Yahoo News Rep. Elise Stefanik Mocked For Asking If Things Are Better Now Than 2020
Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) was mocked on Wednesday for having either a very short memory... or a very selective one.
In remarks following Donald Trump’s decisive showing on Super Tuesday ― where he all but clinched the 2024 Republican presidential nomination ― Stefanik, the House Republican Conference chair, attempted to update a rhetorical question used by Ronald Reagan during a 1980 presidential debate with then-President Jimmy Carter.
That question, of course, is: “Are you better off today than you were four years ago?”
It worked for Reagan, as the country was suffering from inflation, high gas prices and a lingering sense of malaise. But Stefanik’s echo of the question didn’t quite have the same potency.
The reason is probably self-evident to anyone old enough to be reading this: While many people are undoubtedly having a hard time today, 2024 simply isn’t the disorienting, dystopian horror that was 2020, when the world was turned upside down by COVID-19.
Stefanik: Are you better off today than you were four years ago? The answer is a resounding no pic.twitter.com/53SC8pyUIs
— Acyn (@Acyn) March 6, 2024
Not surprisingly, many users of X, formerly Twitter, tried to jog Stefanik’s memory about what we were all actually going through four years ago.
Four years ago today President Trump was justifying not letting people off a cruise ship because he didn’t want covid cases to go up https://t.co/lvrpyUG640pic.twitter.com/vJfkxXHJMr
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) March 6, 2024
Four years ago I was stuck in the house scared of the COVID virus because trump failed at responding to the early part of the pandemic. So, yes, I’m better off today than 4 years ago. https://t.co/00XuATTSC6
— Don Champion (@DonChampionTV) March 6, 2024
The year that hundreds of thousands of Americans died, had to ration food and toilet paper, were unemployed, were stuck on hours-long lines at food banks and for unemployment, and were locked down?
Yes, we are much better off now. https://t.co/tx4VUrFkcl— MeidasTouch (@MeidasTouch) March 6, 2024
4 years ago this month Covid exploded out as Trump endlessly lied about the seriousness of it and there were so many dead bodies from it that cities had to rent trailers to stuff full of corpses. https://t.co/1oH2r2fgKp
— Spiro’s Ghost (@AntiToxicPeople) March 6, 2024
4 years ago was COVID so… yeah. It’s one of the worst times in US history… and even Biden’s critics say we have not recovered after four years (despite the stats). If it was great, why the complaining? So we can potentially make it 16 years to get back to where we were? Nah. https://t.co/WrvLYhxu1A
— Simon Thompson (@ShowbizSimon) March 6, 2024
On this day four years ago my husband and I were at a fitting for our wedding suits.
In the weeks that followed, our wedding was postponed, the suit company went bankrupt, the stock market tanked and hundreds of thousands of Americans died.
So yes, we’re definitely better off. https://t.co/Gw2nB6MNYC— Matt McDermott (@mattmfm) March 6, 2024
You’re nuts. Or cynical. Immeasurably better. Four years ago, relatives and friends were intubated or worse because of a terrifying new virus and our President was telling us not to worry about it. https://t.co/GShZDDD3Fx
— Bruce Schoenfeld (@bruceschoenfeld) March 6, 2024
Four years ago, a million Americans died. But now Biden is four years older. So it’s a wash. https://t.co/3s43SmowRz
— Allen Weisselberger (@weisselbergers) March 6, 2024
I couldn’t find masks 4 yrs ago, two friends died a gruesome death and businesses shut down due to Trump’s complete ineptitude. https://t.co/Ku4bjU3bUU
— Todd Bigelow Photo (@ToddBigPhoto) March 6, 2024
