It's nice to see these these disgusting death cult leaders receive the disdain they deserve, rather than these so-called reporters on way too many of our networks treating this deadly game they're playing as though it's all just political theater that isn't costing the lives of countless Americans.
CNN's Jim Acosta took apart Republicans Ron DeSantis, Josh Hawley, John Kennedy, Marjorie Taylor Greene and others for being more worried about "owning the libs" and scoring some sick sort of political points fighting the science and attacking Dr. Anthony Fauci, rather than fighting the spread of covid, and had some suggestions for what we could be naming these new variants once we run out of Greek letters.
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Florida's Republican Governor, Ron DeSantis, is barring school districts in the state from enacting mask mandates. Never mind that conservatives tend to support local control over their schools, that's only part of the problem. The problem is that Florida has been one of the leaders in the US in covid cases, just as kids too young to be vaccinated are heading back to the classroom.
The delta variant is slamming states where vaccination states are lagging behind much of the country. The map is very clear there. One of those delta hot spots is Missouri, where Senator Josh Hawley has been going after the Biden administration for requiring vaccinations for federal employees.
HAWLEY: What we're seeing is Joe Biden and the left using a campaign of fear and intimidation in order to try to keep the country in a perpetual state of crisis and centralize control and power over people's lives.
ACOSTA: He seemed okay with fear and intimidation on January 6th, but I digress. Hawley understands the importance of the vaccine. He's already gotten his. The big reason for vaccines for federal employees, of course, is that vaccination rates are too low to end the pandemic in this country. We are now dealing with the consequences of our actions.
The virus mutated into the delta variant, which is now unleashing misery all over the US. Hospitals are filling up. The number of dead rising again. So, yes, governments, corporations, they're requiring vaccinations. And yes, some local leaders are calling on masks to return so kids can safely go back to school, so we can prevent more lockdowns.
As this pandemic grinds on, our top scientists warn the virus could mutate into other variants. Dr. Anthony Fauci says the next variant could be more contagious and more lethal.
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Worse than the variant we're dealing with now. It makes sense then, that some in the GOP have regrets. Governor Asa Hutchinson of Arkansas says he now wishes he hadn't signed a law back in April preventing local jurisdictions from enacting their own mask mandates.
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Some Republicans have more than just regrets. South Carolina Congressman Ralph Norman tested positive for COVID. Norman and his GOP colleague, Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, have sued House Speaker Nancy Pelosi over masking requirements up on Capitol Hill.
Other reports are coming in about GOP politicians dying from COVID complications after they mocked vaccinations. And speaking of Greene, listen to what she had to say about health care workers going door to door encouraging people to get vaccinated.
GREENE: In the south, we all love our second amendment rights. And we're not real big on strangers showing up on our front door, are we? They might not like the welcome they get.
ACOSTA: DeSantis has put his own stamp in this anti-science crusade. Bashing Dr. Fauci. Selling koozies and t-shirts that say "Don't Fauci My Florida." DeSantis had this to say to president Biden who urged GOP governors to get out of the way of the administration's COVID efforts.
DESANTIS: So why don't you do your job. Why don't you get this border secure. And until you do that, I don't want to hear a blip about COVID from you.
ACOSTA: What about the border? It sounds like I know you are, but what am I? What's next? I'm rubber and you're glue? Nana boo boo? Not exactly a JKF profile in courage moment.
Or like Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana, another delta variant hot spot. That Senator Kennedy recently told people in his state to vaccinate or don't vaccinate. Whatever.
KENNEDY: We need to spend all of our efforts trying to convince folks that the costs of the vaccine are substantially less than the benefit. Let me say it again. If you don't want to take the vaccine, don't take it.
ACOSTA: Don't take it? Hold on. These politicians, they know better. Take a look at this.
DeSantis is a graduate of Harvard Law and Yale. Hawley went to Yale Law and Stanford. Kennedy studied at Oxford, UVA and Vanderbilt.
Anybody who's gone to an elite university not only passed a science class, but should also value expertise and the experts are telling us to listen to the science. That it's better to be vaccinated. That masks will help in areas where COVID rates are soaring.
And yet some of these GOP leaders won't say the science part out loud. Just the other day, and we've been talking about this this afternoon, an 11-month-old girl in Texas, another hard-hit state, had to be flown 150 miles away for treatment because hospital beds are full in her town.
People should not have to die so some politicians can own the libs. They're not owning anybody. But they may end up owning the pandemic, because they're prolonging it.
Perhaps it's time to start naming these new variants that may be coming out after them. Instead of the delta variant, why not call it the DeSantis variant?
We could sell beer koozies that say "Don't Florida My Fauci," and use the money to help pay for all of the funerals that will be coming in the days to come.
