It has to do with states controlled by Republican governors and legislatures.
That sorry phenomenon is not limited to the South.
See South Dakota and the Sturgis Super-Spreader events.
It’s about Republican electoral politics and nothing else.
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Ok, southern AND rural states. You know, Dumbfuckistan.
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Chicken fried steak is awesome, unless it’s one of those frozen Sysco abominations.
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DeSantis is working the GQP formula
- compound the hate … augment it … brew it …grow it
- embrace the anger toward others
- Be convinced that the “others” the cause of all of your problems
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If the positivity rate in Florida teens is 25%, that implies a significant number have natural immunity. It’s theoretically possible that gross carelessness of the DeSantis variety might produce herd immunity faster than in Northern states with higher vaxx rates. If that’s true, DeSantis might get back his Covid bragging points.
Again, you paint the South with a very broad brush, which is both silly and counterproductive.
There are many fine moderate and liberal folks in the South fighting hard against all of this.
One more time—and I’ll type slowly so you won’t misunderstand me again:
This is about Republican electoral politics and nothing else.
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To the extent possible, Biden has to federalize this, declare a national emergency, do what has to be done. Sure, the FreeDUMB! MAGAnut thumnsuckers and their mommies will protest like crazy, AR-15 pacifiers in hand, but he won’t lose any support among people inclined to look at him favorably. We have to stop catering to these crazies and morons.
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Even ifDeSantis were removed from office and a rational person put in his place and even if ideal stringent anti-covid policies begun (masks, lock downs, remote schools, etc) it would take weeks to see a change in the infection rates and death rates and bed occupancy percents.
I don’t understand the logic, if there is any, to DeSantis’ demands for policies that spread illness and death. I just do not understand how this will help him in his election bids.
edit
It ought to land his ass in jail for promoting what amounts to genocide of his state’s population.
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I’ll take faith in friends over unfounded overconfidence any day. And any time someone tells you that it’s pointless to resist, that means that they’re afraid that you’ll resist. Well, unless you’re a Trumpie, that is. But that’s where overconfidence comes in.
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It helps him with the delusional and stupid Trump Base—a group required in order to win GQP primaries for the nomination in '24.
That it also kills off a portion of that base is just a messy detail to be ignored.
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I never heard of Chicken Fried Steak until I moved to Dallas in 1974. Had my first at TI on the LBJ and North Central. I’m guessing it was the Sysco variety.
I have always taken that for granite.
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There is a fine distinction between a suicidal Death Cult and a homicidal one. MAGAe are the latter.
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OK…but I ain’t doin sweet tea. Maybe beer or a pinot noir…
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20% of suburbanites and ALL your traditional base might be. The GOP only needs to swing some of the center their way to pull off a victory in 2024. And almost anyone can rob votes from the center to a greater degree than Trump.
Two ways this strategy backfires even if it’s the only path to the nomination for some. One, like you said, it kills off a portion of the voters they need to win the general. And two, it turns off non-base voters they need to win the general.
As so many have said, the GOP coalition, consisting of diehard wingnuts, Reagan conservatives and right-leaning moderates, is fracturing, with the latter two groups increasingly turning away from it. These are big fish in a shrinking pond.
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Yeah, but you’re both smart and kind.
The voters DeSantis and Abbott are after are neither of those things—with a vengeance.
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Separate and apart from the South’s shitty politics, our summers are pretty much the mirror images of the Northeast’s winters. We’re all stuck in the temperature-controlled indoors as much as possible because the weather outside is pretty damn oppressive. That’s conducive to transmission, obviously.
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Can you lay that out with a bit of scientific backup? A high positivity number does not move with immunity. I don’t see how a high rate of infection is good for the Guv…
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You haven’t been to the NE recently, have you? This summer has been super-wet, super-hot and super-humid. And speaking of transmission, almost done rebuilding my manual. First time. Fingers crossed.
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