The long, national nightmare known as the pandemic lockdowns began a year ago yesterday. Predictably, the left shamefully politicized it.

Democrat politicians and their left-wing media allies constantly berated President Trump and second-guessed him. They demanded the shutdowns, which Trump resisted, and liberal governors and mayors were all too eager to enforce them.

The left refused to blame communist China for the virus because that didn’t help the “blame Trump” narrative. And when Trump suspended travel from communist China, the left doubled down by labeling Trump a “racist” and a “xenophobe.”

The evidence is clear that the virus ended up contributing to Trump’s defeat for a variety of reasons.

• The lockdowns tanked the economy.

• The restrictions on public events prevented Trump from holding his tremendous rallies.

• And, perhaps most importantly, liberal politicians, judges, and unelected bureaucrats used the pandemic as an excuse to dramatically change election laws and to gut election integrity safeguards.

If you were trying to think of ways to sabotage Trump and put the left in power, the pandemic was the perfect political weapon. And you don’t have to take my word for it.

Senior Biden adviser Anita Dunn, who takes inspiration from Chairman Mao, said that “Covid is the best thing that ever happened to [Biden.]”

Of course, the left is still exploiting the pandemic, using it as an excuse to ram through a massive $1.9 trillion spending bill that is jammed full of outrages like reparations for black farmers, cash for criminals, union bailouts, and, yes, tax increases.

Even now, we are still struggling to get businesses, churches, and schools reopened in many blue states.

Biden’s Border Crisis

The migrant surge at the southern border is getting worse with every passing day. Border Patrol agents apprehended nearly 100,000 illegal immigrants in February. That’s up 170% from one year ago, and it’s the highest number of February apprehensions in 15 years!

Apprehensions of unaccompanied minors jumped 58% from January to February, and 166% from February of 2020. According to The New York Times, the Biden administration is now “scrambling” to find more housing for all these unaccompanied minors.

With some Border Patrol facilities operating at 500% capacity, the Biden administration is reportedly looking to covert the NASA research center at Moffett Field in California into a child detention facility.

Who knows what it will take for the Biden administration to admit that it actually has a crisis at the southern border!

It’s ironic that so many people voted for Biden because they thought he could handle a crisis. Well, he’s only been in office for 50 days, and he’s already created one!

Cuomo’s Crisis

It’s another day, and yet another woman has come forward to accuse New York Governor Andrew Cuomo of sexual assault and harassment. We’re up to six now, and the governor’s position is increasingly perilous.

New York Attorney General Letitia James announced the appointment of not one, but two special prosecutors to investigate the allegations against Cuomo.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio is now publicly demanding that Cuomo resign. So are 85 members of the New York legislature, including Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins.

While six victims of Cuomo’s inappropriate behavior may ultimately drive him from office, we can’t forget the thousands of victims who died as a result of his nursing home scandal. And Cuomo’s not the only Democrat governor with a nursing home scandal.

It turns out that 23% of all nursing home coronavirus deaths occurred in just four states — Michigan, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania. The Democrat governors of these states, Whitmer (MI), Murphy (NJ), and Wolf (PA), all followed Cuomo’s example and ordered nursing homes to accept COVID patients.

By the way, Cuomo may not be the only Democrat governor who engaged in a cover-up.

Garland Confirmed

The Senate confirmed Judge Merrick Garland to be attorney general of the United States. I wasn’t surprised by the outcome in the Democrat Senate. But I was disappointed by the 70 to 30 vote.

Why would 20 Republicans vote for Garland?

Do they approve of his defense of antifa?

Do they approve of his professed ignorance on illegal immigration?

Do they approve of his hostility toward the Second Amendment?

I understand that Joe Biden is going to appoint a liberal attorney general. I understand that the Democrat Senate will confirm that individual. But I don’t understand why any conservative senator would feel a need to vote for him.

Democrats would never do that. Only one Democrat — not 20 — voted to confirm Jeff Sessions as attorney general.

Sadly, this vote shows that many GOP senators still don’t get it. They desperately want to get back to “normal times,” but there are no Democrats saying we need to get back to normal.

To the contrary, Democrats are pushing a hard-left agenda, which every conservative should be fighting, and Attorney General Garland will be crucial to implementing that hard-left agenda!

The Senate will soon be voting on more of Biden’s extreme nominees, including Xavier Becerra, Kristen Clarke, Vanita Gupta, and Rachel Levine. I hope Senate Republicans show better judgment and more unity on these votes.

Confronting Communist China

As a Trump appointee to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, I participated in a hearing that exposed the complicity of American multi-national corporations in slave labor and religious persecution.

While slave labor is a problem in many parts the world, our hearing focused on communist China’s enslavement of Muslim Uyghurs. You can watch my opening statement here, which begins at the 10:35 mark.

I am pleased to report that the Biden administration now admits that genocide is taking place in communist China. Of course, actions speak louder than words. It remains to be seen what, if anything, the administration is willing to do about it.

Polling shows the American people see communist China as an adversary, and they want our government to take a tougher stand, especially when it comes to Beijing’s human rights abuses.