Blood Money by Peter Schweizer

Author:Peter Schweizer
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2024-02-27T00:00:00+00:00

Clearly, McNeil’s characterization of American’s selfishness in contrast with Chinese heroics suggests a narrative with an agenda. And Fauci didn’t appear to object to McNeil’s characterization.

“You make some very good points, Donald,” Fauci responded.63

Even before the United States, Italy fell into line with the authoritarian lockdown rhetoric. The leftist government in charge at the beginning of the pandemic had a history of cooperating with the Chinese Communist Party. In 2019, the Italian government had become the first G7 nation to join Beijing in the controversial Belt and Road Initiative.64

Italy’s minister of health, Roberto Speranza, was a member of the left-wing Article One party. He later published a book titled Perché guariremo: Dai giorni più duri a una nuova idea di salute (Why We Will Heal: From the Hardest Days to a New Idea of Health) in October 2020, describing how lockdowns could be used to implement far-left ideas in the government: “I believe that, after so many years going against the wind, there is a possibility of reconstructing a cultural hegemony on a new basis.” He also praised China for its covid response—and had no criticism of Beijing’s handling of the virus. Indeed, he labeled China a “great protagonist” of our time.65

Once Italy announced forced lockdowns, Communist China was happy to offer guidance on how to implement repressive measures. On March 12, 2020, Chinese experts arrived in the country to help the government with the crackdown. “There are still too many people and behaviors on the street to improve,” they instructed Italian officials.66 Ninety percent of the country was closed by the third week in March. But the number of covid-19 cases kept rising.67

Italy now became the model for other Western countries, including the United States. If Italy could do it—why couldn’t we?

The Trump administration issued guidelines for social distancing and encouraged people not to gather in groups. But with our federal system, it was up to state governors whether they wanted to implement forced closures. America’s largest state, California, became the first to enact a mandatory statewide stay-at-home order.

In California, the lockdowns took on a strong-man pose. Authorities not only closed outdoor trails, they filled skate parks with sand. Sheriff’s deputies in Los Angeles County even arrested a young man in Malibu for paddle boarding in the ocean.68

The next day Illinois followed suit. New York then announced a series of extreme measures, limited only because of a feud between Governor Andrew Cuomo and New York City mayor Bill de Blasio.69 The rapid pace with which the United States abandoned its own protocols and embraced Beijing’s model was remarkable. Even Professor Ferguson, who had gotten the ball rolling with his doomsday reports, was stunned by how quickly the United States slid into repressive measures. “I think people’s sense of what is possible in terms of control changed quite dramatically between January and March,” he said later. “. . . It’s a communist one-party state, we said. We couldn’t get away with that in Europe, we thought. . . . And then Italy did it.

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