Get Ready: Murphy plans to use COVID-19 to radically transform New Jersey | Rooney

By Matt Rooney
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One thing I’ll give Phil Murphy: he’s usually very upfront about his far-Left designs. The most dangerous politicians usually are.

He said two specific things over the course of two consecutive press conference which are giant, bright, impossible to miss red flags, Save Jerseyans. Warning of what, exctly? That our Democrat Governor plans to take full advantage of COVID-19 to radically reshape New Jersey.

Let’s go step-by-step.

Hint #1 came on Monday when, instead of rolling out a “roadmap” to reopen New Jersey, Governor Murphy in-kinded a free campaign commercial  to Tom Malinowski. He also took a nasty and revealing shot at the ghost of Ronald Reagan. Huh?

“I always admired Ronald Reagan as a guy who could seize the moment,” mused Murphy, “but I’ve gotta call him out on this: when he said ‘government is not the answer, government is the problem,’ that is not the case today. We need government now more than ever.”

No one who pays any attention to state politics will be shocked to find out Murphy is a big government liberal. Coranvirus’s potential to damage the Reagan-era limited government movement was the topic of a Sunday Wall Street Journal.

The Governor also let slip at a different point in the press conference how, in his estimation, “COVID-19 did not create the inequalities in our society. But, it laid them bare. So, this is also our opportunity to help close those gaps.”

Murphy is telling us – directly – what he thinks needs to come out of this crisis: an dramatically expanded role for government. More health care spending. Presumably fully-socialized medicine? And expanded power to combat viruses by curtailing civil liberties? Big new social programs. Thousands of new government employees, of course, notably the hundreds he plans to enlist to serve as “contact tracers,” a dystopian new gig which deserves a post of its own. Expansive intervention.

Hint #2 was dropped on Tuesday. Murphy announced his official reopening committee assembled to advise the Governor and plan the rebuilding of New Jersey’s shattered economy (our state of 9 million souls has probably lost about one million jobs as of this writing – we’ll get confirmation on Thursday).

The commission/committee/cabal is… concerning.

Among its members are Evelyn McGee Colbert (far-left comedian Stephen Colbert’s wife), Neera Tanden (head of the far-left D.C. think tank “Center for American Progress” and a co-author of the Affordable Care Act), ex-NJDEP and Obama EPA head Lisa Jackson, senior American Federation of Teachers official, and Regena Thomas.

This isn’t a collection of private sector tycoons who understand business. There are a few members who understand basic economics (like Ben Bernanke), but Murphy has built a committee which almost unanimously shares his far-Left worldview.

1 +1 = 2, folks.

After decimating the Garden State with his lockdown executive orders, Governor Murphy clearly plans to claim sweeping continuing authority to remake New Jersey’s economy is own image.

All hope isn’t lost.

Socialist adventurism is expensive. To pull all of this off, Phil Murphy needs to (1) raise taxes and (2) get the federal government to bail him out by covering pension payments.

President Trump and Mitch McConnell are likely the only two things standing between New Jersey and California (on steroids). Remember: Murphy repeatedly pledged to make N.J. the “California of the East Coast.’ On Tuesday, Trump suggested he might tie federal aide for states to sanctuary state policies, telling reporters “I think there’s a big difference with a state that lost money because of Covid and a state that’s been run very badly for 25 years.”

If Trump loses in November and takes McConnell’s tenuous Senate majority with him? President Biden may give Governor Murphy his wish in Murphy’s own reelection year (2021).

Winning 2020 just got more important than ever, Save Jerseyans. 2020 may dictate 2021 so yeah, it’s all hands on deck if you love New Jersey. If we fail? You likely won’t recognize this place in another two year’s time. Things CAN get worse. No pressure.

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Save Jersey’s Founder and Blogger-in-Chief, MATT ROONEY is a nationally-noted and respected New Jersey political commentator. When he’s not on-line, radio or television advocating for conservative reform and challenging N.J. power-brokers, Matt is a practicing attorney at the law firm of DeMichele & DeMichele in Haddon Heights (Camden County). 

Matt Rooney
About Matt Rooney 8405 Articles
MATT ROONEY is SaveJersey.com's founder and editor-in-chief, a practicing New Jersey attorney, and the host of 'The Matt Rooney Show' on 1210 WPHT every Sunday evening from 7-10PM EST.