Let me start this with a question for everybody reading this. Have you ever been madly, passionately in love, and then been basely betrayed by that lover? Of course you have, almost everybody has. And it not only changes your feelings about that lover, but it can change your feelings about love. Keep that in mind for later.
From day one, not only Trump, but the entire GOP fucked up the Covid response. Trump never once thought of the virus in terms of human beings, it was always a political challenge for his reelection. And since this is the party of Trump, how Trump saw it was how the national and state GOP saw it.
And at the start, it worked. Who most got clocked in the first surge of the Coronavirus? Washington state, Oregon, California, Illinois, New York, New Jersey, Washington DC, and Maryland. Which made perfect sense. Washington state, Oregon, and California are all hubs for travel inbound from the far east, and Chicago and the east coast were international gateways from Europe, where the virus first spread. This allowed Trump and the GOP to portray the virus as largely either a hoax, or a bicoastal liberal elite problem, since the great plain and southern states were largely spared from the first spikes. Especially when they grudgingly followed along in shutting along.
Then Trump and the GOP Governors made their first mistake. Rash re-openings ordered by Trump to jump start the economy to boost his reelection chances brought the virus home to the southern and southwestern states. The GOP’s response both nationally as well as at the state level was to fudge the numbers and continue the hoax mantra.
Then the GOP fornicated the canine. Let’s be honest, although Pfizer, Moderna, and J&J took no money from the program, Trump deserves credit for pushing Operation Warp Speed to push and stimulate research on a vaccine. And they came through. But the problem is that they came through too late, Trump lost the election. As a result, he couldn’t care less about the vaccine, or American citizens. The great hoax mantra continued unabated, while Trump turned to the courts to contest the election.
Then, the great reckoning. When the vaccine became available, the citizens of the northern and coastal states that took the worst hits lined up for blocks to get the vaccine. Meanwhile, the southern, sun belt, and southwestern states dicked around and enjoyed the high life, celebrating their success for having not fallen for the great hoax. Then the Delta variant came a-calling.
And the GOP states in the south, sun belt, southwest and great plains states are getting hammered. What do they do? They have spent 18 months calling Covid a hoax, and 7 months disparaging the vaccine as a government infringement on personal rights. And suddenly, these are die hard, Trump conservative voters who are getting sick, being intubated, and dying like flies. And they all have families and friends.
The text of a Mississippi doctor went viral when she related how, as she was getting ready to intubate otherwise healthy, young patients, they begged her for the vaccine. The only thing she could do was to tell them, I’m sorry, but it’s too late for that. An Alabama mother recounted how she sat by her son’s deathbed, and that his last words to her were, This is no hoax. This is for real. And that sad tragedy is being repeated all over the south and southwest.
Remember the question I asked you at the top of the article? Here’s why. These are loyal GOP voters, and loyal Trump supporters. But it’s kind of hard to see it as a hoax anymore when you’re burying a son, or a daughter, or an uncle, or a father. From this day forward, they will hear Biden’s voice every time that they look at that empty chair at the table. And they’ll think, and they’ll remember.
I’m not saying that these people will suddenly become Democrats, because they won’t. But in a year of unfettered GOP voter suppression, every loyal GOP voter that sours on Trump and the GOP and stays home, that is a vote that the GOP desperately needs, and can’t replace. Stick a pin in this one.
Follow me on Twitter at @RealMurfster35
I read a diary, over on DK, that said if Biden doesn’t deliver on protecting voting rights that the Black folk, particularly women, won’t turn out for the midterms. They also explained that Biden doesn’t run congress, but nonetheless would be held accountable. Do you think that will be much of a factor?
every President bites the bullet for the achievements or lack thereof of his administration…
If P.O.C. do not turn out for the midterms it is highly likely they’ll be on their way to losing their right to vote completely. Let’s hope they’re not that stupid. I’m sick and tired of this mentality that they’re “owed” something because they voted. At this stage of the game that is a dangerous thought since all of the voter suppression legislation is mainly aimed at them. This is one of those times they’re going to have to lean in.
Let’s not overly simplify groups as monolithic. A huge portion of Black voters live in safe districts. I wish someone in a D+25 district *would* show up to vote, but if they don’t I can’t be too angry, and I wouldn’t call them stupid.
I’m also careful calling them stupid because let’s say it is a swing district, and we lose because turnout drops from 74% Black turnout to 72%. I can’t really blame the 72% who turned out both times…and I don’t find I can really blame the 2% either, since it’s almost a guarantee that there is a much higher percent of non-voting whites in any given district.
Say that having worked gotv in several campaigns. It was always easy for me to look for groups to blame if we lost or to credit if we won, but the truth is that elections are complex and it was always our job as campaign workers to win, not the job of every last voter.
I’d be very skeptical that there are any voters who would say “I would have turned out if they delivered voting rights, but they didn’t so I won’t.”
The existential threat with voting rights is that they will be taken away, and those minority voters won’t turn out to locations with 6 hour lines and mobs of crazies taking their photos and writing down their addresses.
You hit on an important point and I’m glad you did. A lot more people read your stuff than mine.
That important point is that it’s not the number of the Trump Orange Kool-Aid folks that will die. It likely won’t be in enough numbers to affect many races, and probably none at the federal level. However, those who die or even “only” get sick enough to require serious ICU time (which in turn means a prolonged recovery) have family and friends and co-workers.
Not all will change their minds about vaccines or their belief it’s all been a liberal hoax but the bulk of them will. And there will be plenty of time for them to consider the difference between what they’ve seen up close and personal vs. what their ersatz heroes keep telling them. As you say they won’t turn out and vote for Democrats, at least not in significant enough numbers to matter. But if they don’t vote at all that’s almost as good.
Sadly, even when confronted with having the disease, or seeing someone they love or at least care about some of these Covidiots will continue to drink the Kool-Aid. I recall last week reading about a guy who survived at lengthy spell in the ICU and if memory serves intubation. There was a picture of him in his hospital bed, hardly looking healthy and strong. He was going to be discharged the next day. And while he acknowledges that Covid damn near killed him he will NOT get vaccinated (even though Trump did!) once the docs say it’s okay for him to do so, nor will he encourage anyone else to! Sadly, some patients, as well as their loved ones and acquaintances will remain exactly that fucking stubborn.
It makes me angry. There are only so many ICU beds. And so many hospital beds overall in hot spots. And in hot spots both hospitals and doctor’s offices are having to go back to protocols that force people to have most medical appointments by teleconference. That means people sick with other things might not even get admitted to a hospital! Or people won’t be allowed into hospitals or clinics for diagnostic tests that could help identify problems early on, making it more likely to have a good outcome.
Assholes like this guy who is thankful that all that staff time and the enormous costs saved his life literally said he expect to get the same care if he gets sick with Covid again because he will refuse to be vaccinated!
Call me cruel, but he doesn’t deserve to get a hospital, much less an ICU bed and hundreds of thousands of dollars of medical care to try and save his life if he gets sick with Covid again. Those resources should go to someone who deserves them and THIS asshole who won’t get vaccinated even after using up so much of his community’s medical resources has forfeited his right to another round of care for something that it would cost HIM one fucking dime to avoid.
Here’s what I know for sure. If he were to in fact get Covid again because he will likely hang out in Covid rich environments and his local hospital(s) happens to still be overwhelmed with patients he will be on TV howling, DEMANDING to jump the line and get care RIGHT GODDAMNED NOW! He’ll be complaining about “undeserving” people that are getting treatment – undeserving being code for non “Real Americans” like him. Folks who aren’t white, conservative and overt Trump supporters. I fucking DARE any conservatives lurking on this site to disagree with me on this!
I am not anything close to a con. You’re basically correct. That said, when their orange sh*t-gibbon starts b*tching about how much more valuable his life is I’m not so sure his/G.Q.P. base will see him for what he is: a selfish P.O.S. These people are delusional and there is no other way to put it. When you have people acting like he is some f*cking messiah or some sh*t like that, you’re going to have people thinking his life IS more valuable. Meanwhile, a large portion of the nation will remain unvaccinated and will be generating more variants of this f*cking disease. You say that won’t result in much of a diminution in those voters but I think it might. We’re already seeing a considerably more contagious variant with this Delta variant. I suspect it can, and will, get a lot worse.