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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) One of the Republican Partys most prominent rising stars is mocking new government recommendations calling for more widespread use of masks to blunt a coronavirus surge.

Did you not get the CDCs memo? Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis joked Wednesday before an almost entirely unmasked audience of activists and lawmakers crammed into an indoor hotel ballroom in Salt Lake City. I dont see you guys complying.

From Texas to South Dakota, Republican leaders responded with hostility and defiance to updated masking guidance from public health officials, who advise that even fully vaccinated people return to wearing masks indoors if they live in areas with high rates of virus transmission. The backlash reopened the culture war over pandemic restrictions just as efforts to persuade unvaccinated Americans to get shots appeared to be making headway.

Egged on by former President Donald Trump, the response reflects deep resistance among many GOP voters to restrictions aimed at containing a virus they feel poses minimal personal threat. The party is also tapping into growing frustration and confusion over ever-shifting rules and guidance.

But the resistance has real implications for a country desperate to emerge from the pandemic. Beyond vaccinations, there are few tools other than mask-wearing and social distancing to contain the spread of the delta variant, which studies have shown to be far more contagious than the original strain.

Many Republican leaders, however, are blocking preventative measures, potentially making it harder to tame virus outbreaks in conservative communities.

At least 18 Republican-led states have moved to prohibit vaccine passports or to ban public entities from requiring proof of vaccination. And some have prohibited schools from requiring any student or teacher to wear a mask or be vaccinated.

In its announcement, the CDC cited troubling new thus far unpublished research that found that fully vaccinated people can spread the delta variant just like the unvaccinated, putting those who havent received the shots or who have compromised immune systems at heightened risk. The CDC also recommended that all teachers, staff and students wear masks inside school buildings, regardless of vaccination status.

The backlash was swift.

We wont go back. We wont mask our children, declared Trump, who routinely cast doubt on the value of mask-wearing and rarely wore one in public while he was in office. Why do Democrats distrust the science?

Missouri Gov. Mike Parson called the new guidance disappointing and concerning and inconsistent with the overwhelming evidence surrounding the efficacy of the vaccines and their proven results.

He, like others, warned that the measure would undermine efforts to encourage vaccine holdouts to get their shots by casting further doubt on the efficacy of approved vaccines, which have been shown to dramatically decrease the risk of death or hospitalization, despite the occurrence of breakthrough cases.

Last week, White House officials reported that vaccination rates were on the rise in some states where COVID-19 cases were soaring, as more Republican leaders implored their constituents to lay lingering doubts aside and get the shots to protect themselves. That includes Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey, who has pleaded with unvaccinated residents, saying they are the ones letting us down.

This self-inflicted setback encourages skepticism and vaccine hesitancy at a time when the goal is to prevent serious illnesses and deaths from COVID-19 through vaccination, Parson tweeted. This decision only promotes fear & further division among our citizens.

The announcement will unfortunately only diminish confidence in the vaccine and create more challenges for public health officials people who have worked tirelessly to increase vaccination rates, echoed Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey, who has banned mask and vaccine mandates in his state.

In his Wednesday speech, DeSantis took particular aim at the CDCs call for kids to wear masks in the classroom.

Its not healthy for these students to be sitting there all day, 6-year-old kids in kindergarten covered in masks, he said though there is no evidence that wearing masks is harmful to children older than toddler age.

And in South Dakota, Gov. Kristi Noem called out the CDC for shifting its position on masking AGAIN. She said that those who are worried about the virus can get vaccinated, wear a mask or stay home, but that Changing CDC guidelines dont help ensure the publics trust.

On Capitol Hill, some Republicans were in revolt after the Capitols attending physician sent a memo informing members that masks would again have to be worn inside the House at all times.

The change set off a round robin of insults, with Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi calling Republican House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy a moron after McCarthy tweeted, The threat of bringing masks back is not a decision based on science, but a decision conjured up by liberal government officials who want to continue to live in a perpetual pandemic state.

The mandate also prompted an angry confrontation, as Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., verbally assailed Rep. Burgess Owens, R-Utah, who exited the House chamber and walked past her without a face covering.

Conservatives also forced a vote to adjourn the chamber in protest to the mandate, which was defeated along mostly party lines.

We have a crisis at our border, and were playing footsie with mask mandates in the peoples House, railed Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, the motions sponsor. The American people are fed up. They want to go back to life. They want to go back to business. They want to go back to school without their children being forced to wear masks.

The nation is averaging nearly 62,000 new COVID-19 cases a day, and the vast majority of those hospitalized and dying havent been vaccinated. As of Sunday, 69% of American adults had received one vaccine dose, and 60% had been fully vaccinated, according to the CDC.

Last year, early on in the pandemic, public health officials told Americans that masks offered little protection against the virus (and could even increase the risk of infection). The guidance was driven by a lack of knowledge about how the novel virus spread and a desire to save limited mask supplies for medical workers. But the CDC soon changed course and advised Americans to wear masks indoors and outdoors if they were within 6 feet (1.8 meters) of one another.

Then in April of this year, as vaccination rates rose sharply, the agency eased its guidelines, saying fully vaccinated Americans no longer needed to wear masks outdoors unless they were in big crowds of strangers. In May, the guidance was eased further, saying fully vaccinated people could safely stop wearing masks outdoors in crowds and in most indoor settings.

Subsequent CDC guidance said fully vaccinated people no longer needed to wear masks at schools, either.

Karine Jean-Pierre, the White House principal deputy press secretary, on Wednesday defended the changes, saying the CDC did exactly what it was supposed to do.

The CDC has to adapt to the virus, she said, and unfortunately because not enough Americans have stepped up to get vaccinated, they had to provide new guidance to help save lives.

___

Colvin reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Jonathan J. Cooper in Phoenix, Alan Fram in Washington, Summer Ballentine in Jefferson City, Mo., and Alexandra Jaffe aboard Air Force One contributed to this report.

Original post:
CDC mask guidance met with hostility by leading Republicans - Associated Press

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After nearly a year and a half of telling their constituents that its their constitutional right to ignore coronavirus guidelines and public health restrictions, it seems to be dawning on leaders in the Republican Party that letting a deadly and very infectious disease run rampant through their states and localitiesnot to mention the rest of the countryis actually a terrible idea.

So now, as the highly contagious Delta variant is creating a new surge of infections, the time has come to reverse course. But theres an obvious problem: After feeding a large swath of the country a steady diet of potentially fatal misinformation, distrust in the government, and demonization of the other, while insisting that individual freedom is more important than the collective good, its nearly impossible to convince the true believers to do otherwise. For decades now, the conservative ethos has been predicated on a selfish individualism that informs everything from social and tax policies to medical care. And of course, this ideology, further amped up by a deranged president, has plagued the US response to COVID-19 since the beginning. Now, were all paying the price.

Unlike the early days of vaccine distribution, the US has an embarrassment of riches when it comes to vaccine supply, which has been scientifically proven to prevent serious illness, hospitalization, and death. Yet, according to the Washington Post, as of Julyonly 49 percent of eligible people in the US are fully vaccinated. And theres one major reason for this: GOP leadershipfrom state and local politicians to members of Congress to the conservative media amplification machine. So now, as 41 percent ofconservatives choose not to get vaccinated,cases are up nationwide but especially in states where vaccine rates are low. The repercussions are dire. In Florida and Arkansas, every county is recording high transmission rates. In Alabama, doctors describe dying patients begging for the vaccinebut its too late.

None of this is surprising. From encouraging lockdown proteststo eschewing masksand downplaying the severity of the virus, the GOP followed the lead of its president and underplayed science. Even when its standard bearer, former President Donald Trump, contracted the virus and was hospitalized, nothing changed. Trump had a particularly contradictory stance: at once whining about not getting enough credit for the vaccine, opting to get quietly vaccinated before he left office, and doing nothing to encourage his supporters to get their shots. He just further added to the politicization of it all by making fun of mask-wearing andinsisting the virus wasnothing to be afraid ofeven after his hospitalization.

Republican governors have had to contend with the tragic surge of cases firsthand. Last week, Alabama Republican Gov. Kay Ivey begged her constituents to get vaccinated. Since it is crucial to cast blame for rising COVID ratesnew infections are up 84 percent in her stateat anyone but Republicans, she targeted unvaccinated people. Its time to start blaming the unvaccinated folks, not the regular folks, she said. Its the unvaccinated folks that are letting us down. (And not the people who encouraged them.) But even though Ivey declared a state of emergency in her state in March 2020, shes been pushing the personal responsibility narrative, signaling that the danger has passed. Evidence clearly indicates that the worst is behind us, Ivey saidway back in May 2020,when she announced the lifting of restrictions.

In Arkansas, Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson said on CNNs State of the Union that he blames the resistance to getting vaccinations on myths and false information. Not that he has any responsibility for the crisis unfolding in hisstate. I made the decision that its really not what the government can tell you to do, he told host Jake Tapper, but it is the community and their engagement and citizens talking to other citizens and trusted advisers. Hutchison does,however, believe the state government can tell you what to do when it comes to mask-wearing. Earlier this year, he approved a statewide ban on mask mandates. The law, which was introduced in March, does not allow any local jurisdictions to require masks.

Earlier this week, 16 of the 27 members of Tennessees GOP Senate caucus released a letter urging the public to get vaccinated. Unfortunately, efforts to get more people vaccinated have been hampered by politicization of COVID-19, the letter said. This should not be political. But earlier this week, under pressure from GOP lawmakers, the states health department halted all vaccine outreach to minorsfor all diseases, not just COVID-19.Only about39 percent of Tennesseans have received a COVID vaccine. As my colleague Hannah Levintova reported, a beloved Nashville conservative talk radio host was recently hospitalized with severe COVID and begged his listeners to ignore his previous skepticism and get the shot.

But perhaps most egregious of all is Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who is not even an elected official. Sanders, who is known for being former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabees daughter and Trumps press secretary for two years, is challenging Hutchison to be Arkansas next governor. So, naturally, she had to weigh in on the surge in her state in an op-edplacing the blame on none other thanPresident Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris! If President Biden, Vice President Harris, and others on the left truly care about increasing the vaccination rate and saving lives, she wrote, they should admit they were wrong to cast doubt on Operation Warp Speed and give President Trump and his team the credit.

When Trump was still in charge and downplaying the virus, he was also bragging about Operation Warp Speed, a government program that fast-tracked the vaccine. At presidential debates, Harris and Biden both said that they would take a vaccine, only if it had been approved by scientists and public health officialsnot the former president. (After all, Trump had once wondered aloud about ingesting bleach to kill the virus.) But Sanders took their comments out of context and said that because Harris and Biden had cast doubt on the vaccine, people in Arkansas are hesitant. Never mind the mind-blowing premise here. Does Sanders really expect us to believe that Republican voters are taking their cues from Biden and Harris?

The latest coronavirus surge has led the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to reissue a mask recommendation even for vaccinated individuals in states where there has been a surge of infections of the new variant. The current state of the public health crisis now feels eerily similar to summer 2020, when no vaccines were available. After all, Republican governors like Texas Gov. Greg Abbott yet again will contort that narrative in the most destructive way.

On a personal level, it can be frustrating to see so many people choose not to get vaccinated. Theyve made things more dangerous for everyone. But railing against them, as Ivey did, is misguided. The idea that personal freedom is more important than public health has become a do-or-die tenet for Republicansliterally. Theres something obscene about seeing them act surprised by what their own voters truly believe. The GOP leadership has turned masks, lockdowns, and now vaccines into a culture war. Conservatives spent so much time owning the libs, they forgot to care about the lives of their constituents. The increase in infections, hospitalizations, and deaths is indeed tragic for everyone. But Republican leaders have no one to blame but themselves.

See the original post here:
The Obscene Hypocrisy of Republicans Blaming Everyone But Themselves: The COVID Edition Mother Jones - Mother Jones

WASHINGTON Republicans have made Americans concerns over rising prices their primary line of attack on President Bidens economic agenda, seeking to derail trillions of dollars in spending programs and tax cuts by warning that they will produce rocketing 1970s-style inflation.

They have seized on the increasing costs of gasoline, used cars, and other goods and services to accuse the president of stoking Bidenflation, first with the $1.9 trillion stimulus bill he signed in March and now with a proposed $3.5 trillion economic bill that Democrats have begun to draft in the Senate.

There are unusually large amounts of uncertainty over the path of inflation in the coming months, given the vagaries around restarting a pandemic-stricken economy. Yet even many economists who worry that high prices will linger longer than analysts initially expected say there is little reason to believe the problem will worsen if Mr. Biden succeeds in his attempts to bolster child care, education, paid leave, low-emission energy and more.

Theres been a lot of fear-mongering concerning inflation, Joseph E. Stiglitz, a liberal economist at Columbia University, said on Tuesday during a conference call to support Mr. Bidens economic plans. But the presidents spending proposals, he said, are almost entirely paid for.

If they are passed as proposed, he added, there is no conceivable way that they would have any significant effect on inflation.

The debate over the effects of the proposals has nothing to do with the current angst over inflation, said Mark Zandi, a Moodys Analytics economist who has modeled Mr. Bidens plans.

Still, rising inflation fears have forced the president and his aides to shift their economic sales pitch to voters. The officials have stressed the potential for his efforts to lower the cost of health care, housing, college and raising children, even as they insist the current bout of inflation is a temporary artifact of the pandemic recession.

The administrations defense has at times jumbled rapid price increases with inflation-dampening efforts that could take years to bear fruit. And officials concede that the president recently overstated his case on a national stage by claiming incorrectly that Mr. Zandi had found his policies would reduce inflation.

The economics of the inflation situation are muddled: The United States has little precedent for the crimped supply chains and padded consumer savings that have emerged from the recession and its aftermath, when large parts of the economy shut down or pulled back temporarily and the federal government sent $5 trillion to people, businesses and local governments to help weather the storm. The economy remains seven million jobs short of its prepandemic total, but employers are struggling to attract workers at the wages they are used to paying.

But the political danger for Mr. Biden, and opportunity for Republicans who have sought to derail his plans, is clear.

The price index that the Federal Reserve uses to track inflation was up nearly 4 percent in May from the previous year, its fastest increase since 2008. Republicans say it is self-evident that more spending would further inflame those increases a new rationale for a longstanding conservative attack on the vast expansion of government programs that Mr. Biden is proposing.

July 30, 2021, 7:25 p.m. ET

Nine out of 10 respondents to a new national poll for The New York Times by the online research firm Momentive, which was previously known as SurveyMonkey, say they have noticed prices going up recently. Seven in 10 worry those increases will persist for an extended period. Half of respondents say that if the increases linger, they will pull back on household spending to compensate.

Administration officials acknowledge that inflation worries are softening consumer confidence, including in the University of Michigans survey of consumer sentiment, even as the economy rebounds from recession with its strongest annual growth rate in decades.

The issue has given Mr. Bidens opponents their clearest and most consistent message to attack an agenda that remains popular in public opinion polls.

Theres no question we have serious inflation right now, Senator Patrick J. Toomey, Republican of Pennsylvania, told CNNs State of the Union on Sunday. There is a question about how long it lasts. And Im just worried that the risk is high that this is going to be with us for a while. And the Fed has put itself in a position where its going to be behind the curve. You combine that with massively excess spending, and it is a recipe for serious problems.

Some Republicans say a portion of Mr. Bidens spending plans would not drive up prices particularly the bipartisan agreement he and senators are negotiating to invest nearly $600 billion in roads, water pipes, broadband and other physical infrastructure. But the party is unified in criticizing the rest of the presidents proposals in a way that many economists say ignores how they would actually affect the economy.

Some of the proposals would distribute money directly and quickly to American consumers and workers by raising wages for home health care workers, for example, and continuing an expanded tax credit that effectively functions as a monthly stipend to all but the highest-earning parents. But they would also raise taxes on high earners, and much of the spending would create programs that would take time to find their way into the economy, like paid leave, universal prekindergarten and free community college.

Some conservative economists worry that the relatively small slice of immediate payments would risk further heating an already hot economy, driving up prices. The direct payments in the proposals would exacerbate pre-existing inflationary pressures, put additional pressure on the Fed to withdrawal monetary policy support earlier than it had planned, and put at risk the longevity of the recovery, said Michael R. Strain, an economist at the conservative American Enterprise Institute.

Other economists in and outside the administration say those effects would be swamped by the potential of the spending programs like paid leave to reduce inflationary pressure.

The economics of these investments strongly belies the Republican critique because these are investments that will yield faster productivity growth, greater labor supply, the expansion of the economys supply side which very clearly dampens inflationary pressures, not exacerbates them, Jared Bernstein, a member of Mr. Bidens Council of Economic Advisers, said in an interview.

Administration officials pivoted their sales pitch on the presidents agenda last week to emphasize the potential for his plans to reduce prices.

Mr. Bidens agenda is about lowering costs for families across the board, Mike Donilon, a senior adviser at the White House, told reporters. He said officials believed they were in a strong position against Republican attacks on inflation, in part by citing Mr. Zandis recent analysis. The president also referred to that analysis last week during a forum in Ohio on CNN, saying it had found that his proposals would reduce inflation.

The Moodys analysis did not say that; instead, it found that some of Mr. Bidens spending plans could help relieve price pressures several years from now. It specifically cited proposals to build additional affordable housing units nationwide, which could help hold down rents and housing prices and reduce the cost of prescription drugs.

White House officials concede that Mr. Biden overstated the analysis but point to more measured remarks in a speech this month, when he said his plans would enhance our productivity raising wages without raising prices.

More:
Inflation Is New Battle Line as Republicans and Biden Spar Over Spending - The New York Times

Republicans have expressed selective rage amid the rise of the Delta variant: They rail against the return of indoor masking but are far less vocal about vaccine requirements.

Why it matters: Masking may help reduce the spread of the coronavirus, but the real solution to the pandemic is getting more Americans vaccinated. Increased support for that including the use of heavier-handed methods like mandates will only increase its chance of succeeding.

Driving the news: President Biden announced Thursday that federal employees and contractors will be asked to provide their vaccine status. Those who don't attest to being fully vaccinated will have to wear masks, social distance and undergo frequent testing.

Between the lines: The GOP's response to such vaccine requirements has been much more muted than its reaction to updated CDC masking guidance saying that even fully vaccinated people should resume wearing masks indoors in high-COVID areas.

Yes, but: The governors in many red states have banned various forms of vaccine mandates, including from private businesses, government agencies and other employers.

What they're saying: All but the most fringey Republicans realize that vaccines are the biggest way out of this problem," said Brendan Buck, a senior aide to former House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.).

What we're watching: For now, many vaccine requirements fall short of being mandates, although many private employers may not be able to afford to give workers a choice.

Read more:
The Republicans' mixed mandate message - Axios

The Democrats are rolling out a counterintuitive new messaging strategy in anticipation of the 2022 elections: Republicans are defunding the police. Its an attempt by Democrats to counter attacks from the GOP about being weak on law enforcement; liberal lawmakers hope they can flip the right-wing narrative and argue that the legislative record shows the Democratic Party is in fact the fiercest ally of the police.

Liberal lawmakers hope they can flip the right-wing narrative and argue that the legislative record shows the Democratic Party is in fact the fiercest ally of the police.

Unfortunately this playbook is too cute by half to work well. In all likelihood it won't have the power to change minds. And by giving credence to what has always been a bad faith line of attack from the Republicans, it could make future internal debates over the scope of criminal justice reform all the more difficult.

Akela Lacy reported in The Intercept on Wednesday that Democrats have already started embracing the narrative that the GOP is to blame for defunding the police because every Republican in Congress voted against the American Rescue Plan the massive coronavirus relief bill passed in March that provided billions of dollars for funding local police departments. Democrats are also arguing that the GOPs attempt to avoid responsibility for the Capitol riot an attack that resulted in brutal injuries and death for Capitol Police officers reflects apathy toward law enforcement.

Democrats have accused Republicans of hypocrisy on defending police funding in the past, but the messaging is looking increasingly systematic. Several Democratic members of Congress like Reps. Ted Lieu of California, Val Demings of Florida and Madeleine Dean of Pennsylvania have been pushing this new message, as has the Democratic National Committee.

Republicans have spent an entire year essentially lying about what Democrats support and what Democrats have voted for, a Democratic aide told The Intercept. The fact that Democrats have really settled on a line here to push back on it, and to really go on offense, excites Democrats.

But as the Democrats prepare to double down on their new line of attack on Republicans, they should ask themselves two questions: Will this work, and is it worth it? On both fronts, there is good reason for skepticism.

The notion that Democrats can wrest the pro-police mantle from Republicans is far-fetched. The contours of the debate right now have little to do with staffing levels during economic recessions or how much police officers lives are respected or honored as they navigate their very difficult jobs. In reality, the debate is about what role the police should play in our society and what communities they're meant to be protecting.

The heart of the matter is a racialized culture war over law and order a reactionary concept with deep roots in American history that was popularized by Richard Nixons 1968 presidential run. Under the law-and-order ethos, aggressive policing represents a bulwark against social change and struggles for racial equality, and is seen as a way to deal with poverty and social dysfunction through imprisonment and surveillance. The law-and-order ethos was a critical tool in the Southern Strategy toolkit, an electoral strategy that sought to win over white voters in the South by appealing to racism against Black Americans.

Democrats simply cannot win the whos more aligned with the police debate unless they want to lean into the kind of white racial resentment politics that Republicans have mastered to monopolize the white conservative vote. That would mean giving up any ambition of reforming policing, dropping their commitment to multicultural democracy and turning their backs on anti-poverty programs as a way to deal with inequality. Fortunately, the Democrats are not going to do that. But thats bad news for this new pro-police pivot.

The other reason the Democrats strategy is unlikely to be effective is the fact that Republican narratives about liberal positions on policing were never grounded in reality in the first place. Its unclear how countermessaging or accusations of hypocrisy can overcome such an entrenched partisan mythology.

After the police killing of George Floyd in 2020, the Democratic establishment called for reforms but swiftly disavowed any association with defund the police movements, and as an analyst for Data for Progress noted in The Appeal, the movement to defund the police went essentially unrepresented at the ballot box. In fact, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., implied that police should be given more funds.

But that had no bearing on the messaging surrounding the presidential race: During the run-up to the 2020 elections, then-President Donald Trump and the Republicans consistently lied about the Democrats position on policing and portrayed them as radical police abolitionists. In other words, its hard to see Democrats changing Republican voters minds when the GOP and right-wing media conflate any criticism of police with abolitionism.

In addition to all this, though, the Democrats should consider the potential costs they could incur by playing this game.

In addition to all this, though, the Democrats should consider the potential costs they could incur by playing this game. While its understandable that mainstream Democrats wanted to avoid being associated with the defund slogan in the run-up to the election, the ideas the movement stands for reallocating some funding from the police to other social services and delegating many police duties to other agencies are good ones that have already been adopted to some extent by the growing left wing of the Democrats. And its safe to say these ideas are going to keep coming up each time viral incidents of police brutality spur debates about how policing should change.

Democrats dont have to adopt any defund-type slogan, but they should take the ideas seriously if they want to eventually create a more humane criminal justice system. Theyll be best-positioned to do that if they stake out a real progressive position on policing instead of replicating the GOPs bad faith playbook in an unconvincing style.

Read more from the original source:
Democrats want to flip 'defund the police' on Republicans. It could backfire. - MSNBC