While the Delta variant rages, and employers tangle with whether or not to impose vaccine requirements and/or mask mandates, South Dakota's Governor Kristi Noem decides to let everyone flail away. According to AP, "she has no plans to ratchet up her messaging to urge people to get a COVID-19 vaccine, even as Republican leaders across the country try to persuade vaccine skeptics to roll up their sleeves and take the shots." So, no pushing the vaccine, and hey, why not mock the mask mandates on Twitter, too?
Then there was Noem's wildly tone-deaf tweet yesterday that workers just pack up and get another job if their employer says they have to be vaccinated. Here's a conservative's take on that nonsense:
It’s always there, right below the conservative veneer; and if you wait, it surfaces. This tweet highlights the difference between ‘conservative’ corporatism (traditional GOP class), and MAGA pragmatism (the blue collar dynamic).
The disconnect is found in the difference between what looks like a good ‘talking point’, and the reality of workers having to deal with the issue of mandated vaccinations in the workplace. Just quit your job… not so easy in practice.
The SD Governor seems to overlook that entire sectors of the economy are impacted by federal rules, not just individual companies. Hotel workers, restaurants, cooks and cleaners, mechanics, service industry writ large, are subject to forced business owner compliance with regulatory agencies. When the federal government initiates a mandate, all businesses within that sector are hit with the mandate. Switching jobs offers no security or escape from the mandate.
Now, one can scoff at "MAGA pragmatism," but the rest of that is essentially right. Most people, especially at the lower-income level, are living paycheck-to-paycheck. Just up and quitting, and going to look for another job isn't in the cards for most people. Noem has no idea how regular people live, though, so she'll happily tweet whatever foolishness pops into her head, as long as it fits her narrative.
However, this time she got caught, as evidenced by this MAGA blogger calling her out on it. The rest of the blog has some twaddle about Trump understanding the plight of the working man, how he connects with blue-collar workers, and so on. Maybe. But he does so by exploiting their fears and insecurities, pandering to nativism and xenophobia, overt racism, and all the rest of societal ills. Trump became a billionaire exploiting that class, not understanding it.
But that's Trump. Here's some reaction to Kristi Noem's pathetic tweet.
Thank you, Kristi Noem, for acknowledging the robust economy and job market created by President Biden. pic.twitter.com/5hZRyFbYYI
1. Red states must use their power to shield people from The System. As we’ve lost every other cultural institution, states are quite literally ALL we have left to protect us.
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