Brownlee is a conspiracy theorist

Conspiracy theorist - Gerry Brownlee

What on earth is going on with the National Party? Now that Crusher Collins is in charge, it seems like it’s their policy to say really dumb things just to get attention. Unfortunately it’s working, with most of the mainstream media bending over backwards to provide Collins and her subordinates with the attention they clearly don’t deserve, right when we should be focusing instead on COVID-19.

Yesterday, the National Party’s deputy leader Gerry Brownlee insinuated that a conspiracy had occurred because the Government was asking people to prepare for a potential spread of COVID-19 in the community again. The public was encouraged to purchase masks prior to four new cases being discovered in Auckland, and Brownlee thought this was suspicious.

It’s the dumbest kind of campaigning, particularly because most people aren’t going to believe conspiracy theories when there’s absolutely no factual basis to support them. Coincidences occur all the time, and we should be grateful that the Government had the foresight to plan ahead for the potential of COVID-19 once again raising its ugly head in New Zealand.

Here’s the video where Brownlee attempts to besmirch the good character of the Prime Minister of New Zealand Jacinda Ardern and Director-General of Health, Ashley Bloomfield.

jfc at the "it's just an interesting series of facts" line pic.twitter.com/vl15YyjVZX

— Justin Hu (@justin_hu_) August 12, 2020

This actually says more about Brownlee than anyone else. Invariably one of our flaws as human beings is that we often judge others by our own standards. Gerry Brownlee must therefore have very low standards to accuse the Government of using COVID-19 cases for political gain. In fact what Brownlee is accusing other people of is likely what the National Party would be doing if we were unfortunate enough to still have them in Government.

But Brownlee isn’t the only problem here. By failing to censure her running mate, and in fact attempting to defend his remarkable stupidity, Judith Collins also appears to be relying on conspiracy theories and not facts in the campaign proper.

There is no question that the National Party should leave unfounded beliefs to the likes of the New Zealand Public Party, Vision NZ or the Conservative Party. Because there simply aren’t enough gullible Kiwis out there who will believe such far-fetched claims to make it worthwhile at the ballot box.

In fact the type of brain fart we just witnessed from Brownlee is likely to lose National support. And when you’re staring down the barrel of what is potentially your worst election defeat ever, painting a big target on your back as a conspiracy theorist definitely isn’t advised.