From The Federalist to Fox News, Ben Domenech's flip-flop on vaccine mandates highlights right-wing media hypocrisy

Written by Nikki McCann Ramirez & Rebecca Martin

Published

During his stints as one of the rotating guest hosts on Fox News Primetime, Federalist co-founder Ben Domenech has hammered viewers over the tyranny of vaccine mandates -- bemoaning the supposed creeping authoritarianism of public health requirements that, according to an earlier defense of the same policy by Domenech himself, have been in place “since before the Emancipation Proclamation.”

In a 2015 piece for The Federalist titled “The Insane Vaccine Debate,” Domenech condemned Republican politicians for being unable to “discuss vaccination policy without sounding like anti-science fools,” and he lauded the right of public and private institutions to require vaccinations in the name of public safety. Now that Domenech has fallen in line with Fox’s hysterics about the COVID-19 vaccines, however, the earlier piece serves to starkly highlight the lack of principle needed to become a Fox News talking head.

Domenech’s 180 on vaccine mandates:

 

Then (emphasis in the original):

The Federalist, 2/3/15

“In the absence of an immediate threat, such as a life-threatening plague or outbreak, the state doesn’t have a compelling reason to administer that vaccination by force or to infringe on your rights. But that doesn’t mean there are no tradeoffs for such a decision. If you choose not to vaccinate, private and public institutions should be able to discriminate on that basis. Disneyland should be able to require proof of vaccination as a condition of entry, and so should public schools. You shouldn’t be compelled to vaccinate your child, but neither should the rest of us be compelled to pretend like you did.”

 

Now:

Fox News, Fox News Primetime, 8/3/21

BEN DOMENECH (HOST): You used the right word there, hysteria, that I think we are experiencing right now, which is leading to, unfortunately, the imposition of a number of different mandates on the way that people are living. Whether it's coming from the government or whether it's coming from the private sector and corporations, we're seeing these increased demands, these mandates for vaccination, including in New York City and elsewhere. It's only going to increase, from my perspective, across the country in all these different blue areas. What's the argument that you have against these types of vaccine records as requirements in order to participate essentially in normal society?

 

Then:

The Federalist, 2/3/15

“There are some basic questions here which are legitimate regarding the protection of the rights of parents, not government, to direct the upbringing of their children. Calls to jail ‘anti-vax’ parents, for instance, strike me as extreme and disturbing. But vaccination is not about protecting the vaccinated so much as it is about protecting others from disease-carriers. Vaccines are properly understood not on the basis of narrow self-interest but as a defense of the human species.”

 

 

Now:

Fox News, Fox News Primetime, 6/4/21

BEN DOMENECH (HOST): The media and Democrats want to separate unvaccinated Americans from those who have gotten their COVID shot. But it turns out a plurality of Americans disagree. According to a new survey, 46% say unvaccinated people should be allowed to do the same thing as everyone else. Will this slow down corporate America's vaccine passport push?

 

Then:

The Federalist, 2/3/15

“Fundamentally, the protection against life-threatening plague is one of the original reasons government exists. We’ve had mandatory vaccines for schoolchildren in America since before the Emancipation Proclamation. The Supreme Court has upheld that practice as constitutional for over a century, and only the political fringes believe there ought to be a debate about such matters. This is one of the few areas where government necessarily exercises power.”

 

Now: