John Block

In an extremely rare turn of events, embattled Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, who has had a scandal-ridden tenure in the Governor’s Mansion had a “virtual” interview with a reporter, Tommy Lopez of KOB 4, where she discussed many topics, including the pandemic, political divisiveness, and calling protesters at her campaign announcement “QAnon lizard people.”

When asked about inoculations and how she has not hit the benchmarks she set forth, despite $10 million lotteries and giving out $100 incentives to get the jab, the Governor said, “Oh, I am not thinking about that. What I’m thinking about is vaccines, vaccines, vaccines…. We’re going to keep getting vaccinated, (giving) kiddos the opportunity not to wear masks when they’re competing and move towards that environment in a classroom when you get a baseline of immunity.” 

The answer was focused on kids, which means she is looking to push the unapproved inoculation for children despite the Food and Drug Administration not clearing them for use other than in an “emergency use authorization” phase. Also, children are at the lowest risk of contracting the virus. She added that she wants 75% of New Mexicans fully jabbed by August and 80% jabbed with their first shots.  

When the Governor was asked about her extreme lockdown and very late reopening of the state on July 1, although it will not be 100% open, she said, “You know, I think it’s largely, Tommy, some of the same voices, and I’m not saying that these differences of opinion, you know — they should be part of the conversation — but they weren’t based in public health.” 

Then, Lujan Grisham was asked why she was dodging the press over the past few months. She dodged the question, saying, “Well, a couple of reasons, and I’m glad that you missed me, Tommy, so I will work hard to be more engaged. But we were pivoting. As long as we were marching forward in the way that I expected the state to do following the science, what you need for baseline immunity and keep moving forward. You know, we’ve been shifting to our economic successes, and we’ve launched new policies for child’s wellbeing and education.” 

As for protesters drowning out her out during her campaign re-election announcement, she said, “[W]hat happened for our reelection announcement was painful in a couple of ways. One, it showed me up close and personal, not just in a Facebook feed, or a media presentation, the anger and vitriol, and that it was aimed at everyone, wasn’t even aimed just directly at me. It was everyone. I mean, [they] attacked members of the press.” This is an untrue claim, as no protesters attacked members of the press her supporters, or Lujan Grisham herself. 

Lopez asked Lujan Grisham, “You did make the comments about ‘QAnon lizard people.’ Do you regret that in any way? How do you feel now about having said that, because now a lot of the people who share the views of those who were there, say, ‘Hey, I mean, you’re adding fuel to this divisiveness, this fire that we have in our state.’” 

Lujan Grisham showed no regret whatsoever over her nasty comment, telling Lopez, “I don’t because I didn’t say it in a mean way. We know that that’s happened in campaigns. The tension in that moment when I came on stage was really ugly. And I wanted to make a light-hearted moment about a conspiracy theorist. I didn’t call a person a name. I didn’t call the protesters a name. I said, you know, this might have been the same time as a meeting of QAnon conspiracists. Nobody got arrested. We didn’t create more conflict, and I ended it, which is the responsible thing to do.” 

Despite her claim that there is too much divisiveness in New Mexico politics, Lujan Grisham stood by her divisive comments, in an act of defiance.