Disinformation has transformed the GQP base into an ever maddening crowd that’s ready to turn on its leaders if they offer even a mealy-mouthed encouragement to get the COVID-19 vaccine.
That’s what happened to Sen.Lindsey Graham on Saturday when he spoke at a local Republican event at a country club in Summerville, S.C., In Dorchester County, about 25 miles outside Charleston.
The 66-year-old Graham told the mostly older, all-white audience: “If you haven’t had the vaccine, you ought to think about getting it because if you’re my age — ”
Before he could complete his sentence, he was interrupted by a loud chorus of boos and shouts of “No!”
Only a handful of people in the crowd were wearing masks. In Dorchester County, only 55% of the adult population has been fully vaccinated, according to the Washington Post Vaccine Tracker.
Graham quickly backed off, telling the crowd: “I didn’t tell you to get it. You ought to think about it.” But again the audience yelled “No!”
Graham got his COVID-19 vaccine back in December when it was first available. He revealed he had a breakthrough case of COVID-19 in early August, but credited the vaccine with helping him avoid serious complications.
“I was very glad I was vaccinated because without vaccination I am certain that I would not feel as well as I do now,” Graham wrote at the time. “My symptoms would be far worse.”
At Saturday’s event, Graham reiterated that he was “glad” he got the vaccine. He then said: “Ninety-two percent of the people in the hospitals in South Carolina aren’t vaccinated.”
The crowd was unconvinced, responding by yelling “False!” and “Not true.”
In South Carolina, only 48% of the population has been fully vaccinated, according to the Washington Post tracker. That’s below the nationwide average of about 56%.
With the spread of the delta variant, South Carolina health officials referred to the rising number of coronavirus cases as “a pandemic of the unvaccinated.”
Graham isn’t the only Republican to face a backlash from supporters when promoting COVID-19 vaccines. Donald Trump was booed in August at a rally in Alabama when he recommended taking the vaccine.
Graham did attempt to mollify his audience by declaring his opposition to vaccine mandates, calling into question their constitutionality, but the crowd remained restless.
One man in the audience identified himself as a Navy civilian worker who said he was 60 days from losing his job due to a vaccine mandate for the federal workforce.
“You’ve got to stop it now,” the man said.
Graham responded that doing so would require having the GOP take back control of Congress in the 2022 midterm elections.
Graham then asked his audience to raise their hand if they had taken a vaccine for the measles. Several people responded “it’s not the same,” and one person called the COVID-19 vaccines “experimental.”
Of course, that’s not true but it’s reflective of the disinformation being spread on Facebook and other social media platforms as well as Fox News and other conservative media.
And Republicans have just lapped up the disinformation, leading to a growing partisan divide in coronavirus vaccination rates.
As for the few dozen Republicans attending Graham’s event, just more candidates for the Herman Cain Memorial Award.