Eric Boehlert’s newsletter today doesn’t pull any punches. And he’s right. These people are making us sick.
Trump’s deplorables are keeping America sick.
The country could effectively put the crippling Covid-19 pandemic behind us, but Trump supporters, including Republican officials, are making that impossible by waging a cultural war against common-sense pandemic solutions, such as wearing masks to curb the virus’ spread. As most countries now enjoy post-coronavirus recoveries, Trump’s America careens deeper into the crisis. If only somebody had warned us about how dangerous his fanatic followers are.
Hillary Clinton, of course did just that, and the press crucified her for it. In September 2016, she suggested half of Trump supporters fit into a “basket of deplorables.” The baskets included, ” “racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamaphobic.”
At the time, a Reuters/Ipsos poll found 44 percent of Trump supporters viewed blacks as ruder than whites, 46 percent viewed them as more criminal and almost 50 percent viewed them as more violent. A Public Policy poll found 61 percent of Trump supporters thought Obama was born in a foreign country, and 66 percent believed he was is a Muslim— Clinton’s comment was an accurate one.
Still, the D.C. press clutched its pearls (‘How dare she?’) and staggered around for days over the Clinton statement. The press elevated the throw-away line to Very Serious status, as a Beltway full of commentators, following the GOP’s orchestrated lead, offered up ceaseless tsk-tsk analysis.
In terms of newsworthiness, the press treated Clinton’s “deplorable” story on par with Trump’s fraudulent charity, his illegal “university,” his refusal to release his tax returns, and his mocking of the disabled, among the candidate’s many blockbuster transgressions.
Looking back, “Clinton’s comments about Trump’s human deplorables were overly generous,” Salon’s Chauncey DeVega noted in January. “Trump’s reign has encouraged a wave of lethal hate crimes and other violence against nonwhites, Muslims, Jews, gays and lesbians. Trump’s foot soldiers have engaged in acts of political violence and terrorism against Democrats and others deemed to be the “enemy.””
And then came the pandemic.
Read on… Boehlert goes on to show a long list of right-wingers refusing to follow guidelines, arguing with business owners, threatening violence and otherwise acting well… deplorably.
I’m sorry that it’s unpleasant to acknowledge that we live in a country that coddles this sort of ignorant immature behavior but we do.
This is the lead singer for that obnoxious group that proudly calls itself the Deplorable Choir:
Update.
Rep. Louie Gohmert — a Texas Republican who has been walking around the Capitol without a mask — has tested positive for the coronavirus, according to multiple sources.
Gohmert was scheduled to fly to Texas on Wednesday morning with President Donald Trump and tested positive in a pre-screen at the White House. The eighth-term Republican told CNN last month that he was not wearing a mask because he was being tested regularly for the coronavirus.
Gohmert attended Tuesday’s blockbuster House Judiciary Committee hearing with Attorney General William Barr in person, where lawmakers were seated at some distance from one another.
But footage from before the hearing shows Gohmert and Barr walking together in close contact, with neither wearing a mask.
Justice Department spokeswoman Kerri Kupec said Barr will be tested for coronavirus on Wednesday.