In the weeks leading up to the 2020 midterm elections, there was a lot of buzz about a “red wave”. Many GOP watchers were predicting Republicans would surely take control of House of Representatives and quite possibly the Senate as well. As of this writing, election results are still coming in and the final outcome is in doubt. But one thing is certain, there was no “red wave”. Why not? After all, the Democrats birthed an economic mess on their watch. Soaring gas prices and inflation have driven up interest rates. The Federal Reserve has once again pulled the rug out from under the housing market. IRA’s and 401K’s have taken a pummeling. Checkbook politics would suggest the minority should have an easy time wrestling control of Congress away from the majority party that produced such dismal economic results.
But that didn’t happen. Why is a matter of debate. Experts are analyzing this election and offering their opinions as I write this. They express uncertainty over the surprising results. None has a clear explanation for exactly what went wrong. But I do.
The GOP made the biggest strategic blunder in US political history, they aligned with the antivaxx movement. Somewhere in the think tank of GOP strategists it was decided that the COVID had political utility. As the Democrats pushed immunization and other mitigation strategies, the Republicans seized the opportunity to equate the public health response to the pandemic with government overreach and intrusion into our lives. Mandatory vaccination, lockdowns, social distancing and masking - all became targets of GOP talking heads on cable news.
The GOP found doctors, some with lofty but unrelated credentials and others dredged up from the abyss of the bottom dwellers to man the airwaves and talk down all the administration’s efforts. The one thing all these doctors have in common? None are fellowship trained board certified infectious disease specialists. The CDC, FDA and WHO became targets. Dr. Anthony Fauci, one of the most respected physicians of the past century was vilified. The political calculation was that linking COVID and the vaccine to a socialist takeover of individual liberties was an argument that would resonate with and energize the Republican base. On that point they were right. It did.
Republicans took the bait and accepted as fact the litany of misinformation spewed upon them by GOP operatives posing as experts. They swallowed the lies lock, stock and barrel. COVID was a hoax. The vaccine is a poison. Worm killer is the miracle cure. Republican voters ingested the conspiracy theories like truckers at a hot dog eating contest. They rejected vaccination in stunning numbers. Study after study found the same astonishing results, while Democrats were largely lining up to be vaccinated, Republicans weren’t.
The result? Republicans died. Not a few. Not one here or one there. The mortality gap was enormous. 76% more Republicans died unnecessarily from COVID due to rejection of the vaccine than did Democrats. The exact numbers are up for debate, but it is not a stretch to suggest that perhaps as many 200,000 to 300,000 Republican voters died needlessly. In such an evenly divided electorate where elections are won or lost by a few thousand votes or less, hundreds of thousands of Republican deaths would lose close elections.
As GOP strategists digest their failure, they will have to confront the reality. They killed their base, literally. But what about the antivaxx doctors, none of whom have the requisite education or credentials to opine as experts on infectious diseases, what happens to them? They gave bad advice. They lied. They used their credentials to pose as experts. Will they be tossed overboard as simply a strategic mistake, or will there be accountability?
Which physicians qualify as experts in the public arena must be better defined. Within the hospital medical staff, it is clear. Without fellowship training in infectious diseases, you cannot get credentialed as an infectious disease specialist. That is for the protection of patients. We protect them from unqualified physicians practicing outside their area of expertise. Doesn’t the public at large deserve the same protection from unqualified physicians? Without the help from the fake medical experts, the GOP antivaxx strategy would not have gotten traction. Indeed, it was the doctors of disinformation who breathed life into the strategy and death into the Republican base.
Study Finds Large Gap in Excess Deaths Along Partisan Lines After COVID-19 Vaccines Introduced < Yale School of Public Health
The Right’s Anti-Vaxxers Are Killing Republicans (theintercept.com)
Covid death rates higher among Republicans than Democrats, research shows (nbcnews.com)
Excess Death Rates for Republicans and Democrats During the COVID-19 Pandemic | NBER
Study: More Republicans than Democrats likely died of COVID-19 (azmirror.com)
Study: More Republicans than Democrats likely died of COVID | NC Policy Watch
Republican US counties saw more COVID-19 deaths | CIDRAP (umn.edu)
Comparing U.S. COVID deaths by county and 2020 presidential voting preference | Pew Research Center