Michele Bachmann Says Sarah Palin Should Be 'Commended' For Dining Out With COVID

Former Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin should be “commended” for dining out in Manhattan this week while infected with contagious COVID-19, insisted onetime GOP presidential contender and avid Donald Trump supporter Michele Bachmann.

Palin is to “be commended because she’s trying to act like a normal human being in the greatest city in America,” the former Minnesota representative said on Fox News’ “Jesse Watters Primetime” on Friday.

Bachmann declared that it’s time to “start resuming normal American life … rather than cowering in our basements,” where the unvaccinated can’t infect anyone else. Palin, who opposes COVID vaccines, has said she would get vaccinated “over my dead body.”

Palin is in New York for her defamation trial against The New York Times, but the trial was delayed until next week after she tested positive for COVID-19, the judge announced Monday. U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff noted: “She is, of course, unvaccinated.”

City health guidelines advise anyone who tests positive for the coronavirus to quarantine for at least five days. Yet Palin was spotted dining out at Elio’s on Manhattan’s Upper East Side two days after her positive test was reported. She was seen maskless and sitting close to others in a heated outdoor dining area.

The former Alaska governor also dined indoors at the restaurant last Saturday, in violation of New York City’s vaccination mandate for indoor dining. The manager told The New York Times that the restaurant “made a mistake” by failing to check Palin’s proof of vaccination card (which she doesn’t  have) during her Saturday visit.

A spokesperson for New York Mayor Eric Adams (D) encouraged anyone near Palin on her nights on the town to immediately be tested for COVID.

A City Hall statement added: “The key to NYC rules were put in place to protect all New Yorkers — including the small businesses that power our city’s economy. Ms. Palin needs to respect small business workers and follow the rules just like everyone else.”

Check out Bachmann’s praise for a contagious fellow Republican in the video clip above.