Neanderthal Thinking

Will Greg Abbott upend all the progress President Biden is making in the war against Covid?

It’s March the 5th.

Joe Biden is still President.

And the war that we were losing under One-Term Failure Donald Trump—against a virus that has killed more than half a million Americans—is finally being won under the relentlessly competent Biden Administration.

The pace of vaccinations has accelerated to more than two million a day—and the only thing that could definitely fuck things up for everyone is more Trumplike GOP stupidity.

Enter Texas Governor Greg Abbott.

As Governor of the state ranking second in total cases (behind California), and third in total deaths, one might think Greg Abbott would be cautious about lifting Covid-19 restrictions at this perilous time.

Especially when you consider that Texas, even as it leads the country in new cases over the past week, is lagging behind 47 other states in vaccinations.

Texas is also the only state where five different variations are now known to be circulating—including the “troubling strains from the UK, Brazil and South Africa.”

In a state so at risk, where nearly 3 million have already been infected and 45,000 have died, only a total moron would decide now was the time to lift the mask mandate and allow all businesses to re-open at 100%.

Which is, of course, what Greg Abbott decided to do.

And which is why Joe Biden accused him of “Neanderthal thinking.”

People are dying. Republicans are clutching their pearls.

Instead of being outraged that the Governor of a state that’s home to 29 million Americans is setting out to kill even more of them (and us), formerly “pro-life” Republicans have, reliably, expressed more concern at Joe Biden’s word choice.

That’s right. After failing to be concerned by four-plus years of deplorable, childish insults from Donald Trump (whose attacks on people’s intelligence were often directed at women, minorities and, especially, minority women), Republicans are now “outraged” that 2020’s landslide election winner and Still Their President Joe Biden called a dumbass Governor a dumbass.

The real concern, of course, is that more spread of the disease—and more mutations of the virus—could result in a deadlier and more contagious variant, one that the current vaccines can’t counter.

And that could totally destroy all the progress the country is now making.

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