Do Some Republicans Actually WANT People To Die Of Covid/

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and other Republicans don't appear to
care whether people die needlessly of Covid, because they
hope it would make Joe Biden and other Democrats look
bad. It's a political calculation. 

I'm getting more and more convinced a large number of Republican politicians actually want more people to die or suffer from Covid.  

I hope I'm wrong, but I my conspiratorial mind is wondering if believe their political calculations are more important than how many lives are lost.  

Or, to put it more bluntly, who cares if people die if I, and the large radical elements in the GOP can regain power. Insurmountably, they hope. 

There's been so many examples in the past week that seem to fit. Going against all health experts' advice, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott lifted most pandemic-related restrictions. 

It's all part of a feedback loop the GOP has created, led last year by Donald Trump and taken up by most of his minions. 

Here's how it works:  The Trump types, including Abbott, convince the gullible base that Covid is a hoax, that masks are forms of government oppression, that liberals are trying to "control" you and ruin the economy. (They don't explain why liberals want to wreck the economy, but never mind).

Then, these politicians like Abbott drop restrictions because their voting base "demands" it. 

As CNN puts it:

"Dropping Texas' coronavirus restrictions could appease a conservative base that is rewarding Republican governors who have flouted experts' guidance and opened their states early. Abbott is following the lead of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, who finished second and third behind former President Donald Trump in the Conservative Political Action Conference 2024 straw poll last week."

Abbott and the gang must know that easing these restrictions will worsen the pandemic again. It's already bad enough. True, cases declined from their winter peak, but they are still higher than they were through most of last year. And within a few days of the mask mandate being dropped, cases are rising in Texas.

Face masks and social distancing are now well known to do a great job at reducing virus transmission. The less transmission you get, the less likely there will be new, possibly more mutations of the virus..

Those mutations could make the current suite of vaccines out there less effective, or worse case scenario, not effective at all. 

So, as all the experts from Dr. Fauci on down tell us, reduce the transmissions until we get enough people vaccinated to create herd immunity, and then we can get out of this nightmare and put an end, or something close to an end, to the death and suffering.

But if that happens while Joe Biden is president, that will make Biden and other Democrats look good.  By default, that would make Trump and the GOP look bad, given their failures with Covid in 2020.

This is already happening. Along with the blatant racial overtones that huge swaths of the GOP are famous for. 

Abbott is suggesting it's Biden's fault if Covid spread more rapidly now in Texas because of migrants from Mexico legally and illegally crossing the border. 

As many media outlets, including Forbes reports: Abbott tweeted that Biden's administration is letting hundreds of undocumented immigrants who tested positive for the virus to enter the state.  Abbott didn't offer any evidence of this.

Some migrants have indeed tested positive for the coronavirus, but the admittedly incomplete testing of migrants shows a positivity rate lower than Texas in general.

 Publicly Abbott and the rest of the Covid GOP skeptics will tell you they want to end restrictions because freedom. And the economy.

What they fail to tell you is freedom includes freedom from death, disability and mourning the loss of loved ones. 

Plus, since the early days of the pandemic a year ago, economists say the way to really, firmly jump start the economy is vanquish the pandemic.  That way, we'd end up with another version of the Roaring 20s. 

Instead, with the GOP fighting efforts to battle the pandemic, the economy just limps along. Another way to make Biden and Democrats look bad.

I'm in no way saying Republicans should just step back and let Biden and Democrats do anything they want. Sure, if you have better, sound, sensible conservative policy proposals, bring them up. Fight for them.    Who knows? GOPers, good proposals might be your ticket to regain control of government. 

At least that way,  you'll be heroes. Not monsters who think loss of life and yes, freedom, is worth it to gain political power. 

But no, this won't change. The current version of the GOP will continue to play games. 

The governor of Mississippi followed Abbott's lead and ended restrictions there, even though Covid is currently spreading faster in Mississippi than any other state.

You have stunts like those being played by Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson, who forced Senate clerks to read the entire bill, delaying Covid relief for possibly days for God only knows what reason.  It didn't work, and Johnson knew it wouldn't.  The Covid bill landed on Biden's desk Wednesday. 

The GOP is also focusing, instead of Covid, on such pressing issues as whether Mr. Potato Head should retain the title of Mr., or should he/she/it be gender neutral? And no, the Muppets and Dr. Suess are not being canceled by liberals, despite what the GOP is loudly squawking about. 

I wonder if the GOP has thought this through to its logical conclusion. Their dwindling base of hard core Trumpsters will stick by them, of course. The GOP will try every voter suppression trick they can muster. 

But in the end, will the vast majority of us write them off as a bunch of kooks. I sure hope so, because that's what they are.  I wonder how many innocent people will die because of these kooks.