Buttigieg “has said we can’t fix the supply chain problem until the pandemic is over, until Covid is over,” Campos-Duffy said. “And now we see these new variants. So that’s the answer, is more lockdowns, more lockdowns, more fear and therefore he doesn’t have to do his job of fixing the supply chain because we’ll just keep this whole thing going.”

“Always a new variant,” Cain said.

Hegseth then claimed that a new variant would emerge every couple of years, implying they would be timed to coincide with election years. “You can count on a variant about every October, every two years,” he said.

Cain told Hegseth: “Yep, you’re probably right. However, they could speed up. The variants could come more quickly.”