Rep. Francesca Hong just posted a photo of herself double-masked in the Capitol form what we can assume is 2020 and when the science gods demanded extra layers of masks. Meanwhile the woman who once tried to criminalize bare-faced kindergartners is still messaging pandemic piety for the masses.
In 2021 this State Rep. Francesca Hong introduced legislation that would have fined Wisconsinites as young as five years old up to $200 for not wearing a face mask in public indoor spaces. Five. Years. Old. Not teenagers. Not adults. Children who still need help tying their shoes would have faced state punishment for breathing without government-approved fabric over their faces. The bill failed, thank God and the Republican majority, but the impulse never left her.
Francesca, who has been under fire for her past comments on her campaign account, made the statement from her official legislative X account. Notably, this photo is NOT from 2020, but from August 5th of this year. In a time when she needs to be non-controversial, she posts a double masked up photo? Incredibly poor optics.
Hong’s proposal was pure authoritarian cosplay dressed up as compassion. Now she posts the double-mask glamour shot as if anyone still finds it virtuous instead of slightly unhinged. Hong’s latest post pretends she is the champion of entrepreneurs while her record shows she was ready to fine the children of those entrepreneurs for noncompliance. The gap she should worry about is the one between her rhetoric and reality.
Virtue signaling does not erase the record of overreach.
Wisconsin rejected the mask mania. We should keep rejecting the politicians who never learned the lesson. Hong is running for Governor, but voters need to know that Hong can keep stacking the fabric if it makes her feel pure. The rest of us will keep our faces free and our kids out of the system she once dreamed up.
