Hypocrite, thy name is Varma.
Believe it or not, it takes a lot for the blue-state diehards of the Big Apple to start paying attention to a conservative commentator.
But when Steven Crowder published a secretly recorded video, it cut right through the jugular of our political divides, exposing the open hatred we seem to all share for one type of villain.
This human nature is best explained by the poet Dante in The Inferno.
Past the heretics, far-beyond the gluttons and usurers, and even below the murderers and blasphemers, the eighth circle of hell is the realm of false prophets and hypocrites.
Today, Dr. Jay Varma finds himself bobbing alone on a raft on the River Styx.
I hope he is wearing his mask.
We now know that while dictating the rules altering the lives of millions of New Yorkers, Dr. Varma was violating those very same dictates on distancing, lockdowns and presumably masks, all while secretly partying at underground dance clubs and sex parties.
The reason for New Yorkers’ ire is simple.
There can only be two reasons for his duplicitous actions.
Option “A” is that Dr. Varma had some secret Covid potion or genetic elixir that made him impervious to even the most virulent of strains.
Delta, Omicron, Tri-Lambda?
No difference for his special immune system.
Though I doubt this is the case, I wouldn’t be the least surprised if he spun this yarn to impress the woman in the video.
Option “B” is the more likely answer.
Dr. Varma, the Covid Czar of New York, implemented draconian regulations that he felt either did little to protect humans from the virus, or that the risk of the virus from these actions was not as ominous as he publicly claimed.
For we peasants, the penalty for violating any of his rules could be the loss of our freedoms or livelihood.
For him?
Dance clubs.
Fast forward to 2024 and unfortunately for Dr. Varma, the societal drama of this period has not faded from memory.
Who can forget six-foot signs in city parks telling us to “keep this far apart” in closed playgrounds?
Who can forget struggling to find childcare so our kids can sit home and fumble through zoom school?
Who can forget that restaurant they used to go to that isn’t there anymore?
Who can forget the mass firings of city workers who refused to get the vaccine or the unconstitutional private sector mandate?
Who can forget the senior prom they never had?
Who can forget watching a relative die from afar?
Who can forget having to order ‘Cuomo Chips’ with your beer?
Who can forget losing their job?
Few have let those memories slip, and now no one is going to forget the words of our hypocritical Covid Czar.
Certainly not the 9,000 city workers who were placed on unpaid leave, most of whom eventually took an untested and unproven vaccine against their free will.
Certainly not the hundreds of city workers who are still unemployed and involved in lawsuits to get their old jobs back.
Certainly not the 1,400 Northwell healthcare workers fired from their jobs.
Certainly not the owners and employees of the 5,000 businesses closed in Manhattan.
Certainly not the parents who see the learning loss in their children.
That final point leads us to what was the most egregious revelation in the video – the admission that Mayor de Blasio, and in effect Governor Cuomo, gave in to the teacher’s union in spite of the opinions of the Covid Czar and others.
Dr. Varma was well aware that “when your 8 or 9, kids can’t sit in front of a f-cking zoom all day” but chose to share his opinion only two years later to some honeypot he thought he was dating, rather than irk elected officials at the time who “need them for votes.”
Now it seems he is really sorry.
Well, many of us aren’t going to accept that.
Because even after the emergency ended and the current mayor relaxed the rules, our holier-than-though former Czar took to the media to denounce the actions to end indoor vax rules, allowing city workers back, and the easing of school openings.
Gotham Gazette called him “one of the most prominent critics of Mayor Adams’ unwinding of pandemic-era health measures.”
In 2022, he outrageously demanded we add new lockdown rules on nail salons!
So, is he really sorry?
I don’t think so.
As he admitted on the secret video, he was more concerned that he would be spotted, found out, and taken to task for his hypocrisy.
He was not then, nor is now, sorry for implementing the rules that affected the lives of millions that he knew to be unnecessary and overkill.
Dr. Varma owes us a very public accounting of his record.
Joseph Borelli (R-Staten Island) is the minority leader of the New York City Council.