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9 Dec, 6 tweets, 3 min read
April 30, 2020 letter from ALEC to President Trump urging him to reopen America.

Similar arguments are being used today by self-identified leftists against public health measures.
alec.org/article/empowe…
Another right-wing, business-aligned group making these arguments at the time was the Koch-founded FreedomWorks, which organized Tea Party protests in 2009 and anti-lockdown protests in April 2020. nytimes.com/2020/04/21/us/…
In March 2021, DonorsTrust, another Koch affiliate, started spending big to spread the narrative that the pandemic death toll was actually due to public health measures.

exposedbycmd.org/2021/03/30/the…
A year earlier, the American Institute for Economic Research, which received more than $100k from Charles Koch's foundation between 2018 and 2019, sponsored the Great Barrington Declaration, which argued for herd immunity through infection (REOPEN). desmog.com/american-insti…
Meanwhile, another group, American Juris Link -- a right-wing legal center -- has been fighting public health efforts in court (and worker unionization efforts). exposedbycmd.org/2021/02/15/new…
March 2020, the Koch group Americans For Prosperity begins push to end shutdowns. Days later, Trump would call to reopen the country by Easter. americansforprosperity.org/afp-responds-t…

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More from @WalkerBragman

Walker Bragman Profile picture
9 Dec
The COVID pandemic is a historic wasted opportunity for the American left. What ought to have been a moment for progressives to promote an alternative to neoliberalism has been defined by tacit acceptance and, in some cases, outright promotion under the guise of "freedom."
Early on, it looked like that might have been possible. Bernie Sanders and members of the Squad were calling for $2,000 monthly checks.

But, even as the U.S. prepares to enter yet another COVID wave, those voices are silent -- and programs like that aren't part of the discourse.
~800,000 Americans have already died from this virus while the federal government has left mitigation efforts largely up to the states and private sector.

Where is the progressive reimagining of the role of government? Nowhere to be found.
Read 4 tweets
Walker Bragman Profile picture
7 Dec
We went through each of your claims, weak reporting, and anti-science bunk and dismantled each.

We exposed how you're pushing a Koch-backed corporate agenda that puts workers last and profits first. And all you got are names in response.
Blumenthal is part of the new right. Surprise, it's the same as the old right.
The idea that paying people to stay home has a higher cost than letting the virus rip through the population is so backwards. We saw how PUA, stimulus checks, the eviction moratorium, etc. lifted millions of Americans out of poverty. They contributed to the renewed labor movement
Read 5 tweets
Walker Bragman Profile picture
7 Dec
On this episode of @GildedAgePod, money-in-politics reporter @alexkotch and I are joined by social epidemiologist @jfeldman_epi to correct Koch-fueled DISINFORMATION about lockdowns and the pandemic.

We got receipts. Check it out!
Watch social epidemiologist @jfeldman_epi of Harvard's FXB Center, whose work during the pandemic has looked at the impact of COVID on communities of color, dismantle anti-vaxx, anti-public health narratives.
Our very own @alexkotch, a money-in-politics reporter, breaks down the Koch roots of anti-lockdown narratives and the Great Barrington Declaration.
Read 8 tweets
Walker Bragman Profile picture
3 Dec
NGL, this is pretty deranged, Max.
Me, neurotic: We need a more robust federal COVID response where people aren’t made to choose between health and income.

You, extremely nomal: Public health measures are a Trojan horse for authoritarianism, Covidian! Here’s some selective quoting and misreporting.
How many COVID deaths, Max? How many so your readers have a comparison?

How many before it’s not unreasonable to take public health measures?
Read 6 tweets
Walker Bragman Profile picture
3 Dec
Fucking yikes
Seriously. Fucking yikes.
The Grayzone article's premise is that lockdowns *don't work* and have human costs.

I kept reading, waiting to see if it would support the first claim, but it never did.

All it demonstrates is that lockdowns *without adequate support for people* have human costs.
Read 17 tweets
Walker Bragman Profile picture
3 Dec
A real federal pandemic response:

- Remote work for non-essential business
- Hazard pay for essential/frontline workers
- Vax/testing req for airplanes
- Masks & tests delivered to every home
- Monthly survival checks
- National testing program
- Systematic ventilation upgrading
- Door-to-door or neighborhood vaccination stations
- Assistance to small and medium-sized businesses
- Rent/credit card/student loan debt pause
- Eviction moratorium
- Housing the unhoused
- Releasing the vaccine IP to the world
- Sending excess doses abroad
We need a robust approach to get through this pandemic humanely, avoiding needless death.

A study from May estimated more than 900,000 Americans had died from the virus -- that our official numbers were undercounting.

Millions have died globally. This is a test for humanity.
Read 5 tweets

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