I'm sorry, but I can't give @GovAbbott credit for closing bars and restaurants when every single expert on public health was saying it would be a disaster to re-open everything -- and he did it anyway.

This is exactly why the political climate is broken. Ya know what...

It's not like it's some kind of secret that the GOP isn't a big fan of listening to experts. We've been hearing their denials of climate science since the 80s.

What did you expect? They were just going to adopt expert opinions? Fuck no. That's not their brand.

Everything the GOP does exists to be contrarian, even if it doesn't make any sense. They cannot allow themselves to cede any ground, even if it's to the detriment of everyone in the nation.

Stopping a disease from spreading isn't political. But they sure made it that way.

While the rest of the world was adopting common sense measures to stop a pandemic from spreading, not-a-dad Matt Gaetz was doing his stupid shit gas mask routine, and the GOP was ramping up their "Dems wanna stop yer freedum" routine.

You know why they do it? Because it works.

When we were just on the cusp of cutting this whole thing off, governors from around the nation said, "Our businesses are dying. We gotta open everything back up." So they did. And predictably, everything went to shit, because... *checks notes* ... fucking nothing had changed.

Believe it or not, conservatives, there isn't some liberal cabal that wakes up every day trying to find new ways to fuck with you.

Sometimes, we just want to make sure you don't die from your own hubris.