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President Biden is in a tough spot: He campaigned on the ideas that he had the team to manage a pandemic and that his five-decade career as a Washington deal maker was just the ticket to overcome the countrys political polarization.

Thats not happening, not even a little.

Not only are Republicans resisting Mr. Bidens push to end the pandemic, some of them are actively hampering it. Republican governors slow-walked vaccination efforts and lifted mask mandates early. In Washington, G.O.P. leaders like Steve Scalise, the second-ranking House Republican who himself didnt get vaccinated until about two weeks ago mocked public health guidance that even vaccinated people should wear masks indoors as government control.

Theres little Mr. Biden can do. Nearly a year and a half of pandemic living has revealed precisely who will and wont abide by public health guidelines.

Just in the last week, in my Washington neighborhood, which has among the highest vaccination rates in the city and voted 92 percent for Mr. Biden, people began re-masking at supermarkets and even outdoors in parks.

In places like Arkansas, hospitals are over capacity with Covid patients and vaccination rates remain stubbornly low. The anti-mask sentiment is so strong that the states General Assembly passed legislation forbidding any mandate requiring them. On Thursday, Gov. Asa Hutchinson, a Republican, declared a special session of the legislature to amend that anti-mandate law he signed in April so that schools would be allowed to require masks for students too young to receive a vaccine. Good luck with that, his fellow Republicans in the legislature replied.

That leaves the president in a pickle. As the Delta variant shows itself to be far more contagious and dangerous than previous iterations of the virus, the people he most needs to hear his message on vaccines and masks are least likely to.

Six years of Donald J. Trump largely blocking out all other voices in his party have left Republicans without a credible messenger to push vaccines, even if they wanted to. Senator Mitch McConnell, the minority leader, may be using his campaign money to air pro-vaccine ads in his native Kentucky, but he is hardly a beloved figure within the party and is viewed by its base as just another member of the Washington establishment.

Coronavirus Pandemic and U.S. Life Expectancy

There are certainly other communities of vaccine resisters, including demographics of people who have historically been mistreated by the federal government (and also a small-but-vocal minority of professional athletes and Olympians), but it is Republicans and Republican-run states that have emerged as the biggest hurdle in Americas vaccination efforts.

With little ability to persuade the vaccine-hesitant and little help from the party he had pledged to work with, Mr. Biden and the federal government were left with a move he had resisted for weeks: make life more difficult for the unvaccinated, to try to force them to change their minds.

Which brings us to the presidents news conference on Thursday. Mr. Biden said that, for the first time, all federal employees would have to show proof that theyve been vaccinated (or else wear a mask at work), submit to weekly testing and maintain social distance.

He stopped short of a vaccine mandate, saying such a requirement was a decision for local governments, school districts and companies. He said that if things got worse, and those resisting vaccines were denied entry from jobs and public spaces, maybe then things would get better.

My guess is, if we dont start to make more progress, a lot of businesses and a lot of enterprises are going to require proof for you to be able to participate, Mr. Biden said.

This maneuver essentially a shifting of responsibility away from the federal government is consistent with the way that Mr. Biden often tries to project a hopeful tone while airbrushing the reality of a starkly divided nation.

July 31, 2021, 7:40 p.m. ET

The market for disinformation in America is larger than ever, with Mr. Trump, despite starting the program that has led to the full vaccination of 164 million Americans, leading the charge to discredit the same program during the Biden administration.

But it wasnt Mr. Trump and Republicans who ran last year on ending the pandemic it was Mr. Biden and Democrats who successfully made the election a referendum on managing a once-in-a-century global public health crisis.

Now, just weeks after he celebrated the great progress made against the pandemic, Mr. Biden faces a new wave. And it probably wont be long before Republicans who have done all they could to resist measures to combat it start to blame the president for not getting the country out of the crisis he pledged to solve.

SO EXCITED. SO PROUD, Ka Lo, a Marathon County Board member, wrote in a series of jubilant text messages on Thursday. ITS SOOOOOO GOOD!!!

How much of a boost Ms. Lees triumph gives to local efforts for Hmong recognition in Wisconsin remains to be seen. Both Marathon County and Wausaus City Council have rejected Community for All resolutions, leading to a proliferation of Community for All yard signs and yet another effort to pass the measure at the county board.

The next vote of the county boards executive committee is scheduled for Aug. 12.

Sometimes even presidents get some schmutz on their chin.

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Biden, Republicans and the Pandemic Blame Game - The New York Times

About 47 percent of Republicans believe that a time will come when patriotic Americans have to take the law into their own hands, according to a George Washington University poll on Americans faith in election systems and democratic values.

The GW Politics Poll, conducted among more than 1,700 registered voters from June 4 to June 23 and released this week, found that support for principles like free and fair elections, free speech and peaceful protest were nearly unanimous among Democratic and Republican voters. Approximately 55 percent of GOPrespondents, however,said they support the potential use of force to preserve the traditional American way of life, compared to just 15 percent of Democrats.

Only 9 percent of Democrats agreed with the statement that "a time will come whenpatriotic Americans have to take the law into their own hands."

Additionally, Republicans were significantly less likely to have a strong amount of faith in local and state elections.

Eighty-fivepercent of Democrats expressed trust in local election officials, with 76 percent saying the same of state officials, compared to 63 percent and 44 percent, respectively, for GOP voters.

University researchers measured a drop in Republicans confidence in the 2022 elections compared to the period leading up to the 2020 elections, with just 28 percent of Republicans saying they were confident in the upcoming midterm elections compared to 46 percent measured before the 2020 general elections.

Comparatively, 76 percent of Democrats said they were confident going into the 2020 elections, and close to 75 percent say the same going into next years political contests.

Republicandoubt in the integrity of U.S. elections has been growing in large part due to unsupported claims from former President TrumpDonald TrumpMeghan McCain: Democrats 'should give a little credit' to Trump for COVID-19 vaccine Trump testing czar warns lockdowns may be on table if people don't get vaccinated Overnight Health Care: CDC details Massachusetts outbreak that sparked mask update | White House says national vaccine mandate 'not under consideration at this time' MORE and his allies that widespread voter fraud resulted in inaccurate 2020 election results.

Efforts to restrict access to the ballot box have been passed or advanced in GOP-led states nationwide in the wake of the November vote.

Danny Hayes, professor of political science and co-director of the GW Politics Poll, said in a statement,Most of the state and local officials who run our elections are long-time public servants whose goal is simply to help our democracy operate smoothly.

But if weve gotten to a place where voters trust the electoral system only when their side wins, then that undermines the idea of non-partisan election administration, which is essential for democracy, Hayes added.

Some of the diminished trust in elections has culminated in violent threats being made toward election workers, prompting the Department of Justice on Thursday to launch a task force aimed at combating such threats.

The GW poll, conducted by YouGov, was the final wave in a four-wave panel that began in October with 2,500 voters.

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47 percent of Republicans say time will come 'to take the law into their own hands': poll | TheHill - The Hill

Republicans have long faced uphill battles against mainstream media pundits, especially since many are so sympathetic to Democrats.

"The media are enforcers for the Democrats. If Democrats step out of line, they immediately attack them," Dan Gainor told Fox News.

However, every so often there are a few Republicans who appear to actually receive admiration from mainstream journalists, even after years of scorn. That only happens when they oppose someone the media hates or go against their own party. Its a pattern that has become increasingly clear over the past few years.

Reps. Liz Cheney of Wyoming and Adam Kinzinger of Illinois are the latest examples as the media had nothing but love this week for these Republicans when they stood front and center as the only two elephants on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's Democratic-led committee to investigate the Capitol riots on January 6.

Cheney was once the object of constant disdain from journalists not only for her father Dick Cheneys record but her own politics.

In 2013, MSNBC host Chris Hayes said the following of Cheney: "[She] boils up a stew of the most repugnant factless fear-mongering propaganda to rile up the darkest forces of the far political fringe."

In 2019, CNN analyst Chris Cillizza referred to her as "nonsensical" for arguing on behalf of President Donald Trumps decision to pull troops out of Syria. "Cheneys argument would be funny if she wasnt serious about it," he wrote.

The Washington Post also featured multiple articles and opinion pieces against Cheney, including "Liz Cheneys empty words."

However, these opinions changed when Cheney placed herself in direct opposition of Trump and his claims that 2020 presidential election was "stolen."

"The 2020 presidential election was not stolen. Anyone who claims it was is spreading THE BIG LIE, turning their back on the rule of law, and poisoning our democratic system," Cheney wrote on Twitter in May.

CNNS JOHN AVLON PRAISES CHENEY, KINZINGER FOR STEPPING UP ON JAN.6 COMMITTEE: THIS IS ABOUT PATRIOTISM

Republican lawmakers ultimately voted to remove Cheney as House GOP Conference chair. Amid the strife, Hayes came to Cheney's defense, referring to the Republican Partys treatment of her as "Orwellian."

"The tendency on display hereto turn a simple statement of fact, of reality, of what happened into a political litmus testis unnerving to say the least," Hayes said.

The Washington Post also allowed Cheney to defend herself in an op-ed on May 5.

Cheney's sudden hero status in the mainstream media was only elevated when she agreed to be part of Pelosi's January 6 committee.

Former foe Cillizza suddenly praised Cheney in his analysis titled "Every Republican should be required to read Liz Cheney's opening statement."

"Because of Cheney's willingness to risk her career to take a stand on something she believes in deeply, it's worth listening when she talks," he wrote.

The media's portrayal of Illinois Rep. Adam Kinzinger has followed a similar pattern. Although not a high-ranking Republican, he originally received some backlash from media pundits for defending Trumps border wall initiative. In an MSNBC interview in 2019, Kinzinger argued in favor of the wall.

"How is a wall immoral? I have four walls around my house. They keep bad people out and critters out," he said.

The Washington Post later ran a piece with a headline claiming that Kinzinger compared immigrants to "critters." CNN responded in a similar way. "What is the proper context for comparing people to critters?" Kinzinger was asked.

All was forgiven with Kinzinger after the Jan. 6 riots when he emerged as the first Republican to demand Trump's immediate from office and joined Democrats in a call to invoke the 25th Amendment. Trump is the common denominator for Cheney and Kinzinger - the more they opposed him, the more the media loved them. Their decision to go against their party and serve on the January 6 committee only further fueled their newfound popularity in the press.

CNN analyst John Avlon later complimented both Kinzinger and Cheney for their actions, claiming they were "stepping up."

"Kinzinger and Cheney are stepping up," Avlon said. "And it's very clear that, you know, this is about patriotism. This is not about party."

Dan Gainor, VP for Free Speech America, Business and Culture for the Media Research Center, said the media's change of heart on Cheney and Kinzinger is standard procedure for a Republican in the public eye.

"The only respectable figure on the right has to say what the media wants. If you do, they boost your career," Gainor told Fox News. "That only escalated during the Trump era. As figures would go out there, the media would skewer them until they stabbed Trump in the back."

PELOSI INSISTS ON NO PARTISANSHIP IN JAN. 6 COMMITTEE AFTER REJECTING 2 REPUBLICANS

Utah Sen. Mitt Romney and late Arizona Sen. John McCain had similar experiences with the media.

McCain, a Vietnam War veteran and former prisoner of war, faced intense scrutiny and disgust during his presidential run in 2008 against Barack Obama. As Larry Elder noted in 2018, the New York Times had described McCain as "running a campaign on partisan division, class warfare and even hints of racism."

However, after McCain's death in 2018, the Times lauded the Arizona senator, saying he "gave hope for the future. His example still does." This praise came after McCains frequent feuds with Trump as well as hiss vote against repealing the Affordable Care Act.

Romney likewise faced severe attacks from the press during his 2012 presidential run. CNN previously reported three times as many negative stories compared to positive ones. CNN correspondent Jessica Yellin at the time implied Romney was sexist, claiming his comments "made it sound almost like working women are some mail-order product you can order out of colored binders."

However, in 2020, after Romney was the only Republican senator to vote in favor of convicting Trump during his first impeachment trial, CNN correspondents found a newfound respect for the Republican politician. Jim Acosta referred to his vote as a "profile in courage." Avlon agreed, saying, "That was the sound of a man who had wrestled with his conscience, who tried to think bigger than partisan politics, and ultimately kept faith with his oath, his promise to God."

The one lesson learned in the cases of Liz Cheney, Adam Kinzinger, John McCain and Mitt Romney is this: The mainstream media love rogue Republicans who align with their ideology and further the Democratic Party's goals.

"When people agree with them, they get attention. When people dont agree with them, they get no attention," Gainor told Fox News.

By contrast, Republicans who criticized the committee or other Democrat initiatives continued to face harsher treatment, such as House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif. In the meantime, Democrats have faced criticism from media pundits only when diverting against Democratic goals, such as West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin and his opposition to ending the filibuster.

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"The media use Republicans who want to be popular with them as foils against the right, but they dont do the same with the left," Gainor explained. "They use liberal people to drag the Democratic party to the left, and they use wild card people within the Republican party to bring their party to the left."

In Cheney and Kinzinger, their addition to Pelosis committee gave credence to her claims that the investigation would have "no partisanship." Meanwhile, Kinzinger has emerged as a new national figure as an outspoken Trump critic among his fellow congressmen.

Despite this fame on CNN, MSNBC, and the New York Times, these Republicans continue to face criticism from their fellow Republicans in both Congress and the media.

"Theyre simply jockeying for book deals and future career opportunities, and the media are helping them. As long as the Republican Party will exist, this will be their tactic," Gainor said.

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Cheney and Kinzinger: The latest turncoat Republicans the media suddenly loves - Fox News

Jake Ellzey of Texas won a US House seat on Tuesday night over a fellow Republican rival backed by Donald Trump, dealing the former president a defeat in a test of his endorsement power since leaving office.

Ellzeys come-from-behind victory over Susan Wright, the widow of the late Representative Ron Wright, in a special congressional election runoff near Dallas is likely to be celebrated by Trump antagonists who have warned against his continued hold on the GOP. Trump backed Wright from the start and had made one last attempt to give her a boost with a telephone rally on Monday night.

Ellzey was carrying more than 53% of the vote in Texass 6th congressional district with results from almost all precincts reported.

One of things that weve seen from this campaign is a positive outlook, a Reagan Republican outlook, for the future of our country is what the people of the 6th district really, really want, Ellzey said to supporters following his victory.

Ellzey is a Republican state legislator who finished second to Wright in May, and who only narrowly made the runoff over a Democrat. The seat opened up following the death of Ron Wright, who in February became the first member of Congress to die after being diagnosed with Covid-19.

Far from running on an anti-Trump platform, Ellzey did not try distancing himself from the twice-impeached former president. He instead sought to overcome the lack of Trumps backing by raising more money and showing off other endorsements, including the support of the former Texas governor Rick Perry.

Trump had endorsed Susan Wright early in the special election and recorded a robocall for her late in the runoff. Make America Great Action, a political action committee chaired by the former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski, also made a $100,000 ad buy over the weekend.

But the outcome may show the limits of his influence with voters. Republicans have continued making loyalty to Trump paramount since his defeat in November, even as Trump continues to falsely and baselessly assert that the election was stolen.

The north Texas district won by Ellzey who narrowly lost the GOP nomination for the seat in 2018 has long been Republican territory. But Trumps support in the district had also plummeted: after winning it by double-digits in 2016, he carried it by just three percentage points last year, reflecting the trend of Texass booming suburbs shifting to purple and, in some places, outright blue.

Ron Wright, who was 67 and had lung cancer, was just weeks into his second term when he died. Susan Wright had also been diagnosed with Covid-19 and at one point was hospitalized with her husband.

Originally posted here:
Voters reject Trump-endorsed Republican in Texas special election - The Guardian

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