New COVID variant gives Murphy reason to get tough on rules again (Opinion)

Oh, what perfect timing.

Just as Phil Murphy begins to take his second term as governor here in New Jersey, something called the Delta plus variant begins to surge in Europe.

According to an article by David Matthau, this new variant — or whatever — has yet to reach our shores. But you better believe Gov. Murphy is keeping a close eye on it.

Now that the real fear of COVID-19 is over in the minds of most common sense people I know, I feel Murphy is going to take advantage of any new COVID-related "crisis" that will allow him to resume his "job" of restricting, mandating, and otherwise “protecting” you.

You may ask, is this all about power? Actually yes and no. While Murphy clearly loves his power, so do the people who re-elected him.

And one the reasons Gov. Murphy may double down on COVID-related restrictions is that the people actually like it.

It’s true that he was tending to moderates a little more in the months leading up to his re-election, since he also needed to reach that contingent of folks who are not afraid and are simply tired of all this. But now that he has nothing to lose, he can easily snap back into the dictator/caring regular dude that he was before the election. But what’s more problematic is that the people of New Jersey appreciated the job that he did in handling the pandemic.

I recently posted commentary from the Internet that showed that the people who were frantic to reelect Murphy did so, for the most part, because of the way he “kept them safe” during the pandemic.

That’s what a lot of people want from the government. Someone to take care of them.

And so, throughout every variant to come, the gammas, the upsilons, all the way through the entire Greek alphabet, expect more panic mongering over the Delta plus variant. Because not only does Governor Murphy like the power the fear gives him, apparently New Jersey people do, too.

The post above reflects the thoughts and observations of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Judi Franco. Any opinions expressed are Judi Franco’s own.