We are 434 days out from the 2024 presidential election , but that is not stopping the Left from reaching back into its old bag of tricks.

Fearmongering surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic fueled the Democrats to victory in 2020, so with the Big Guy (almost) asleep at the wheel and economic optimism dwindling, it makes sense to attempt to go back to the well.

Universities can always be counted on to push irrational fear on the next generation of Democrats. Washington Examiner contributor Brad Polumbo reported that Trinity Washington University in D.C., Roosevelt University in Chicago, DePauw College in Indiana, California College of the Arts in San Francisco, Clark Atlanta University in Atlanta, Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, among others, all have some sort of vaccine mandate for students and staff despite the fact that these measures have been proven to be entirely ineffective against the virus. Rutgers University is even unenrolling students who refuse to take the jab.

If you enjoy breathing air or seeing the smiles of children, I have some bad news for you if you live in liberal precincts. Masks are coming back, science be damned. Cloth masks are only effective in filtering out particles smaller than 0.3 microns, over three times larger than the average SARS-CoV-2 particle. Researchers from St. George's Hospital in London, over a 10-month period, found that masks made no impact on the spread of COVID-19.

But it was never about protecting American citizens, was it? Politicians and bureaucrats alike discovered that if they can convince the general public to wear a piece of fabric over their faces for absolutely no reason, for months, or even years in some cases, convincing them to vote a certain way or accept American decline more generally is not too far a bridge to gap.

The GOP is ill-prepared for the next round of fights regarding COVID-19 restrictions, namely because the current Republican front-runner, former President Donald Trump, is the man who empowered Dr. Anthony Fauci and the COVID-19 regime in the first place and has yet to apologize or admit to any wrongdoing whatsoever.

The people, however, have the power to end the Left’s COVID-19 foolishness once and for all. The Right has exercised its economic muscle in the last year like never before. Bud Light’s revenue has dropped by an astronomical $400 million amid the backlash to its transgender-focused marketing campaign this spring. Target’s quarterly sales fell for the first time in six years, and the No. 1 song on the Billboard charts is an anti-government anthem by a little-known country artist south of Richmond, Virginia.

If you are able, transfer out of these colleges and avoid patronizing businesses that employ mask mandates. Vote the COVID-19 tyrants out of office, and live your life as a free man or woman in the greatest country on Earth. The COVID regime has destroyed enough already. This round, don’t give them an inch.

Brady Leonard ( @bradyleonard ) is a musician, political strategist, and host of The No Gimmicks Podcast .