You know, we all pretty much get the same news. And when I say we, I’m referring to people like you and I, not Trumptards. We get it from CNN, or MSNBC, or our local network at dinner time or 10 pm. And if you go a little deeper, and catch some of the human interest stories that the cable news networks use for fillers, you can sometimes start to see patterns that people who only watch the mainstream news headlines tend to miss.
Welcome to my world, this is what I do for a living. And right now I’m seeing a pattern you aren’t seeing, if you’re not catching the subliminal stories. And that trend bodes an ill wind for the GOP going into both 2022 and 2024. Here’s the vibe I’m picking up.
Vaccine injections are up all over the country the last two weeks. YAY! Some of them are what we all call the reluctant vaccine doubters, who have finally seen enough, heard enough, and learned enough to get off of the pot and shit. But not all of them. In fact not quite a lot of them.
You have heard me say over and over again that all politics is local. And for the most part, so is most human experience. After all, we all tend to only travel casually and infrequently, most of our experiences are defined by what we see, hear, and experience in our own back yard. And as the Delta variant of the coronavirus rages on in southern and southwestern states, with GOP Governors standing at the state border next to a flashing sign that says, Open For Covid Business, it’s becoming personal. This Delta variant of Covid is a bitch in heat, and because the pool is smaller, the victims are more tightly compressed among the unvaccinated. I kind of tend to lean towards calling the Delta variant the Jeffrey Epstein Covid, since it seems to have an affinity for children. And for the first time, since all of us old farts are protected, more and more children are heading into the ER, being admitted to the hospital, and even put on ventilators. And all of these small personal tragedies are duly reported in the local press, where most people live.
Here’s the McGuffin. Both MSNBC and CNN are and more anecdotal stories from largely ruby red districts and states, where where the vaccination rates are climbing. That’s always a good thing, but it’s the details around the vaccinations that are what’s so revealing.
According to the anecdotal reports, patients are showing up an drugstores, pharmacies, and vaccine centers wearing wigs, fake moustaches, fake sideburns, and clear lens glasses, trying desperately to mask their identity. They are almost hysterical that their names and identities be confidential, to protect them from retribution from family and friends!
Look, let’s be straight up here, shall we? These aren’t the vaccine resistant, if they decide that they finally have the evidence they need of the seriousness of the threat, and the efficacy of the vaccine, and they go and get their goddamn jabs. These people are traditional, GOP Trump supporters, and they’re scared shitless of Covid. And they’re willing to risk all to protect themselves.
Here’s the thing. Nobody likes getting played for a fucking chump! These people toed the line, they bought the bullshit, and now they’re seeing friends and neighbors, and their kids in hospital rooms, and God forbid on ventilators. Covid was never a hoax, and it was never a minor irritant, it is deadly.
Their leaders lied to them. And now their leaders are signing executive orders banning school districts from mandating masks to keep their own children safe. Their own chosen leaders are placing their own children and families at risk to follow the mantra of a fat, self obsessed, orange poltroon.
What have I said over and over again? In order to keep your faith intact, make sure it remains unsullied by fact. And once those scales have dropped from the eyes, they can never be replaced. I have written before about the Covid spike in The Villages in Florida, and nobody votes more than us frost tops. The GOP overreached. They thought that their base was so stupid and blind that they would believe whatever they were told. But when peoples own lives are at stake, along with the lives of their families and friends, then all bets are off. Don’t touch that dial.
Follow me on Twitter at @RealMurfster35
I hear the former guy’s support is dropping in polls. About time!
I think we’re going to see one last ugly convulsion that claims way too many lives before we finally get to the pandemic off-ramp. And how Trumpies have acted will all but guarantee that they will NEVER admit how took they were when this is over.
I think, or at least hope you’re right about one last ugly spike in cases and deaths. What worries me is the large swaths of unvaccinated people and geographical areas where the Delta variant is spreading the worst. There are other variants I’ve read about that are more lethal, but haven’t taken hold. Yet. A lot of people are rethinking their resistance to getting vaccinated but these reports about increased vaccinations AND with people trying to disguise themselves so others don’t know they’ve gotten their shots is troubling. If the goobers want to get vaccinated now, but are more afraid of getting a ration of shit from friends, co-workers and even FAMILY than they are about getting sick and even dying I say again that leaves room for something worse than Delta to get its hooks into us. Remember, as the disease mutates it can do so in a way that weakens the effectiveness of the current vaccines. Right at the time we might all need to be dealing with getting a booster shot.
Booster shots are inevitable. So sadly is the collateral damage of everyone who never had the option of getting vaccinated. I’ve made peace with that likely outcome as of a month ago. The only consolation is that it’ll make blame a lot less easy to dodge. “Every man is guilty of the good he did not do.”–Albert Camus
Ignoring dead old people? Easy. Our culture is built on that. Ignoring dead black people? Was easier b4 mr.floyd, but still easy enough. Dead brown children at the border? Hell, they’re not even citizens of the greatest nation on earth! Dead suburban white children? OH HELL NAW!
I have mentioned this a couple of times. my local Walgreens had 10 plus people waiting to get their vaccine the last time I was there. All young, mostly women. last saturday I saw a young guy, probably with his dad, come in without an appointment and got turned away. I hope he came back. The vaccination rates in Texas are finally rising again.
Ya can’t fix stupid? Well, maybe ya can fix some stupids if they live long enough. Maybe the trump lemmings are actually getting tired of winning….
No, no, no. There’s still that big cliff to jump off of…
I like a good petard metaphor.
A petard is a medieval weapon that is basically a metal or sturdy bowl with an explosive device in it. You light the fuse, hold the petard against a wall, and when it explodes either the wall gives way and the force of the explosion pushes outward…or the wall doesn’t, in which case the force comes back around at the people holding the petard, and that rarely turns out well.
So it’s basically an attack that will either help you advance, or backfire.
In a sense, Trump is really a king of the petards. He is constantly throwing out ill-conceived attacks, and he’s constantly having some of them blow up on his face. Now he’s passed that habit off to the entire GOP. How special for them, lol.
“doubters, who have finally seen enough, heard enough, and learned enough to get off of the pot and shit.”
Murph, I find that it works better if you shit BEFORE getting off the pot.
Maybe that’s just me. ?
I’m not so sure Faux Nuz, etc. are going to decrease in viewership too much. RW outlets have been lying to their viewers since they became RW outlets. I use the following to determine whether I will listen/watch a news source: how quickly do they correct themselves when they’re wrong. No news outlet is perfect. Sometimes all is not known about a subject but in order to get it out to the public, because being first gets more viewers, they must broadcast it quicker than they perhaps should; before they have ALL the facts. The good news sources correct themselves immediately upon finding out they were incorrect. National Public Radio comes to the forefront of this one-they are the gold standard of journalism. Point is, reputable news sources do not keep broadcasting the lie. Faux Nuz rides a lie like it’s a camel and they’re in the middle of the desert-as if their lives depend on it.