WAPO OPED: The rebellion against pro-Trump, anti-mask GOP governors is gaining steam

[lindysalsagal]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/08/10/rebellion-against-desantis-abbott-masks/

Opinion by Greg Sargent Columnist Today at 11:04 a.m. EDT

Let’s state this up front: GOP governors are not required by some higher Trumpian law to use official powers to actively thwart efforts to fight the spread of the coronavirus. Some are choosing not to do that: In South Dakota, the governor left decisions about mask mandates to local officials, and in Arkansas the governor admitted that an earlier ban on them was an “error.”

But the Republican governors of Texas and Florida — Greg Abbott and Ron DeSantis — are in a class by themselves. Their states are seeing some of the worst surges of covid in the nation, yet they are continuing to hamstring local officials from acting to protect their constituents.

Which is why these governors are facing a rebellion of sorts. In both states, ABC News reports, officials are defying limits on mask mandates, setting up direct conflicts with those governors.

This will flush out into the open the truly twisted nature of what DeSantis and Abbott are doing. They piously claim to be defending their constituents’ freedom from government mandates. But they are using their power to prevent local officials from implementing basic public health measures in a highly selective way that is plainly molded around the obsessions of former president Donald Trump and his movement, not anchored in any genuine public interest rationale.

[lapfog_1]

1. The support for these idiots seems to be dying...

[marybourg]

2. Along with many of the supporters.

[Deb]

3. Forced medical neglect is so last season.

[S/V Loner]

4. Depraved Indifference....

Charge them.

"To constitute depraved indifference, the defendant's conduct must be 'so wanton, so deficient in a moral sense of concern, so lacking in regard for the life or lives of others, and so blameworthy as to warrant the same criminal liability as that which the law imposes upon a person who intentionally causes a crime. Depraved indifference focuses on the risk created by the defendant’s conduct, not the injuries actually"

[sarchasm]

11. 1000%!!

This. … Depraved Indifference, needs to be said loud and clear. Prosecuted to the fullest.

Also, Reckless Endangerment.

[BlueWavePsych]

5. K&R

[spanone]

6. Abbott and DeSantis are killing their constituents. Plain & Simple.

[Johnny2X2X]

8. This is a very real and significant

The people dying are almost all antivax anti mask Republicans right now, Texas and FL are close to being swing states, killing off 40,000 of your own voters in a swing state can absolutely flip an election. Not to mention you're angering the families of those who die.

[NNadir]

9. They're pretty stupid, but if this realization sinks in...

...they may actually have to reconsider their rhetoric.

[bluestarone]

7. SAD to say but kids dying from this will

Probably be the ONLY way to stop this madness!

[Lanius]

10. I don't know about that.

Kids being killed in a mass shooting didn’t stop the GOP from opposing meaningful gun control.

[Renew Deal]

12. Any article that doesn't point out that they are pandering to extremists because they are running

for president is wrong. This is about courting the maniacs that occupy their RW base.