COVID-19 may be an ideological litmus test for white Christian nationalists in 2024

COVID-19 Pandemic


Fig. 1. Photograph by author, November 8, 2022.

[Ron] DeSantis’s probe has experts worried that vaccine skepticism could become an official plank of GOP policy. “The worst-case scenario is if it becomes a litmus test in the [presidential] primary,” says Saad B. Omer, director of the Yale Institute for Global Health who has served on numerous US government vaccine advisory committees. “Then all bets are off.” . . .

While DeSantis’s strategy may be rooted in politics, it is likely to have far-reaching public health repercussions, says Dr. Jonathan Howard, an associate professor of neurology and psychiatry at [New York University] Langone Health. “You’re going to continue to see Republicans dying [from COVID-19] at a higher rate, and a return of measles and whooping cough and God knows what else,” says Howard, who has studied the anti-vax movement for a decade.[1]

Katherine Eban, “Inside Ron DeSantis’s Plan to Ride Anti-vaxxism to the White House,” Vanity Fair, March 21, 2023, https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2023/03/desantis-antivax-florida-trump


Imperialism

Russia

Ukraine


Fig. 1. “Destroyed Russian military vehicles located on the main street Khreshchatyk are seen as part of the celebration of the Independence Day of Ukraine in Kyiv, August 24.” Photograph by Gleb Garanich for Reuters, August 24, 2022,[2] fair use.

Julia Ioffe thinks Vladimir Putin got very little out of Xi Jinping’s visit. At least publicly.[3]

In Ioffe’s account, the Chinese do not want Russia to lose in Ukraine, but feel they’ve been roped into something over Putin’s head. They aren’t liking that much.[4]

And by the way, it’s not just Ioffe. I’m seeing similar conclusions on social media. On this topic, however, I trust Ioffe more than just about anybody.

Alberto Nardelli, Jorge Valero, and Samy Adghirni, “Hungary Blocked Joint EU Statement on Putin’s ICC Arrest Warrant,” Bloomberg, March 20, 2023, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-03-20/hungary-blocked-joint-eu-statement-on-putin-s-icc-arrest-warrant

Julia Ioffe, “Xi Jinping, Superstar,” Puck, March 21, 2023, https://puck.news/xi-jinping-superstar/

Ishaan Tharoor, “Xi meets Putin in show of anti-West unity, but there’s unease, too,” Washington Post, March 21, 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com//world/2023/03/21/xi-meets-putin-show-anti-west-unity-theres-unease-too/


Work


Fig. 1. Yeah, this is me. The sign says, “If you’re whining about a labor shortage, STOP ignoring my job applications!” And the QR-code leads here. Photograph by author, January 16, 2023.

I tend to pay attention to the bullshit corporate executives spew when laying people off because I expect to hear it before they lay people off, as they formulate and rehearse the language they’ll use. But make no mistake: It is bullshit and, without calling it such, the Washington Post article highlights it graphically.[5]

One thing you never see in these layoff memos that would signal genuine contrition is a resignation. They may indeed acknowledge mistakes—hiring too aggressively or misjudging business prospects[6]—but when people are losing their jobs due to these mistakes, the least a responsible executive could do is to resign themselves. That they do not do so speaks far louder than anything in those memos.

Te-Ping Chen, “Job Listings Abound, but Many Are Fake,” Wall Street Journal, March 20, 2023, https://www.wsj.com/articles/that-plum-job-listing-may-just-be-a-ghost-3aafc794

Hamza Shaban, Luis Melgar, and Leslie Shapiro, “Deeply, truly, very sorry: How tech CEOs talk when they lay off workers,” Washington Post, March 21, 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/interactive/2023/tech-layoffs-company-memos/


Gilead

Donald Trump

Coup attempt


Fig. 1. “Jake Angeli (Qanon Shaman), seen holding a Qanon sign at the intersection of Bell Rd and 75th Ave in Peoria, Arizona, on 2020 October 15.” Photography by TheUnseen011101 [pseud.], October 15, 2020, via Wikimedia Commons, public domain.

Charlie Savage, “Dissecting Charges That Could Arise From the Trump Investigations,” New York Times, March 19, 2023, https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/19/us/politics/trump-investigations.html

Bess Levin, “Donald Trump’s Lawyers Seem Pretty Panicked He’s Going to be Indicted in Georgia Too,” Vanity Fair, March 20, 2023, https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2023/03/donald-trump-potential-fulton-county-georgia-charges

Jeremy Barr, “Judge sounds skeptical of some Fox arguments in Dominion lawsuit,” Washington Post, March 21, 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com/media/2023/03/21/judge-sounds-skeptical-some-fox-arguments-dominion-lawsuit/

Josh Gerstein and Kyle Cheney, “Trump denounces ‘crime-fraud’ ruling forcing attorney to testify in documents probe,” Politico, March 21, 2023, https://www.politico.com/news/2023/03/21/trump-crime-fraud-attorney-documents-probe-00088215


  1. [1]Katherine Eban, “Inside Ron DeSantis’s Plan to Ride Anti-vaxxism to the White House,” Vanity Fair, March 21, 2023, https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2023/03/desantis-antivax-florida-trump
  2. [2]Reuters, “Ukraine puts destroyed Russian tanks on display in Kyiv,” August 25, 2022, https://www.reuters.com/news/picture/ukraine-puts-destroyed-russian-tanks-on-idUSRTSALV9Q
  3. [3]Julia Ioffe, “Xi Jinping, Superstar,” Puck, March 21, 2023, https://puck.news/xi-jinping-superstar/
  4. [4]Julia Ioffe, “Xi Jinping, Superstar,” Puck, March 21, 2023, https://puck.news/xi-jinping-superstar/
  5. [5]Hamza Shaban, Luis Melgar, and Leslie Shapiro, “Deeply, truly, very sorry: How tech CEOs talk when they lay off workers,” Washington Post, March 21, 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/interactive/2023/tech-layoffs-company-memos/
  6. [6]Hamza Shaban, Luis Melgar, and Leslie Shapiro, “Deeply, truly, very sorry: How tech CEOs talk when they lay off workers,” Washington Post, March 21, 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/interactive/2023/tech-layoffs-company-memos/

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