Democrats keep getting caught breaking their own coronavirus rules

Most recently, photos of Newsom dining in a swanky French restaurant with people from other households and not wearing a mask appeared online and went viral.

“EXCLUSIVE: We’ve obtained photos of Governor Gavin Newsom at the Napa dinner party he’s in hot water over. The photos call into question just how outdoors the dinner was. A witness who took photos tells us his group was so loud, the sliding doors had to be closed,” Fox 11’s Bill Melugin tweeted this month, accompanied by the photos.

“Eating with a bunch of lobbyists at an expensive restaurant, this is at the same time that you’ve put half of California out of work,” Harmeet Dhillon said of the dinner. “Add up drinks and appetizers — their meal per person was more than the monthly unemployment check.”

She added that the dinner had a “Marie Antoinette feel to it — ‘let them eat cake.’”

Newsom apologized for the incident, saying he needs to “preach and practice.”

“I want to apologize to you because I need to preach and practice, not just preach and not practice. And I’ve done my best to do that,” Newsom said. “We’re all human. We all fall short sometimes.”

Also in California, Pelosi was spotted in a hair salon at the end of August despite coronavirus restrictions keeping such establishments closed from March until Sept. 1.

“We found Nancy Pelosi going into her hair salon. We will be playing the video on loop for all of you to see during the duration of this introduction … Apparently, the rules do not apply to Speaker Nancy Pelosi,” White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said during a press conference in September.

“It was a slap in the face that she went in, you know, that she feels that she can just go and get her stuff done while no one else can go in, and I can’t work,” salon owner Erica Kious told Fox News of the incident.

Pelosi also addressed the video of the incident, calling it a “setup” and demanding an apology.

“I take responsibility for trusting the word of the neighborhood salon that I have been to many times,” Pelosi told reporters. “When they said they could accommodate people one at a time, and we can set up that time, I trusted that.”

“As it turns out, it was a setup. So I take responsibility for falling for a setup,” she said. “The salon owes me an apology for setting me up.”

Pelosi also canceled a dinner for the class of newly-elected members of Congress this month, after Chelsea Clinton called it out as a potential coronavirus spreader.

“Please cancel these in-person dinners, @SpeakerPelosi & @kevinomccarthy to keep everyone safe from #covid19 – yourselves, your new members, servers, the Capitol police and all of their families and contacts. And, to show public health leadership,” Clinton tweeted.

However, breaking coronavirus restrictions goes beyond California politicians. A handful of Democratic mayors from some of the largest cities in the country have also been caught breaking the rules in recent months.

Philadelphia’s mayor apologized after he was spotted eating inside a Maryland restaurant this summer, despite residents in his city being banned from doing the same.

“I know some are upset that I dined indoors at a restaurant in Maryland yesterday. I felt the risk was low because the county I visited has had fewer than 800 COVID-19 cases, compared to over 33,000 cases in Philadelphia,” Kenney said. “Regardless, I understand the frustration.”

“I’m sorry if my decision hurt those who’ve worked to keep their businesses going under difficult circumstances,” he continued.

This month, the mayor of Washington, D.C., attended President-elect Joe Biden’s victory speech in Delaware, breaking her own coronavirus restrictions.

“Dc @MayorBowser & staff attended @JoeBiden victory speech in Wilmington, DE Saturday. Delaware on the Mayor’s list of ‘High Risk’ states which would require quarantine after returning. Bowser staff says the trip was ‘essential travel’ exempted under Mayor’s order,” local NBC reporter Mark Segraves tweeted at the time, accompanied by a photo.

New York’s mayor has been criticized for walking in Brooklyn’s Prospect Park, which is 11 miles from Gracie Mansion, despite telling New Yorkers to follow stay-at-home orders earlier this year.

“Seriously, you guys have a park. You live in the middle of a park,” one New Yorker, Darren Goldner, told de Blasio in a video posted in April.

“You don’t need to non-essentially travel to Brooklyn. Come on you won’t even open roads for people of all backgrounds. I’m not going to give it a break. This is selfish behavior,” said Goldner.

In April, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot defended getting a haircut despite salons being closed at the time, saying, “I’m the public face of this city. I’m on national media, and I’m out in the public eye.”

In Michigan, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer also faced backlash in June for attending a march against police brutality while not social distancing.

“Social distancing is critical to stop the spread of COVID-19 — unless you have a great photo op,” state Rep. Lynn Afenoudlis tweeted of the incident.

Whitmer said that though the protesters didn’t always stand at least six feet from one another, “we wore masks the whole time, we had ample use of hand sanitizer, we never shook hands, we didn’t high-five or hug the way that we usually would greet one another.”

“I felt it was an important moment to show my support and show a unified leadership out of the executive office of the governor and so the lieutenant governor and I joined,” Whitmer said.

Additionally, Whitmer’s husband also faced backlash for requesting his boat be placed in the water ahead of Memorial Day this year, even after his wife told Michiganders to “think long and hard” about traveling.

Whitmer said after the pushback that his request to have his boat put in the water was a failed joke.

“My husband made a failed attempt at humor last week when checking in with a small business that helps with our boat and dock up north,” Whitmer said at a news conference.

Other Democratic politicians have come under fire for going maskless in public, and other instances that have been perceived as hypocritical.

Lightfoot again faced criticism for joining crowds in Chicago and was recorded at one point not wearing a mask after the presidential election. The scene came just days before she established a 30-day stay-at-home advisory and told people to “Cancel traditional Thanksgiving plans.”

This week, video footage of women confronting New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy went viral as he dined in a restaurant. Restaurants are open for limited in-door service in New Jersey, but the women appeared to take issue with him dining with his family after he told residents to prepare for scaled-down Thanksgiving celebrations.

“You’re having fun with your family, and in the meantime, you’re having all other kind of bullshit going on,” one of the women is heard telling the Democratic governor.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo canceled his Thanksgiving plans after he was met with harsh backlash for saying his 89-year-old mother would join him for the holiday after he spent weeks telling New Yorkers that Thanksgiving celebrations must be downsized.

“This is one of the many reasons why Cuomo is the WORST Governor in America. His arrogance and hypocrisy knows no bounds. Do as I say, not as I do. Rules for thee, but not for me. Family for me, but none for you. A despised, hypocritical, tyrannical, hubris-laden Governor,” Rep. Elise Stefanik tweeted of the governor.

Democrats breaking their own coronavirus restrictions also caught the attention of liberal comedian Bill Maher, who said politicians who flout their own rules “can all jump in a lake.”

“Because Democrats, who are always preaching wearing the masks, they keep getting caught doing what we’re not allowed to do,” Maher said this month.

“Nancy Pelosi did. Lori Lightfoot did. Now, Gavin Newsom,” he said.

“I haven’t eaten indoors, publicly, since March, without a mask,” he added.

Coronavirus restrictions have tightened in states across the country in recent weeks, as a surge in cases has unfolded. Many state leaders have warned that citizens should brace for a holiday unlike others, with some states setting limits on how many people can attend Thanksgiving dinner celebrations.

“We know that this Thanksgiving is not what we’re used to — nor what we any of us want to do,” Murphy said. “We know that there are those who are so yearning for normalcy that they’re willing to risk their family’s health for a big Thanksgiving. We urge you to think beyond this holiday.”