It does seem a tad daft that so many people, given the recent rise
in COVID-19 cases, especially in “red” states, complain about the use of masks in public places such as
stores and restaurants. They demand that they want to live normally and that
their freedom is being squashed by left-wing governors more interested in pushing people around and embarrasing President Donald Trump.
But there’s a reason why you see so many people rebelling like
spoiled children against directives from governors of “blue” states.
You see, it’s not about their “freedom” per se — it’s an attempt
to save face, pardon the pun, on the part of many Trump supporters. Recall that Trump minimized the pandemic from the start in favor of economic prosperity, which he believed was his key to remaining
in power, and they’re trying to dodge the reality that they were always wrong.
In other words, part of the reason they support him is to thumb their
collective nose at the rest of the world.
Funny, but a life-and-death situation like the current coronavirus isn’t
allowing that. And with the recent death of supporter and former presidential candidate Herman Cain, who tested positive for the virus after the Trump rally in June in Tulsa, Okla., the
gambit that the pandemic could be dodged simply and clearly failed.
(It should be noted that COVID-19 doesn’t always kill
directly — like HIV, it weakens the immune system so that other diseases can
finish someone off.)
For the last four decades and even more so since Trump was elected, conservatives’ strategy was about
“owning the libs”; now with the pandemic, however, the conservatives are the ones being “owned” and don’t like it. They have two choices — admit defeat or contribute to the culture of selfish immaturity, neither looking particularly promising now because the latter might lead to more deaths.
