Thread by @juliettekayyem

THREAD ON REPUBLICAN GOVS AND NEW MASKING RULES: Last night, Iowa's Kim Reynolds became another Rep. Gov to go from "never" to "now" masking rules since Biden won. Rep. Iowa, N. Dakota, W. Virginia, Utah, etc. recently changed course to mandatory mask mandates. Some thoughts 1/

https://twitter.com/carlquintanilla/status/1328493157374365696

It is not too late. Never too late. The desire to blame or think it is too little is not productive. From the beginning, without national guidance, it was govs who would have to lead the masking mandate during this Articles of Confederation response. 2/

theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/…

In our push to get masking and social distancing requirements one state at at time, the single major determinative factor was not the scope of infection, but the Governor's party affiliation. Data proved it. On the "one damn state at a time" effort⬇️.
3/

https://twitter.com/juliettekayyem/status/1301859907940089858

The change in strategy by these Republican governors comes, of course, as this pandemic is out of control. The numbers speak for themselves. But it also comes at a time when the question of masking can no longer be seen as a loyalty test to a President on his way out. 4/

This is where Trump's anti-mask rhetoric was so damaging. It wasn't just anti science and caused deaths, or even violence. By politicizing masking requirements, he turned the necessity of mask mandates into a partisan fidelity issue during an election year. 5/

The further proof that this is just partisan positioning, and not based on some notion of "freedom", is that these Republican governors are not facing any backlash from their Republican state legislatures. Compare to what Dem govs are facing. 6/

https://twitter.com/juliettekayyem/status/1328454535174610945

If you are new here, I don't do anger or rage. You be you. We need these govs to convince holdouts -- South Dakota -- to change course. We need them to increase social distancing rules. We need them to work on vaccine distribution plans. We need them to work with new Pres. 7/

This is, in way we define "good" during a pandemic, good news. Until we get more stringent national guidelines related to federal activities or covering activity with federal nexus, this is state by state defense. And the more Republican governors join the ranks, the better. 8/8