Opinion by
Jennifer Rubin
Columnist
Today at 7:45 a.m. EDT
Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) lives up to his reputation as a purveyor of covid-19 disinformation. Having already suggested that we shouldn’t care if the unvaccinated get shots, he now insists there should be no vaccine mandate “unless there’s some incredibly deadly disease.” The fact of more than 600,000 dead Americans does not impress him.
Florida’s Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) — who has railed against masks, opened up his state prematurely and demonized Anthony S. Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases — has made his state a hot spot in the latest surge of infections. “Florida on Friday reported 21,683 new cases of covid-19 — the most infections in a single day since the start of the pandemic, according to data released Saturday from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,” CBS News reported. Moreover, “In July, Florida was one of four states that accounted for 40% of the country’s total infections,” CBS said, citing Jeff Zients, the White House’s coronavirus coordinator. “During that time,” Zients said, “the Sunshine State recorded one out of every five of the nation’s new cases.”
DeSantis has banned schools from mandating masks, thereby leaving children too young to get the vaccine vulnerable to a life-threatening disease. In a speech in Salt Lake City last week, he declared, “It is very important that we say unequivocally no to lockdowns, no to school closures, no to restrictions and no to mandates” — a clear repudiation of the “pro-life” philosophy DeSantis claims to support. He has also attempted to prevent cruise lines from requiring coronavirus vaccinations for passengers. Thousands upon thousands of Floridians will become sick or die in large part due to his willful ignorance and ambition to become the darling of the dangerously oppositional MAGA crowd.
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Not to be outdone, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) “prohibited local governments and state agencies from mandating vaccines, saying that protection against the virus should be a matter of personal responsibility, not forced by a government edict,” the New York Times reported. “The order also reinforced his prior directive prohibiting local officials from requiring face masks, despite growing calls from city leaders for greater flexibility to reverse the renewed spread of Covid.” Texas now has more hospitalizations than at any time since February and has passed New York in the number of covid deaths.
These politicians — including substantial numbers of unmasked and unvaccinated Republican House members — are encouraging life-threatening conduct for the sake of currying favor with the unhinged radical right. As a result, millions of Americans will refuse to get lifesaving shots or decline to wear masks, resulting in entirely preventable deaths and serious illnesses.
Never have so few put so many in danger for the sake of selfish political ambition. And let’s be clear that this crowd is anything but pro-life. Their actions will only add to the hundreds of thousands of fatalities. (It’s fascinating that their primal scream of “freedom” should be enough to prevent government from ordering them to wear a simple cloth or disposable mask, while these same folks would force women to complete a nine-month pregnancy and give birth. Plainly, “life” is not their objective.) Future generations will marvel at how we permitted elected leaders to contribute to so much anguish.
Meanwhile, major corporations such as Disney, Google, Facebook, Uber, Walmart (at its headquarters), Morgan Stanley and The Post are requiring employees returning to the workplace to get vaccinated. Even Fox Corporation, whose Fox News hosts have notoriously spread vaccine disinformation, has been encouraging its employees to report their vaccine status. (Disclosure: I am an MSNBC contributor.)
The private sector, which Republicans used to insist should be free to operate as business owners saw fit, now battles to save lives in the face of right-wing politicians who have formed a sort of death cult that elevates “owning the libs” over the prevention of needless death.
Public anger and disgust with these politicians — whose harmful rhetoric is forcing the majority of us back to mask-wearing — will continue to build. If anything, public health officials and the White House have not been direct enough in calling out these menacing figures.
President Biden, responsible politicians of both parties, private-sector leaders and, yes, the media should denounce by name the MAGA purveyors of disinformation and architects of life-threatening edicts. The willful endangerment of so many Americans — conduct we once would have thought unimaginable — must end, and those responsible for unnecessary suffering, illness and death must be held responsible in the court of public opinion.
Jennifer Rubin
Columnist
Today at 7:45 a.m. EDT
Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) lives up to his reputation as a purveyor of covid-19 disinformation. Having already suggested that we shouldn’t care if the unvaccinated get shots, he now insists there should be no vaccine mandate “unless there’s some incredibly deadly disease.” The fact of more than 600,000 dead Americans does not impress him.
Florida’s Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) — who has railed against masks, opened up his state prematurely and demonized Anthony S. Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases — has made his state a hot spot in the latest surge of infections. “Florida on Friday reported 21,683 new cases of covid-19 — the most infections in a single day since the start of the pandemic, according to data released Saturday from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,” CBS News reported. Moreover, “In July, Florida was one of four states that accounted for 40% of the country’s total infections,” CBS said, citing Jeff Zients, the White House’s coronavirus coordinator. “During that time,” Zients said, “the Sunshine State recorded one out of every five of the nation’s new cases.”
DeSantis has banned schools from mandating masks, thereby leaving children too young to get the vaccine vulnerable to a life-threatening disease. In a speech in Salt Lake City last week, he declared, “It is very important that we say unequivocally no to lockdowns, no to school closures, no to restrictions and no to mandates” — a clear repudiation of the “pro-life” philosophy DeSantis claims to support. He has also attempted to prevent cruise lines from requiring coronavirus vaccinations for passengers. Thousands upon thousands of Floridians will become sick or die in large part due to his willful ignorance and ambition to become the darling of the dangerously oppositional MAGA crowd.
ADVERTISING
Not to be outdone, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) “prohibited local governments and state agencies from mandating vaccines, saying that protection against the virus should be a matter of personal responsibility, not forced by a government edict,” the New York Times reported. “The order also reinforced his prior directive prohibiting local officials from requiring face masks, despite growing calls from city leaders for greater flexibility to reverse the renewed spread of Covid.” Texas now has more hospitalizations than at any time since February and has passed New York in the number of covid deaths.
These politicians — including substantial numbers of unmasked and unvaccinated Republican House members — are encouraging life-threatening conduct for the sake of currying favor with the unhinged radical right. As a result, millions of Americans will refuse to get lifesaving shots or decline to wear masks, resulting in entirely preventable deaths and serious illnesses.
Never have so few put so many in danger for the sake of selfish political ambition. And let’s be clear that this crowd is anything but pro-life. Their actions will only add to the hundreds of thousands of fatalities. (It’s fascinating that their primal scream of “freedom” should be enough to prevent government from ordering them to wear a simple cloth or disposable mask, while these same folks would force women to complete a nine-month pregnancy and give birth. Plainly, “life” is not their objective.) Future generations will marvel at how we permitted elected leaders to contribute to so much anguish.
Meanwhile, major corporations such as Disney, Google, Facebook, Uber, Walmart (at its headquarters), Morgan Stanley and The Post are requiring employees returning to the workplace to get vaccinated. Even Fox Corporation, whose Fox News hosts have notoriously spread vaccine disinformation, has been encouraging its employees to report their vaccine status. (Disclosure: I am an MSNBC contributor.)
The private sector, which Republicans used to insist should be free to operate as business owners saw fit, now battles to save lives in the face of right-wing politicians who have formed a sort of death cult that elevates “owning the libs” over the prevention of needless death.
Public anger and disgust with these politicians — whose harmful rhetoric is forcing the majority of us back to mask-wearing — will continue to build. If anything, public health officials and the White House have not been direct enough in calling out these menacing figures.
President Biden, responsible politicians of both parties, private-sector leaders and, yes, the media should denounce by name the MAGA purveyors of disinformation and architects of life-threatening edicts. The willful endangerment of so many Americans — conduct we once would have thought unimaginable — must end, and those responsible for unnecessary suffering, illness and death must be held responsible in the court of public opinion.
