The head of the Arizona Republican Party, dedicated weirdo and symbol of everything wrong with modern "conservatism" ex-state-senator Kelli Ward, took to Twitter last Friday with some odd advice for protesters who want to mill around public spaces demanding their state "reopen" despite the ongoing deadly pandemic the news channels keep shouting about. You folks should dress up and pretend to be healthcare workers, says Ward.
"Planning protest to #ReOpenAmerica? EVERYONE wear scrubs & masks - the media doesn't care if you are really in healthcare or not - it's the 'message' that matters," Ward tweeted.
In this case, the "message" is that for some reason the public isn't taking scattered collections of sometimes-armed, snake flag-waving, ex-tea party nutcases seriously when it comes to matters of public health, but maybe if we lie and imply that Actually the crowd is made up of, um, "healthcare" workers then Ward's followers can bamboozle somebody into thinking they're not know-nothing wackos.
Plus, it will take scrubs and masks out of the hands of actual medical professionals, wasting the still-being-rationed items for the sake of the Ward-sanctioned publicity stunts. Also good!
Trying to probe the thoughts of the fringe right is a pathway to madness, and it's not clear that people holding up conspiracy-minded signs and demanding the right to infect hairstylists if they damn well want to would be treated more seriously, as Ward seems to believe, if they showed up in cosplay. It is possible. It's also possible they could be truly mistaken for healthcare workers, causing every fellow protester with a cough to make a beeline for them to ask them for medical advice, which could certainly liven up the show.
Or it may simply be a way for fringe-right science deniers to gain a bit of applause, wandering back home again. If the public isn't keen on you doing your own thing and calling yourself a "hero," maybe you can trick them into thinking you're a real one.
We don't know. Ward, who technically is an actual medical doctor, has not elaborated on this new plan. And unlike her, most of the "Reopen America" protesters do not know medical personnel, do not like medical personnel, and are in no position to ask medical personnel if they can borrow an outfit or two in order to fake being healthcare workers during their next weekend rally.
So it just may be that this new Ward plan doesn't get very far to begin with.
