect Rent

Mandates for thee but not for me. That often sums up leftist hypocrisy in the age of COVID. Whether it’s governors flouting their own masking or stay-at-home orders, or whether it’s “Squad” members gladly collecting rent from tenants when they publicly advocate just the opposite, the story is the same old Democrat double standards.

Michigan Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib, one of the handful of young leftist radicals who compose “the Squad” in the House, disclosed on her annual financial statement that she has collected $50,000 in rent payments over the last year. Likewise, Massachusetts’s Ayanna Pressley disclosed $15,000 in rental income.

Frankly, both collected modest sums of money, and we’re not criticizing them for doing so based on contracts with tenants. That’s exactly how the free market is supposed to work.

We do, however, frown upon their shenanigans.

The pair, along with other Squad members, introduced legislation to cancel payments on rent and mortgages during the pandemic. Instead, they want that money to come from taxpayers as a new entitlement. The problem is that many landlords who are just making ends meet aren’t getting paid by either tenants or the government. One recent estimate put unpaid rent at $27 billion.

“Cancelling rent and mortgage payments for the duration of the COVID-19 virus pandemic,” Tlaib said in March 2020, “would relieve financial pressure, allow residents to stay home from work without the added concern of losing their housing and limit the spread of the virus.”

It certainly doesn’t relieve financial pressure for stretched landlords. Worse, she demonized landlords. Back in December, she trumpeted her own efforts aimed at “protecting American families at home from landlords and bill collectors.”

Also in December, Pressley said, “We must cancel rent, extend eviction and foreclosure moratoriums, provide rental assistance, and offer legal representation for those at risk of eviction.”

Neither woman canceled rent for her tenants.

Indeed, though they may sound compassionate, the bottom line is that Democrats have used the coronavirus pandemic as an excuse to bring about numerous socialist policies. They pushed the $15 minimum wage via the back door of enhanced unemployment benefits. They’ve exploited the pandemic to boost food stamps. And they’ve wielded the CDC to usurp private rental contracts through an unconstitutional eviction moratorium. All of it is, as Tlaib admitted, a reason for people to “stay home from work” — and become dependent on the government Democrat Party.

The real solution here is Liberty. Instead of targeting our pandemic response to protect the most vulnerable, we’re implementing one-size-fits-all solutions — and major government entitlements — that hamper economic activity, cause mental and other health problems, and arguably don’t actually do much for flattening that curve. Instead, the biggest curve surge is the one bending toward tyranny.