Unprecedented is an ad-free newsletter dedicated to exposing the dangerous lies, stupidity and corruption of today’s GOP. It’s absolutely FREE to read and subscribe, although if you’d like to select a paid subscription, I certainly welcome the support.
At the start of the pandemic, elected Republicans were eager to embrace the idea of sacrificing grandma and grandpa for the good of Wall Street and Trump’s re-election campaign.
As I noted here on 26 March, 2020, Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick was even willing to personally volunteer, stating: “As a senior citizen, are you willing to take a chance on your survival in exchange for keeping the America that all America loves for your children and grandchildren? If that’s the exchange, I'm all in.”
(UPDATE: The still-unsacrificed Patrick is now blaming undocumented immigrants and unvaccinated Black people for Covid.)
The GOP plan to kill off the ‘rents obviously struck a chord with some people.
As On Tyranny author Timothy Snyder spelled out on Substack yesterday, one rarely spoken-about theme of the pandemic has been the willingness of grown-up people who should know better to take every opportunity to breathe on their elderly loved ones, even when inside medical facilities, even after being explicitly told not to do so. And while stupidity may be their defense, greed is perhaps their true motive.
As Snyder writes:
Perhaps the people who do not wear masks and do not keep a distance know what they are doing... Killing the parent can mean inheriting the wealth. It can also remove the cost of caring for seniors.
As Ron Hogan noted on Twitter, Snyder’s notion of “generational harvesting” is a “dark, but plausible thesis.”
Greed Is Good. Unless It Helps Biden.
Republicans, of course, are no longer interested in using Covid-19 to help Wall Street or re-elect their country’s President. These “patriots” have pivoted away from saving the economy to completely wrecking the Biden recovery, hoping they will be able to wipe away their fingerprints before the midterms.
As writer Jill Filipovic tweeted in July, “the unvaccinated aren't just killing themselves; they're putting all of us at risk, and they’re threatening America's economic recovery—doing permanent damage to everyone who has struggled in the past year to stay afloat and make a living.”
Among those promoting the unvaccinated lifestyle of freedom-loving swimsuit models this past July was Texas Rep. Dan “Do Not Comply” Crenshaw whose campaign spent at least $144,000 on an “epic” 4th of July event. According to Forbes, “the party’s entertainment included a country singer, drone light show, two DJs and a Blink-182 tribute band.”
Of course, Dan Crenshaw does not work alone. Texas Governor Greg Abbott was also doing all he could to spread disease this summer. By August, people in Texas were dying of Covid at the rate of 1,000 per week.
Death in the Time of Free Vaccines
The latest analysis by Charles Gaba, who runs ACAsignups.net, shows that, “The COVID death rate since June is now 6x higher in the reddest tenth of the U.S. than the bluest tenth.”
That means that thousands upon thousands of Americans are dying preventable deaths because of, as I wrote previously, “the recklessness of GOP Governors and relentless misinformation emanating from Fox News and Facebook.”
In August 2021, the New York Times reported that: “Every age group under 55 saw its highest death toll of the pandemic.”
And despite the availability of free vaccines and everything we know about the safety guidelines that could slow the spread, earlier this month the number of U.S. deaths from Covid-19 in 2021 surpassed that of 2020.
All Deaths Are Not Created Equal
While the national numbers tell a story of unrelenting death and disease, the state-by-state variations present a dramatically different picture.
From the moment President Biden was elected, America moved into top gear in terms of vaccination distribution. The focus and competence of the Biden Administration meant that 200 million vaccine shots were delivered in the first 100 days. If all Americans had done their patriotic duty to get vaccinated, the disaster of the last few months could have been averted.
Instead, the supposedly “pro-life” GOP acted more like a death cult.
Looking at the state-by-state increase in deaths since Inauguration Day gives a clear picture of what happened.
As of 26 October 2021, according to Worldometers, there are 23 states with a Covid-19 death rate per million above the US average. In general, these 23 states represent a mix of: a) states hit hardest in 2020 by the first wave of the virus, when treatments were lacking and vaccines non-existent; and/or: b) states that in 2021 have demonstrably failed to protect lives through the use of mask mandates while also failing to get the majority of their citizenry vaccinated in a timely fashion.
Among these states, 14 have Republican Governors, 9 have Democratic Governors. Since Inauguration Day (20 January 2021), these GOP-governed states accounted for 146,434 deaths from Covid-19 and the Democratic-run states accounted for 55,947.
America’s Deadliest States for Covid-19
Here’s how all 23 states rank based on the percentage increase in Covid-19 deaths since Inauguration Day:
- Alabama (R): +145%
- Oklahoma (R): +142%
- West Virginia (R): +132%
- Georgia (R): +124%
- Florida (R): +119%
- South Carolina (R): +116%
- Texas (R): +110%
- Tennessee (R): +91%
- Arkansas (R): +85%
- Arizona (R): +81%
- Mississippi (R): +78%
- Nevada (D): +75%
- Louisiana (D): +73%
- New Mexico (D): +66%
- Michigan (D): +58%
- Pennsylvania (D): +56%
- Indiana (R): +51%
- Massachusetts (R): +37%
- New York (D): +36%
- New Jersey (D): +35%
- South Dakota (R): +33%
- Rhode Island (D): +30%
- Connecticut (D): +28%
All of the states where Covid-19 deaths have more than doubled since Inauguration Day are run by Republican Governors. Meanwhile, hard-hit early states such as New York, New Jersey, Rhode Island and Connecticut have seen dramatically lower increases in deaths in 2021.
In Texas alone, Greg Abbott’s virus-friendly policies have helped kill 37,061 Texans since Inauguration Day. In Florida, Ron DeSantis’s policies have contributed to a post-Inauguration Day death toll of 31,971. Both states have leapfrogged New York in total deaths and now rank second and third in total deaths, behind only California.
To look at it another way, just since January 20, in the age of free vaccines, Texas and Florida have seen more than 69,000 deaths—which is more than 5,000 more deaths from Covid-19 than, taken together, New Zealand, Australia, Taiwan, South Korea, Ireland, Israel, Switzerland, Sweden and Japan have seen since the start of the pandemic.
In recent months, Republicans have doubled down on “pro-life” policies that are designed to control women’s bodies while doing nothing to prevent abortions. Meanwhile, in schools and supermarkets and hospitals and bars and restaurants and beyond, they are showing us how little they truly care about protecting life.
Thousands upon thousands of Americans, young and old, are still dying needlessly. And let’s not pretend otherwise: Republicans know exactly what they are doing.
Thanks for reading! Want more? Choose a free or paid subscription and you’ll receive every issue of Unprecedented by email. If you’d like to support without that full-blown subscription commitment, you can also make a one-time donation.
Subscribe to Unprecedented
Subscribe to the newsletter and unlock access to member-only content.