Murc’s law is a harsh mistress
By 
At some point today, Canada — which has no domestic vaccine production, and which priortized getting people their first shots because of this — will pass the United States in the percentage of its population that is fully vaccinated, because its reactionary death cult is much smaller and less influential:
Some time today, Canada passes the United States in fully vaccinated share of population and they will never catch up to us again. They politicized a virus that killed 600,000 Americans in a little over a year to the point that dying from it was preferable to getting a free shot— Arch (@Archaeologuy) July 16, 2021
Relatedly, Michael Brendan Doherty has a National Review piece apologizing for mass vaccine reluctance (overwhelmingly correlated with support for Donald Trump) which is one of the most pathetic things I’ve ever read:
The American people are unruly and in a sour mood about their authority figures. The 40 percent of people who reported their initial hesitance have barely budged so far — despite millions wasted on public education and ham-fisted attempts to prevent them from sharing their concerns and fears. If vaccine advocates really do want vaccination uptake to increase more than they want to feel superior, they have to change course.
While there are plenty of complaints about people like Anthony Fauci, you can probably guess who isn’t mentioned at all:
it's amazing that dougherty can write an entire piece about vaccine skepticism that never once notes that the number one cable news host in the nation, who is a conservative republican, deliberately encourages his viewers to be suspicious of and hostile to vaccinations— ANTI-HUSTLE MACHINE (@golikehellmachi) July 16, 2021
Of course suggesting that people like Tucker — people with an actual platform and actual influence among conservatives — stop lying to their viewers/supporters about the effectiveness of the vaccines for yocks would imply that Republicans have some kind of agency or moral responsibility, and down that road lies questions far too uncomfortable for the National Review. Ron Johnson is up for re-election in a swing state, after all, and he needs a safe space lest he be triggered by microaggressions like “maybe stop trying to get your supporters killed”:
“Facts don’t care about your feelings” turned out to be a feat of world-historic projection, masking an epidemic of crybabying and apologetics so vast that it now threatens to take down the American republic. https://t.co/mm2AnNYA9V— Brian Beutler (@brianbeutler) July 16, 2021