The GOP is engaged in an all-out battle against the coronavirus — except, not in the way you might think. The battle is a Republicans vs COVID19 showdown over what’s fact and what’s fiction.
Politics
In what appears to be a move to pacify Donald Trump and follow his lead to race to reopen the country, the GOP is now collectively fighting COVID19 by attacking science, facts, Dr. Fauci, and absolute logic. More specifically, the Republicans vs COVID19 fight card is all about them wanting to create their own reality regarding the coronavirus and to convince the American public to ignore the scientific data and expertise of Dr. Fauci and others whose reality doesn’t match their own.
On Wednesday, the conservative Wisconsin Supreme Court struck down Democratic Gov. Tony Evers’ stay-at-home order by calling it “unlawful” and “unenforceable.” The court decided that a lawsuit filed by the Republican-controlled Wisconsin Legislature against the state’s Department of Health Services Secretary-designee Andrea Palm will stand. They also ruled that Evers and Palm overstepped their authority by extending the state’s “Safer at Home” emergency order, even though it was done in the interest of public health.
The governor’s stay-at-home mandate is the same order every other governor in every other state has used to protect its citizens from the novel coronavirus, which begs the question: if the crafty GOP could convince the Wisconsin Supreme Court to suddenly make the “Safer at Home” protection illegal, what does that mean for the same order in all the other states?
Another ‘Republicans vs COVID19’ battle involves a brewing showdown between Donald Trump and Dr. Anthony Fauci which has been coming for weeks.
“Will some people be affected? Yes. Will some people be affected badly? Yes. But we have to get our country open, and we have to get it open soon.” – Donald Trump
In Part 1 of the showdown, Trump has begun to publicly question if the mortality rates and death projection figures from Dr. Fauci are “reliable” (as if he’s lying) and if the number of coronavirus deaths nationally are somehow being “over-counted.”
In Part 2 of the showdown, Trump has begun to publicly ridicule Fauci’s decades of infectious disease expertise as false and worth ignoring. This was never more evident than on Wednesday when Trump dismissed Fauci’s opinion as “not acceptable” after he warned that reopening states too quickly could have dire consequences.
“I was surprised by his answer, actually,” Trump said following Fauci’s televised congressional testimony on Tuesday. “It’s just — to me it’s not an acceptable answer, especially when it comes to schools,” he added.
Even Fox News is dismissing Dr. Fauci now more than ever.
“Fauci says that children must stay home or countless people will die — that’s the message. So I’m going to ask a very simple question: How does he know this, exactly?” Fox host Tucker Carlson asked, despite not having any medical training whatsoever or a medical degree. “Is Tony Fauci right about the science? Do we have any particular reason to think he is right?”
Carlson then mocked Fauci’s warning to children, claiming the virus was somehow “being used to deny children an education.”
Fox host Sean Hannity, who is also sans medical degree, took his turn next against the renowned doctor.
“The left is now waging a non-stop campaign of fear — hysteria — despite declining COVID-19 infectious rates, hospitalizations, deaths. Well, Democrats, the mob and the media — they seem to want to keep this country locked down indefinitely,” Hannity claimed. “Dr. Anthony Fauci also seems to favor with the Democrats want, and that is massive restrictions with no end in sight.”
All of this occurred only a day after Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky scolded Dr. Fauci during his Tuesday Senate appearance by telling him “You’re not the end-all.”
The truth is, Donald Trump and the Republicans want the country reopened NOW and they don’t give a single fig if it causes more illness and more deaths. Their sole concern is about the almighty dollar and not about another multi-trillion dollar stimulus package that would mostly save black and brown people who have lost their jobs and don’t have the investment portfolios or inheritance money to see them through the storm.
They were willing to call in political favors and stop the Democratic governor of Wisconsin from standing in their way of getting all those blue-collar Wisconsin service workers off of unemployment benefits and back to earning their pay. They were willing to pick a fight with Dr. Fauci for daring to cloud their issue with facts and science and real stuff like that. In fact, they’re willing to do whatever it takes to save Donald Trump’s orange rump once again if it will prevent him from pulling himself and the entire GOP down with him in the November election.
When asked if the Republican-led Senate will extend the $600 per week COVID19 unemployment benefits for all Americans, Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina had this to say:
“Over our dead bodies!”
That should tell you everything you need to know regarding the so-called Republican vs COVID19 fight and the real enemy the GOP has engaged in battle.
It makes sense now. Repubs know opening back up the country will make a lot of people die and they do not care. Now I am putting two and two together. Trump was already saying people are going to die either way so why does it matter. They die from covid or they starve with no money. Okay I am getting it now. Why else would they sue a governor over trying to protect people. No wonder they cannot stand Fauci. He is trying to save lives but they are trying to save money.