Thread by @AmoneyResists

The Republican Party and conservative leaders throughout the world have made “vaccine resistance/hesitancy” one of the top 10 threats TO GLOBAL HEALTH. This is a NATIONAL AND GLOBAL EMERGENCY and I’m going to tell you EXACTLY how we got here (Thread) nytimes.com/video/opinion/…

Trump began what would become the @GOP strategy back in Jan of 2020, when he downplayed the threat of the pandemic, lied to the American people about the risks, and continued to golf and hold rallies. I list everything Trump (deliberately) did wrong here:

https://twitter.com/amoneyresists/status/1248473670604881926?s=21

Trump and the @GOP’s botching & deliberate sabotage of our pandemic response was a CONSCIOUS CHOICE. They CHOSE to politicize a ONCE IN A CENTURY PUBLIC HEALTH CRISIS and capitalize on the sizable segment of our population that is susceptible to disinformation for political gain.

They not only politicized the virus itself, but common sense public health measures that were and remain CRITICAL to REDUCING THE SPREAD AND SAVING 🇺🇸 LIVES. They had their political leaders across red states ban mask and vaccine mandates (while they themselves took the vaccine).

They painted those in favor of protecting public health as “tyrannical,” “communist,” “Marxist,” “Socialist,” and even went so far as to compare vaccine cards/passports to Nazi Germany and the Holocaust. As a result, over 630,000 Americans died & the virus continues to surge.

I repeat, A MAJOR POLITICAL PARTY CHOSE TO WAGE A DISINFORMATION CAMPAIGN AGAINST THE AMERICAN PEOPLE DESIGNED TO MAXIMIZE PREVENTABLE DEATHS FROM A VIRUS SO THEY COULD LIE ABOUT WHO WAS RESPONSIBLE AND GET YOU TO BLAME DEMOCRATS AND JOE BIDEN FOR IT.

We have people clinging to life on ventilators across the U.S. who still say they stand by their choice not to get vaccinated. Vaccines did not used to be controversial. Mandates to protect public health and safety were NEVER controversial. Trump & the @GOP CHANGED ALL OF THAT.

Republicans are doing this deliberately. They are maximizing deaths deliberately. They are capitalizing on your inability to understand how “freedom” and “personal choice” works deliberately. This is a calculated political strategy. And they’re betting your lives on it, literally

All the reasons people give for why they won’t take the vaccine boil down to the same flawed arguments rooted in fear that the @GOP exacerbated:

“I don’t know what’s in it”
—mRNA, lipids (e.g. polyethylene glycol), salts (e.g. potassium chloride), and sugar. AKA nothing harmful

“I’ve heard stories of people getting COVID even after getting vaccinated”

That’s anecdotal & statistically insignificant evidence. Have you heard the story about how over 630,000 Americans have died from a virus we have a vaccine for that reduces the risk of getting it by 96%?

“I believe in personal freedom and personal choice.”

That’s fantastic. However, you don’t (or at least, shouldn’t) have the freedom to endanger the health and safety of others. This is why we have laws requiring you to wear seatbelts in cars and stop at red lights and stop signs

Ultimately, the only way we are ever ending this lunacy and putting this pandemic behind us is to vote every single member of the Republican Party OUT OF OFFICE. A party that murders its constituents is not fit for nor interested in governing & must be removed from power FOREVER

One of the most fundamental. responsibilies of government is to protect its people. A party that does everything it can to kill its people while inciting insurrections to overturn elections and passing laws to make it harder to vote has clearly abrogated that responsibility.