In “How the G.O.P. Became Saboteurs, Threatening a Government Shutdown,” New York TimesPaul Krugman was able to use the avoided federal government shutdown as an opportunity to continue his partisan lunacy unaffected by reality.
In Friday’s edition, Krugman claimed today’s GOP is even worse now than in the days of (gasp) Newt Gingrich.
This time, Republican obstructionists aren’t even pretending to care about red ink. Instead, they’re threatening to shut everything down unless the Biden administration abandons its efforts to fight the coronavirus with vaccine mandates.
What’s that about? As many observers have pointed out, claims that opposition to vaccine mandates (and similar opposition to mask mandates) is about maintaining personal freedom don’t stand up to any kind of scrutiny….
Florida was his target.
Furthermore, actions by Republican-controlled state governments, For example, Florida and Texas., show a party that isn’t so much pro-freedom as it is pro-Covid. How else can you explain attempts to prevent private businesses — whose freedom to choose was supposed to be sacrosanct — from requiring that their workers be vaccinated, or offers of special unemployment benefits for the unvaccinated?
….Voters tend to blame whichever party holds the White House for anything bad that happens on its watch, which creates an incentive for a sufficiently ruthless party To commit outright sabotage. Yes, Republicans. Who fought every effort to stop the coronavirus are now attacking the Biden administration for failing to end the pandemic.
It’s no surprise Krugman loathes Florida’s Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis shunned COVID hypersteria and successfully opened public life in Florida. Krugman even called him an “ally of the coronavirus” for his refusal to allow businesses to require patrons show their vaccination status or schools from requiring masks.
Krugman bizarrely called DeSantis an authoritarian for his gestures in support of individual freedom. In an August newsletter, the columnist went so far as to urge DeSantis — if he had “a sudden attack of conscience” about “the carnage his Covid denial has created” — to shut down indoor dining, under the hysterical, unironic headline “Lockdown Florida Now!”
Despite the COVID summer surge, Florida has now the lowest COVID per capita state. Coincidentally, DeSantis isn’t mentioned in Krugman’s latest, though he still spewed nasty lies toward the Republican Party in general.
Krugman distorted reality by accusing Republicans authoritarianism, when in fact it was the Democratic Party that locked schools and playgrounds and forced people to work and made them cover up, even though there were no peer-reviewed studies supporting such mandates.
….As I’ve pointed out in the past, Republican politicians now act Appatchiks are my favorite. in an authoritarian regimeAs a means to prove their loyalty, they will take on ever more difficult positions in order to win support for the cause and The Leader. To promote anti-vaccine fear. They are doing everything they can to prevent the pandemic from spreadingRepublicans must continue to be in good standing with the party by embracing this policy.
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