Republicans' anti-government chickens have finally come home to roost
By: Heather Digby Parton
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Ronald Reagan, the most beloved president of the modern Republican Party (before Donald J. Trump, anyway) had a very famous saying:
"The nine most terrifying words in the English language are: I'm from the Government, and I'm here to help. "
It was a clever comment that the leaders of the conservative movement never took seriously, of course. The Republicans were always big boosters of first responders, cops and the military who are generally the ones who literally say "I'm from the government and I'm here to help." But the anti-government sentiment worked well for the wealthy benefactors who paid these politicians handsomely to keep their taxes low and regulations scarce.
They also used that message to persuade voters that the government was trying to oppress them with everything from creeping communism to affirmative action and women's rights. In other words, everything these people already hated was blamed on Big Government by the very people who ran it. The subtext of much of this was race, of course, as the cynical conservatives managed to convince people that the government was doling out handouts to the "undeserving" (and I think you know who they were talking about) in the form of welfare, while the hard-working Real Americans were paying the freight and getting the shaft.
Over time they were able to demagogue the issue so thoroughly that average Republicans routinely voted against their own interests out of a reflexive hostility to anything the government tried to do (other than wage war, which they loved.) When the financial crisis hit in 2007 and the government was required to intervene or risk the whole economic system going into free fall, it was clear just how successful they had been.
Almost immediately, a rebellion against the government helping "irresponsible" homeowners became the rallying cry of the anti-government right and the Tea Party was born. The GOP knew that government intervention was necessary but they made sure that the banks and the wealthy were taken care of while forcing everything else to be done on the cheap. The result was a very slow recovery and long-term damage to the average American household, which worked out well for them politically and further discredited government in the minds of many Americans.
The Obamacare wars flowed naturally from that, with half the country hysterical at the idea the government was going to choose their doctors and decide who lives or dies. Their fears were stoked by right-wing politicians who suspected that the program might work and restore people's faith in the government to deliver needed benefits. Then where would they be?
There were dozens of conspiracy theories floating around from "death panels" to implanted microchips, to a giant government database that was going to house every personal piece of health information on every American. All of this inane resistance was fueled by the right's decades-long anti-government propaganda campaign.
Fast forward to 2020 and the first global pandemic in a hundred years with an incompetent narcissist in charge. Between his ineptitude and self-serving desire to pretend that the crisis didn't exist and the years of mistrust in the government, the U.S. ended up with an epic disaster and half the population refusing to acknowledge it existed. Today, we're facing a situation in which tens of millions of people are refusing vaccines because they believe in daft conspiracy theories or are convinced the government is lying to them even in the face of over 600,000 deaths.
Throughout all this, most Republican officials have either been actively hostile to medical experts and their advice or they have been strangely passive, simply shrugging their shoulders as if this is just a normal part of life and everyone just needs to buck up. They refused to wear masks and social distance, they've egged on protesters and encouraged the right-wing media, which has been feeding snake oil, lies and conspiracy theories to their voters since the pandemic began.
Fox News has been particularly egregious in its objectively pro-COVID propaganda. Their headliners Tucker Carlson, Laura Ingraham and Sean Hannity have all taken slightly different approaches. Carlson has gone with his patented dark conspiracy-mongering, playing off of the right's new "Deep State" narrative to suggest that the government is forcing people to take vaccines against their will and that the shots are killing people. Ingraham has been an inveterate pusher of quacks and bogus cures while blaming it all on immigrants as usual while Hannity has been playing both sides, telling people to take the virus seriously in one breath and skepticism in the other. (One suspects this relates to his close relationship with Donald Trump, who similarly twists himself into a pretzel on this subject, wanting credit for the vaccines but being unable to buck the conspiracy addled anti-vax sentiment of his followers.)
Most of the rest of the right-wing media have followed the same trends — at least until this week.
Suddenly, we have been seeing members of Fox News breaking with their stars and making heartfelt PSA's exhorting people to get the vaccines, something we've never seen before: Watch the latest video at foxnews.com. Newsmax CEO, and friend of Trump, Chris Ruddy wrote a glowing op-ed complimenting President Biden on his vaccine program. One of the House leaders, Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La, a vaccine holdout, very ostentatiously got vaccinated and told anyone who'd listen that they should do it as well. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis actually went out and urged his constituents to get vaccinated now that his state is being overrun with COVID. Again.
The question on everyone's mind is, "What happened?"
Obviously, it's tied to the new surge of cases as the highly transmissible Delta variant runs through the population of unvaccinated people who are, according to a study by the Kaiser Family Foundation, heavily tilted toward Republicans. As of the end of last month, 86% of Democrats had at least one shot compared to 52% of Republicans. And it's not getting any better.
Have they seen polling indicating that they are losing ground with their own voters over their lack on engagement? Are they suddenly worried that their base is going to die and leave them short of needed votes? It's hard to say. But I think MSNBC's Chris Hayes was on to something when he suggested that they had thought they could stick with the base and its anti-vax, anti-Big Government attitude about this (continuing to reap the rewards that brings to them politically) and let Joe Biden's administration do the heavy lifting of getting their states vaccinated — at which point they would swoop in and say what a terrible job he did. (This works for them every time a GOP administration leaves the country in shambles and the Democrats have to clean up their mess.)
The problem is that the virus is spreading, restrictions have been lifted and the Republican base is refusing to save itself. The anti-government chickens have finally come home to roost — and they're killing Republicans.
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An opinion piece.
Are republicans killing their own....
At the rate they are dying off, there won't be enough of them to vote for a winner in a hot dog eating contest which might be the only upside to the CV.
of course they are ! Whatever will keep them in power, in their feeble minds, is the correct path, even if it KILLS their constituents too ignorant to know any better, what a party, no...?
"we've all got our vaccines, but don't go get yours, it's a commie plot"
gee, most of the delta variant victims are the unvaccinated, what a bummer. this is the type of republican voter suppression I can support.
I love what you just said. I may get a tee shirt made that says CV IS THE GREATEST REPUBLICAN VOTER SUPRESSION EVER!
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Republicans are a minority ? Saw your link, it has nothing to do with the subject of this article.
A squirrel moment.
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Maybe you could actually read the article and comment on the content.
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Why are you scared to actually address the contents of the article....
further proof that the covid disinformation campaign by the alt-media is having the desired effect on those deprived of equal education opportunities. not to mention the past historical instances of actual medical cruelty imposed upon them by white conservatives. it's sad that some of the rural poor can only get FOX/BS on the TV way out in BFE.
So a third, what about....
Seems some people cannot comment on actual content and have nothing but what abouts.
How about Native American/Alaska Native, Asians, Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders that all have higher rates than whites and they vote democrat.
In Florida which is the current epicenter of the virus we had over 13,000 new cases yesterday and 148 deaths, by far the worst in the nation, but no worries our governor said it's a ''seasonal thing''
I just read an article about Florida. It is now the worse state as far as new infections.
Hospitals are now again almost at capacity. One hospital said they had to open up convention space (or something) to accommodate the patients.
It also said it has changed and now most infections are younger. Under 60.
Just one article of many about Florida.
Jacksonville hospitals see COVID-19 case surge; DeSantis calls increase in Florida cases ‘seasonal’
... because calling it fake news wasn't going to work out so well this time.
In my (red) neck of the woods, saw very few folk mask or distance during the last year.
Now the Delta variant is here they have taken down the plexiglass and demasked completely.
INSANITY!
For years some on the right have disagreed with everything a Democrat says just because a Democrat said it. Everyone knows this.
They assume Dr Fauci and other medical professionals are Democrats so they ignore what these medical people say and instead gravitate to conspiracies.
As a country we have allowed this nonsense to go on far too long and who knows, maybe its too late.
Have been watching this insanity develop over the years starting with firebrand shock-jocks (Rush and ilk) who told them that they need not be ashamed of their inbred, low IQ, knuckle dragging ways.
They became empowered! Their evil, dark xenophobic thoughts could now be exercised openly.
Now, high school dropouts propagandize against the best minds on the planet for money.
Roland was right. It is a Mad World.
"... let Joe Biden's administration do the heavy lifting of getting their states vaccinated — at which point they would swoop in and say what a terrible job he did."
That has already started over the past several weeks. Go to any of the comment sections on RW sites and you will find a cast of characters touting the number of deaths from Covid under Biden; several on NT are doing the same.
Being radicals themselves, the Tea Party adopted Alinsky's Rules for Radicals and have been using them rather masterfully all the while casting him as some ultimate danger. The sneaky addition of the right to Alinsky was to change the rules as soon as you learned them. Only one thing is certain, every pimple will be cast as a boil.
Let's not forget that our beloved governor says that the COVID virus is seasonal. We are having a hell of a season with over 14,000 new cases today.
He did say to get the vaccine but no masks we are going to tough it out, please disrard the dead and suffering as long as tough guy DeSantis is leading the fight.
Some conservatives are now attacking DeSantis for telling people get the vaccine.
LMAO, you can't make this shit up.
over 9000 covid deaths in texas since february. only 45 of the victims were vaccinated.
Damn, how stupid can people be?
Wait, but back in May, Lauren Boebert said there weren't any deaths following the repeal of the mask mandate. She wouldn't lie, would she?
DeSantis is a hero to a couple of the RW moosh nooshes on NT. You have to wonder how fast they are spinning right now over DeSantis.
The right colors as well.
if you don't get shot in her open carry restaurant, the unvaccinated goobers in her district will probably infect you with covid...
Over 14,000 new cases in Florida yesterday. Good thing it's a seasonal thing per our governor.
I keep thinking people will wake up and see some truth.
Then I looked at the comment section on MSN.
These idiots still think there was massive fraud and donald won.
look at it as glass half full. it's basically a litmus test for idiots in america. if they believe that bullshit, they're idiots. most people are either too polite or tactful to confront idiocy. fortunately, I've never had those issues.
FCK thes damn LIARS
TARP was never intended to help homeowners. The Federal Reserve's balance sheet of derivatives, credit default swaps, and Treasury notes was much larger than Joe Biden's most extravagant infrastructure proposals. The Federal government provided somewhere between $16 and $22 Trillion in guarantees against financial sector debt based on the 'full faith and credit' of the United States. The Federal government used taxpayers as a piggy bank to bail out the financial sector. That's where the TEA Party came from.
Instead of introducing common sense restraint, Barack Obama doubled down on using taxpayers as a piggy bank. Obamacare used taxpayers to bail out a healthcare system that is owned by the financial sector. Obamacare protected passive investors at the expense of taxpayers.
Yeah, Reagan started the 'government is the problem' nonsense. But it was Bill Clinton that transformed the Federal government into a public/private partnership. It was Bill Clinton who shrank the size of government by using private sector contractors to deliver public services. It was Bill Clinton that laid the foundation for TARP and Obamacare to bail out the financial sector.
Bill Clinton's public/private partnership hasn't served the public; the public/private partnership only uses taxpayers as a piggy bank. The TEA Party has a justifiable gripe. But the wheeler dealers in the political establishment and political opportunists turned the TEA Party into some sort invitation to feed at the public hog trough. The TEA Party was sidetracked by identity politics and the TEA Party fell for it. The identity politics of a culture war diverted the TEA Party into the nonsense of a class war; the TEA Party became the defenders of the movers-and-shakers, the well connected, and the wealthy that the public/private partnership served. Taxed enough already? Hell no, they needed the public/private piggy bank. Ayn Rand spoke for the common man? The TEA Party became the very thing they claimed to oppose.
And then along came Trump and MAGA. Trump wasn't a small government, free trade, eliminate taxes President. Trump's MAGA message is that government doesn't work because the game is rigged. Government isn't the problem, the problem is who controls government. Trump was weeding Reagan and TEA Party Republicans out of elected office. Trump threatened the public/private partnership. The establishment of the public/private partnership threw every dirty trick in the identity politics gamebook at Trump and MAGA. The establishment of the public/private partnership fomented open violence against civil society in cities around the country.
Trump and MAGA remains a threat to Bill Clinton's public/private partnership. The dirty tricks of identity politics has not fazed the MAGA movement. So, now those whose affluence depends upon the taxpayer piggy bank are using the police state against Trump and MAGA. Even the military has voiced desire to defend and protect the public/private partnership.
Now the public/private partnership is using the COVID pandemic as a political weapon. The one thing we know for certain about the pandemic is that passive investors are not going to be harmed in any way. And if the pandemic recedes it will hurt their bottom lines. So, we need more vaccines, we need booster shots, we need mandates to stifle competition for consumer dollars, we need more middlemen government contractors to run things. The pandemic has been very good for the public/private partnership. And we're supposed to believe that government controlled by Wall Street wants the pandemic to end? That's as crazy as the TEA Party's class warfare nonsense. The only way out of the pandemic is to MAGA our way out.