The GOP Is Locked in a Covid Disinformation Death Spiral. Here’s Why.
Liberals have been quick to lament the mixed messaging delivered by the CDC over mask mandates, but the whiplash many (especially parents) feel over the abrupt changes in policy are nothing next to the crisis in messaging now engulfing the GOP.
Within the span of a week, leaders such as Ron DeSantis, who has trolled his state with anti-vax propaganda and “Don’t Fauci My Florida” merchandise, delivered a press conference begging Florida residents to vaccinate—even while standing firmly by his state’s baffling anti-mask laws. Over on Fox News, host Tucker Carlson continued to beat an anti-vaccination drum loudly while Sean Hannity and Steve Doocy urged viewers to get the shot. In Congress, Mitch McConnell is now diverting campaign funds to run pro-vaccine advertising in his state, while defiant and substantially unvaccinated GOP members yesterday marched maskless over to the Senate to protest the new House mask requirements.
By this point Republicans understandably might be confused.
These conflicting messages land at a very bad time. A report on the CDC’s recent findings, just out today, revealed data showing the delta variant is more than just contagious—it spreads as easily as chickenpox. On top of that, vaccinated people who become infected (and likely only suffer a slight cold-like illness from it) carry as much viral load in their nasal respiratory areas as unvaccinated carriers, meaning even they can endanger anyone around who remains at high risk of serious illness or death. That complicates messaging around vaccinations because it requires nuance around how the vaccine protects from serious harm or death yet does not truly immunize fully. GOP voters who were already resistant to the idea of vaccination might misunderstand and decide that the vaccine “doesn’t protect people anyway, so why bother?” (This is already a widely circulating belief.)
So how to understand what is going on with the GOP? One way to think about this is to view the GOP as addicted to anti-mask, anti-vax messaging. Over the past year, defiance of government policy, expert advice, science, and perceived liberal finger-wagging formed a cultural and political identity for many Republicans. It was strong enough to gather them into like-minded groups online, to political rallies, and even to civic meetings, as evidenced by the cheering anti-maskers at the recent St. Louis City Hall meeting where, mind-boggling Ly, the city’s mask mandate was rescinded just as the delta variant began to surge.
That addiction overlaps heavily with support for the former president. Among those polled who said they will never be vaccinated, a disproportionate number are MAGA stalwarts. And vaccine misinformation isn’t the only lie they have been fed and absorbed. This same group is far more likely to believe the Big Lie about a stolen election; that Antifa was somehow responsible for January 6; and that the Democrats operate satanist child sex trafficking rings.
The anti-mask, anti-vax addiction also has its dealers. Pandemic denial translates into free media attention for its champions and big donation hauls for its most cynical purveyors such as Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene. There is therefore a strong incentive for the radical right to continue to message against common sense government policies and health expert advice, even if it harms or kills those who ingest the message. And perversely, the direr the situation becomes, the more extreme the rhetoric likely will grow because it is the only way far-right politicians can continue to bilk their followers in the face of increasingly bad evidence. Don’t be surprised, then, to see anti-vaxxer messengers double down and continue to put the most easily manipulated at risk.
We already see how this has played out with election lies. The fruitless hunt for fraud and increased calls for “audits” actually grew the more obvious it was that the election was in fact free and fair. Back in January, GOP leaders desperately tried to stop the election misinformation before it tore through so much of the base that they lost faith in the system and refused to turn out—as many did in the Georgia runoff, helping hand the Senate to the Democrats. Those same GOP leaders are now worried that anti-vax messaging with the base will ultimately hurt them in 2022 as the virus tears through unvaccinated America.
As with the election, some GOP leaders have begun to speak the truth, but are muddling their message. They are finally stating that vaccination is necessary, even while confusingly railing against mask mandates. Upon reflection, anti-mask laws, which run against common sense and endanger whole groups of people, are similar in character to the voter suppression bills being passed in GOP-controlled states: Both are designed to placate a confused base that has been spoon-fed a falsehood. The GOP finds itself caught in its own swamp of lies and misinformation and can’t message clearly without admitting they were lying before.
But here’s the thing: In the end, the raw numbers don’t lie. Because the huge wave of new cases from the delta variant is a pandemic of the unvaccinated, GOP beancounters can and have run the math, and they are worried for the future. A prolonged pandemic among GOP voters is perhaps the only wild card that could undo all their advantages in redistricting, gerrymandering and voter suppression. Already, hospital ICUs are nearly full in many red states like Florida and Missouri, while life in highly vaccinated blue regions like the Northeastern U.S. feels almost eerily back to normal.
GOP leaders are going to have to come up with ever more inventive explanations for why their supporters are sick and dying, while Democrats with their masks, social distancing and vaccines are thriving. If history is any guide, they will find a way to blame Hillary Clinton or Nancy Pelosi for it.
My biggest concern is for my students. Here is TX, Gov. Abbott had said that schools are not allowed to mandate masks. In a pandemic that is increasingly affecting children, how can I interpret that as anything but that he is knowingly sacrificing the lives of the next generation for his own career? It makes me heartsick.
The only unvaccinated people I care about are the children who aren't eligible for it yet, including my grandchildren. I have been responsible and cautious because of them. I've been like that since the beginning, last March. Once the children are safe, I really don't care about the willfully ignorant, at this point. They've made their choices and must now suffer the consequences. I know this sounds harsh, but, I'm exhausted trying to keep these people safe, while they have no consideration for anyone. For these Republicans, who have figured out that it's their base that's dying, too little too late. It's not like they're doing it because it's the right thing to do, it's for purely selfish, self serving reasons. How GOPish of them.