Republican Rep. Ronny Jackson of Texas dismissed the new COVID-19 Omicron strain as Democrats' bid to 'cheat' in the upcoming 2022 midterm elections in a controversial tweet he posted Saturday.
'Here comes the MEV - the Midterm Election Variant! They NEED a reason to push unsolicited nationwide mail-in ballots,' wrote the lawmaker who served as the personal doctor to Presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump.
'Democrats will do anything to CHEAT during an election - but we're not going to let them!'
The Omicron variant, first detected in South Africa, has been labeled a strain 'of concern' and 'highly transmissible' by the World Health Organization.
Medical officials in South Africa have said so far the strain is causing milder symptoms but more solid conclusions on its effects are still more than a week away.
In a bid to slow its arrival to the United States - where COVID cases are already on the rise again - the Biden administration shut down nearly all travel from eight African countries beginning on Monday.
Jackson dismissed the Omicron COVID strain as a 'reason to push unsolicited nationwide mail-in ballots'
He served as the chief White House doctor for Barack Obama and Donald Trump before being elected to Congress
However, the president's own chief medical adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci warned it would 'inevitably' end up within the country. It's already been detected in Europe and Canada.
Twitter users pounced on Jackson's comment within hours, mostly mocking the retired Rear Admiral and decorated combat veteran.
'Yeah, this sure would be suspicious if it happened 11 months from now and wasn’t documented by other countries,' comedian Mike Drucker replied.
Journalist Lesley Abravanel shared an NPR report that detailed allegations Jackson 'bullied' staff and acted inappropriately in his capacity as the president's doctor, asking: 'How do you still have a legit job, never mind a Twitter account, you tragic troll?'
Lincoln Project adviser Fred Wellman also called Jackson a 'troll.'
'You are a liar. You shame the uniform, your oath to the Constitution and the Hippocratic Oath over and over,' he wrote.
'The idea this pandemic is manufactured globally to hurt Republicans is so monumentally stupid it defies reasoning. You’re just a troll now.'
Twitter users immediately pounced on Jackson's theory, mocking him and labeling him a 'troll'
Jackson became a vocal critic of Democrats and the Biden administration soon after he left the White House, having shown staunch support for Trump when serving under him and even afterwards.
When Trump tested positive for COVID-19 in October 2020 and had to be flown to Walter Reed medical center from the White House, Jackson defended the administration's pandemic safety procedures.
'I believe they do everything they can to keep him safe, certainly at the White House,' Jackson told Fox & Friends at the time.
The former chief White House physician was also questioned when he said in July 2020 that he doesn't 'wear a mask all that often.'
After winning the Republican primary for his House seat with Trump's support, he declared that wearing masks should be a 'personal choice' even as health officials at every level were begging people to cover their faces.
The World Health Organization said the newly-detected COVID mutation is 'of concern'
Trump's when he was attempting to navigate the country through the pandemic.
'We shouldn’t be taking advice from this guy at this point, we should be investigating this guy. As each day goes forward, it’s more and more obvious that we’re going to find out that Tony Fauci and the NIH are responsible for the coronavirus,' Jackson claimed on a Fox News radio show in September.
The allegation, which has been widely echoed among Congressional Republicans, was denied by Fauci and the National Institutes of Health multiple times.
'It’s unbelievable that the spokesperson for the White House right now, President Biden’s chief medical adviser, my old job in the Trump administration, is potentially the guy that created the virus,' Jackson had said.
Trump had created the post of chief medical adviser after his bid to appoint Jackson to head the Veterans Affairs Department was derailed by unscrupulous allegations over Jackson's time serving the White House.
Scientists say they're still two weeks away from learning any concrete details about the variant
COVID-19 cases in South Africa have been skyrocketing, leading health officials there to fear how infections the Omicron variant is
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