Masks On, Masks Off: Part II

It's your Sunday show rundown!

It's almost the end of July and life is feeling like one of those infinite time loop situations. But unlike  Groundhog Day  , It's one we can't escape by being karmically good to people.

No, our time loop is one where coronavirus cases are rising while people are being told to wear a mask for the good of everyone, just like when we covered this in April . The difference: we were still trying to figure out how to stop the spread then, and a lot more naïve to what awaited us if we didn't,

But here we are.

While corporations, small businesses, bipartisan governors and smart people that listen to science have added masks to their "no shirt, no shoes, no service" policies, Trump and idiot politicians are still fighting it. Even GOP governors who have done well seem seem to still not quite get it. Take Ohio Governor Mike DeWine. Appearing on NBC's "Meet The Press," DeWine was asked by sentient goatee Chuck Todd about his confidence on the coronavirus task force and Trump administration:

Full DeWine: 'We're Going The Wrong Way' On COVID Infections | Meet The Press | NBC News    www.youtube.com   

TODD: Do you have confidence in the president and this coronavirus task force right now, given the fact that we're basically right back to square one?

DEWINE: I think people look, frankly, to the governors. Historically, we've looked to governors to deal with, you know, crises, whether it's tornado damage, whether it's a flood, a pandemic. We look to governors.

While DeWine is correct that in natural disasters people look first to their governors for guidance on response and recovery, it also takes a federal response to fully recover. It was failed federal responses that caused situations like the California wildfires , hurricanes Katrina and Maria, and others to grow in magnitude. You can't separate one from the other. DeWine knows this but he was trying to dodge that question.

Todd, in rare moment of journalism, tried again.

TODD: I understand you say that people look to their governors, but you sort of ducked the question here. Do you have confidence in, in the president and his leadership on this virus right now?

DEWINE: I have confidence in this administration. We're on a phone call every week, every governor, Democrats and Republicans, sometimes twice a week with the vice president. The vice president has been doing an absolutely phenomenal job in leading that. And, of course, the president has delegated that to the vice president.

THAT'S why he dodged it! Because while optimists try to trumpet governors like DeWine for doing the bare minimum, it's moment like this where you see the difference in the parties. DeWine still plays this game of praising Trump/Pence's failure in leading his "task force," while never getting Covid-19 under control. It's much like Pence's AIDS crisis in Indiana when he was governor, for the same reasons: outdated beliefs and rejection of science.

But it could be a lot worse. At least DeWine is not trying to ban counties from implementing mask mandates or trying to sue the mayor of Cleveland. No, that level of stupidity is reserved for Georgia governor Brian Kemp. On CBS's "Face The Nation," Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms answered questions about Kemp's sabotaging of the health of his constituents, and also his blame-shifting:

Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms says Georgia governor's actions are "simply bizarre"    www.youtube.com   

BRENNAN: You in Atlanta have been facing some battles with the governor. As our viewers know, Georgia was the first state to reopen from the shut down due to the pandemic. But the governor said this week that it was the racial injustice protests that led to the rise of infections that's happening in the state right now. What role did they play? Why do you think infections are spiking?

BOTTOMS: Well, I've actually not seen any data or science that points to that. But what I have seen data on is that when the governor reopened our state, people from across the country came [...] to our state. We've seen that tracked with cell phone data because we were open for business as if we were not in the midst of a pandemic. And the governor has done many things as of late and said many things as of late that, quite frankly, are simply bizarre. He filed a 124-plus-page lawsuit against me this week [...] calling for an emergency injunction to stop me from speaking about his orders. If the governor of this state had his way, I would not be allowed to speak with you today. And so this blame game is most unusual. There were other cities in our state who instituted mask mandates, and he did not push back against them. I don't know if it's because perhaps they were led by men or if it's perhaps because of the demographic in the city of Atlanta. I don't know what the answers are, but what I do know is that the science is on our side.

Mayor Bottoms also pointed out the unpublished report from the White House that says Georgia is a "red zone" for coronavirus, and that the governor suing her personally, along with the city council. She noted the irony of the "freedom" party doing this.

BOTTOMS: This is about politics. Our police officers certainly can enforce this ordinance, but at the end of the day, the party that- that speaks of local control has taken away local control in attempting to silence our voices in this state.

Speaking of local control taken away, there's a lot happening right now in Portland , where federal agents have been deployed and are arresting protesters in unmarked rental cars. A situation that, ironically, is a scenario rightwingers have screamed about for decades.

On CNN, the graphics department on "State of the Union" responded to this by blurring the faces of the secret police:

CNN is blurring the faces of secret police and not the faces of the people they’re kidnapping. What the fuck https: //t.co/5mAtkMmDWg

— Matt Novak (@Matt Novak) 1595185059.0 

Wear your masks, wonkers. Because at this moment idiots , fascists and bigots are taking theirs off. Again.

 
 Giphy 

See you for the next Sunday show rundown!

 Do your Amazon shopping through this link, because reasons .