Patrick Morrisey four years ago*:

If you care about unity, you don’t spend the first 11 days of your Administration issuing one far-reaching executive order after another. His rhetoric doesn’t match his actions.

— Patrick Morrisey (@MorriseyWV) February 1, 2021

Morrisey was correct: why take 11 days when you can do it on the first day:

GOP Gov. Patrick Morrisey issued a slew of executive orders on his 1st day as WV’s chief executive, including one enabling religious exemptions from required school vaccinations — a massive departure for the U.S. state w/ one of the strictest vaccine laws.https://t.co/U5oYK93eFX

— Leah Willingham (@LeahMWillingham) January 14, 2025

The best response to Morrisey’s speech that I found is from West Virginia Watch’s Leann Ray:

Morrisey said his mission for West Virginia is straightforward: “We will be the best place to live, work, and play in America.”

“And no matter where you’re from, Eastern Panhandle, the Northern Panhandle, right here in Charleston, southern coalfields or anywhere across our state, we are all on team West Virginia now. Today, I’m calling on all of us to put aside our differences and unite for the greater good. Every person here or every person watching, has a role to play in building the future that we in our entire state deserves. Together we’re gonna make West Virginia, a beacon of opportunity, of hope, and prosperity for all.”

That’s a nice sentiment, governor. But will you set aside your differences with the families of transgender kids — and the medical professionals who treat them and let them get the care they need and a chance to just be kids? Or how about the people who say using taxpayer money for private schools hurts our public schools? Or with those who see the value in bringing diversity and inclusion discussions to schools and workplaces? If you can set aside your differences on those issues, perhaps then you can focus on bringing us all together to work on West Virginia’s real needs.

Well-stated; yes, it's more hypocritical crap from our new governor. I have my doubts that Morrisey will change, however, since his whole political life in West Virginia has been about finding scapegoats (Obama, environmentalists, Democrats, and transgenders) while he panders to those rich, mostly out-of-state, owners who financed his campaigns and profit from the state’s natural resources while paying little in state taxes. Finally, I think Morrisey is going to need more scapegoats – it won’t be long before Justice’s manufactured revenue surplus turns into a major deficit. Who is Morrisey going to blame then?

*Hat tip to Kyle Vass for finding this Morrisey post.