‘SCARLET LETTER’

Tucker Carlson and Congressman’s Unvaxxed Wife Demand ‘Right’ to Flout Rules at White House

The unvaccinated wife of a GOP congressman said she wants to do things like they do in “the free state of Florida.” The Fox News host said she should show up and break the rules.

Tucker Carlson and Erika Donalds, the wife of Florida Republican congressman Byron Donalds, spent Wednesday night complaining about the rules for an upcoming invitation-only White House reception for spouses of members of Congress hosted by First Lady Jill Biden.

Donalds, who is unvaccinated, declared she should be able to exercise her “freedom” and her “right” to do certain things that the White House prohibits for unvaccinated people—namely eating, drinking, removing her mask, and getting closer than six feet from other people, according to a screenshot of the invitation that Donalds posted on Twitter on Tuesday. The event also requires a negative COVID test beforehand.

“When I saw those COVID protocols, I definitely had to take a second thought about whether I wanted to attend and exert my freedom to live as a free person and exercise my right to eat and drink at a reception like everyone else, despite not being vaccinated,” Donalds said. She said she learned of the protocols after having RSVP’d and made travel plans.

Carlson agreed, and offered Donalds a suggestion.

“Well maybe you do it anyway,” the Fox News host said. “Maybe you show up, as is your right as an American. They don’t own the White House, by the way. They don’t get to make the rules. And just attack the hors d’oeuvre table, and have like eleven glasses of champagne, throw your arm around Dr. Jill and breathe on her. I’m serious. Has it occurred to you to do that?”

“Yes, I absolutely did think about going and just operating as a free person like I feel like I should be able to,” Donalds replied, adding she wasn’t sure how the rules would be enforced.

“Are they going to give us a scarlet letter, some kind of a gold star to let everybody know not to speak to us and for the servers not to serve us?” Donalds wondered. “I just can’t imagine how they’re going to enforce such an absurd rule.”

At another point in the interview, the congressional spouse claimed that because she had previously contracted COVID, she has natural immunity and therefore doesn’t need to be vaccinated. Similarly, Carlson asserted that recovering from COVID “appears to be a more durable immunity to future infection than people who’ve had the vaccine.”

The CDC, however, advises that “you should get vaccinated even if you already had COVID-19.”

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William VaillancourtReporter

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