It is usually fairly easy to figure out the motivations for almost anything Republicans do. Also, as I’ve noted in the past, it’s usually easy to figure out what evil they’ve been up to by simply taking note of what they are accusing others of doing. But I confess that I’m having a bit of trouble figuring out what’s behind something the Repubicans have been doing lately.
Some, but not all, Republicans, are now urging people to get vaccinated. This is the case even for some Republicans who have been disparaging the vaccines and casting doubt on their efficacy, Sean Hannity being a case in point.
It’s significant that not all Republicans have embraced rationality, though a significant number have done so in the last week or so. I have noted on this blog many a time that Republicans typically speak with one voice, while Democrats have never in recent times (the last 50 years or so) spoken with one voice or unanimously pounded away on a talking point. It’s one of the reasons, and a very significant reason, that Republicans are able to win despite their penchant for screwing their own voters. So the lack of unanimity on vaccines, at least right now, is a remarkable thing.
One can understand the trepidation on the part of those Republican politicians that have stuck with their anti-vaccine talking points, or have gone silent on the issue. They have created a base that is now so susceptible to conspiratorial thinking that a large percentage of that base buys into QAnon type conspiracy theories that were not created by the Republican Party, but to which the party has catered. If a Republican politician vociferously favors vaccinations, he or she runs the risk of being branded a turncoat by the folks running the conspiracy factories.
On the other hand, failing to embrace at least a semblance of rationality puts that politician at risk of alienating the already shrinking cohort of semi-rational Republicans who have not yet come to fully appreciate that the party of their parents and grandparents is now the party of fascism. Republicans can’t win without their votes. Republicans have created a situation in which they must pander to the nutcases, which they can no longer do in code. If they fail to pander, the nutcases simply won’t vote. But the more they pander, the more they drive away the David Brooks reading Republicans who cling to the belief that there is still a respectable center hidden somewhere in the Republican Party.
So, back to my original question. What is driving some Republicans, even Mitch McConnell to speak out ever so reasonably, if in an ever so low key, in support of vaccines. A good rule of thumb in determining Republican motivation is going with the most despicable motivation that comes to mind, but in this case, it’s not clear that will get us an answer.
It has nothing to do, of course, with wanting people to continue to live. They don’t care how many people die, and, in any event, right now the people who are dying are in such deep red areas, a product of Jim Crow and gerrymandering, that those deaths are not likely to really hurt them at the ballot box. Nor is there any sign that the brain dead are somehow coming back to life and demanding some semblance of truth from their propagandists. All indications are that they are quite happy to die for their illusions.
One possibility is that the folks who ultimately pull the strings, the big money donors, aren’t thrilled about the possibility of another shutdown and have put pressure on the Republicans. Another possibility is that despite their public proclamations that the House is theirs for the taking in 2022, their internal polling is saying something different.
It’s all still something of a mystery, though I’m sure things will be clarified over the next few weeks.
In the meantime, it’s somewhat entertaining to watch the Republicans try to satisfy two diametrically opposed points of view at the same time. Naturally, they’re trying to blame the Democrats for the vaccine “hesitancy” they have created. Given the state of our media, that might work to some extent. Watch to see if the media meme becomes “both sides bear responsibility for the fact that people who believe in QAnon, listen to Republican politicians, watch Fox News and Tucker Carlson won’t get vaccinated”. But at the same time Republicans are denying responsibility, they are simultaneously giving aid and comfort to the vaccine deniers, which somewhat undermines the “it’s the Democrats fault!” argument. At least it should in any sane polity.
If not for gerrymandering and voter suppression, the Republicans might be headed for a crushing defeat a year from now, despite the fact that the president’s party usually loses seats in an off year election. It’s possible that even with those advantages, they are headed toward a loss, as a result of which they are uncharacteristically floundering on the vaccine issue.
But it will all work out for them, so long as Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema continue to stand up for the right of the minority to deprive the majority of the right to vote and the ability to enact meaningful change.
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