Do Democrats want to face reelection in 2022 leading the only advanced country in the world that still believes in and frequently requires masking children at school? The CDC made this recommendation against the advice of WHO, and many states and localities still follow it as gospel. Because this recommendation was never based on very rigorous science, it is highly unlikely that a scientific recommendation can come in to cause it to change.

But at some point it will be in the Democrats’ interest that it does change. The fact is that the United States, with some partners and help, launched several effective vaccines and that the government presided over the fastest and largest vaccine uptake in U.S. history — faster than the uptake in the face of much deadlier illnesses in the past. This is a resounding success.

The question is: Will the Democratic base allow their president and party to claim that the virus has been shut down? My guess is that they will have trouble doing so. Their energy has shifted to achieving a goal that will remain beyond their grasp: getting some kind of acknowledgement of their intellectual and moral superiority from red America.