I suppose nothing quite symbolizes today's Republican Party like their allegiance to the Confederate Flag, while trying to thwart a Democratic Governor's efforts to keep the public safe.
Zorn apologized yesterday after his antics, and his idiotic comments justifying them made the national news.
Source: Washington Post
A Michigan lawmaker apologized Saturday for wearing a face mask that resembled the Confederate flag, a day after denying the pattern was a deeply divisive symbol tied to slavery.
State Sen. Dale Zorn (R) wore the mask to the Republican-controlled state chambers on Friday to vote on measures related to the novel coronavirus, including a bill that would repeal Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s emergency powers as conservatives increasingly criticize her stay-at-home order.
The uproar over Zorn’s mask was the latest example of pushback to coronavirus restrictions becoming entangled in other conservative causes and culture wars. Protests around the country denouncing stay-at-home orders as oppressive have featured Confederate flags, with one Republican Party official in Wisconsin reportedly urging participants to leave the flags at home — along with AR15s and AK47s — to “control the optics.”
And here's some of what he said in the video above. (h/t Mediaite)
Lake: Someone came up to us and said that you had on a Confederate flag mask.
Zorn: It wasn’t a Confederate flag, it was a mask that my wife made for me, and she wanted me to wear it today. So I did, and I told my wife it probably will raise some eyebrows, but it was not a Confederate flag. And I think even if it was a Confederate flag, we should be talking about teaching our national history, in schools. And that’s part of our national history, and it’s something we can’t just throw away because it is part of our history. And if we want to make sure that the astrosities that happened during that time doesn’t happen again, we should be teaching it, our kids should know what that flag stands for.
Lake: What does that flag stand for?
Zorn: The Confederacy.
Lake: Do you have it with you?
Zorn: No, I don’t. I left it in there.
Lake: And what is it exactly? You said it wasn’t the…
Zorn: No it’s not, it wasn’t it Confederate flag, my wife said it’s more similar to the, I think she said Kentucky or Tennessee flag. But it was not made of flag material.
Lake: When you put it, on you were like this may raise a few eyebrows?
Zorn: Yeah, just because it looked like if you didn’t look at it closely you might think it was a Confederate flag.
Lake: And why did you make the decision to change?
Zorn: You know I respect this institution, and I didn’t want my actions to cause a negative effect to the institution.
