Republican Party governors are now starting to break down into two different categories: sociopaths and apologists.
The sociopaths wing is being led by Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp who, in the midst of an all-hands-on-deck COVID-19 crisis in his state, is suing the mayor of Atlanta to invalidate the city's lifesaving mask order. But as Kemp leads the anti-mask death brigade with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey leaving the decision to local leaders, other Republican governors are ever so gingerly trying to coax their red state constituents into taking actions that might actually save their lives.
Gov. Tate Reeves of Mississippi did a whole "I'm a math guy" thread earlier this week trying to explain to constituents why herd immunity isn’t all it's cracked up to be.
"Unless you’re willing to go without hospitals after a car wreck or heart attack, we need a different approach," he tweeted on Monday after explaining that the state's hospital system was already stressed to the point of suspending elective surgeries. "Despite mixed messages at the beginning," Reeves continued, "it seems like masks are the best bet. They’re a hell of a lot better than widespread shut downs. Please wear one!"
The next day, Reeves tried to dissuade Mississippians from attacking each other. "Mask-shaming in either direction is dumb and counterproductive," he offered. "Wearing one is the right thing to do. Don’t mock it."
Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey also did a little education before subtly apologizing for the statewide mask order she issued Wednesday. “Folks, the numbers don’t lie,” Ivey conceded after noting that hospital ICUs were "overwhelmed" last week at 87% capacity. "I always prefer personal responsibility over a government mandate," she said, treading lightly, "and yet I also know with all my heart that the numbers and the data over the past few weeks are definitely trending in the wrong direction."
And Texas Gov. Greg Abbott—who was among the first anti-mask GOP governors to reverse course on his stance earlier this month—is presently trying to make up for this mask mandate by assuring voters he's still extremely anti-shutdown.
"Let me tell you, there is no shutdown coming," Abbott told local Houston station KRIV-TV Thursday in an interview. Last week, Abbott had said that if spread of the virus didn't abate, "the next step would have to be lockdown."
But on Thursday, Abbott faced a pack of angry delegates at the state GOP's virtual convention. “Now I know that many of all you are frustrated — so am I," Abbott said of his mask mandate in a video message, according to the Texas Tribune. "It is the last thing that I wanted to do," he said, adding: "Actually the next to the last. The last thing that any of us want is to lock Texas back down again."
So just like he originally did with masks, Abbott is explicitly ignoring the pleas of health officials and local politicians in the state's urban centers to allow local shutdowns, let alone enact one statewide.
After decades of the GOP's don’t-tread-on-me anti-science grooming, Republican governors now find themselves in the predicament of begging their voters not to hate them for trying to save lives. And in some cases, they're still sacrificing at least some lives—if not all—to assuage their voters.