This was going to be a long diary with links and commentary about the balls-to-the-wall Republican hypocrisy on the Delta variant and getting the vaccination, but you know what? There are multiple diaries about that right now. Let me cut right to the rant.
Republican political leaders calling on people to get vaccinated — FINALLY — are doing so for only one reason. It’s to cover their collective butts, like a legal disclaimer intended to give them a defense in the media and the court of public opinion as their followers die.
It’s like the guy in a movie who has been laying out a really reprehensible line of behavior, but getting away with it by saying straight-faced “but that would be wrong.” And that’s how they hope to dodge being held accountable.
It’s to allow their cult members to say all the unnecessary deaths among them are about ‘freedom’ to make their own decisions — and not about how they allowed their trusted leaders to shackle their ‘freedom’ in chains of lies.
When Senator Ron Paul attacks Dr. Fauci and tries to blame him for a Big Lie about Covid (I won’t repeat it), he is trying to make him a scapegoat for Republican failures. (A classic authoritarian tactic to evade blame.)
When Alabama Governor Kay Ivey calls on people to get vaccinated — but opposes volunteers going door to door to encourage people to do so, and blocks businesses from requiring their employees to get the shot, she’s just covering her butt.
When Mitch McConnell calls for people to get vaccinated — after years of blocking efforts to expand healthcare, after pushing back against Covid relief, after constantly being a giant flaming boil on the backside of democracy — it’s as empty as his soul-less gaze.
When Sean Hannity gets that patented sincere tearful look in his eye as he begs people to get the shot — in between segments designed to create more Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt among his viewers — it’s because the legal department at Fox is getting uncomfortable, not because he cares about anything other than boosting his ratings.
Not all of them have gotten to the point of realizing that there could be… consequences. As Paul Krugman observes, Republicans engage in suicidal, egregious behavior to ‘prove’ how Republican they truly are.
When Florida Governor “Death Sentence” De Santis is selling anti-Fauci merchandise on his website, lying about the Florida death toll numbers, and silencing people trying to get the truth out, he’s trying to be the next Trump.
When Senator Ted Cruz blames the Delta surge on the release of “disease-ridden illegal aliens”, he’s trying to keep from being out-demagogued by the openly crazy people in his party while playing to his base.
Let’s not even talk about Tucker Carlson or the Former Guy, or all of the enablers still walking around free and clear despite the damage they have done and continue to do.
If we started talking about how the media routinely enables this stuff — like The NY Times giving this guy editorial space on behalf of the billionaire class — we’d be here all day. (Eric Boehlert is on the case.)
Some people are not comfortable calling the Republican Party a death cult. The growing body of evidence would suggest that description may be an understatement.
Are Republicans directly responsible for every bad thing happening in the world? No — but there isn’t anything they can’t make worse if it catches their attention. There’s no sign they have learned anything, or that they have any ambition beyond holding onto power by any means they can get away with. They are the most immediate danger to America.
Kevin Drum is still right.