Why are republicans hurting people?

 

 

Many people have been puzzled at why republican politicians have encouraged the members of their own party to risk their lives by refusing to protect themselves from Covid-19, leading to fewer voters in their party because of Covid deaths.  With so many doing this, it's hard to assume it is solely due to stupidity.  There are obvious political reasons.  They are playing to their base, especially Trump fans, who vote in primaries.  They are fanning the flames of partisanship and division, to keep those voters in their own party, and keep us from working together for our benefit against the big business donors whom the republicans serve.

But as time goes on, I wonder more and more if they are acting the way they did when Obama was president, deliberately hurting workers in order to turn voters against a president of the opposite party.  I would like to think that could not be the case, but the fact is they did that just a few years ago, with the result that Trump got enough votes to win the electoral college, so it would be naive to think they have suddenly become patriots who care about the good of our country.

Another possible factor is that some people may be in the pay of our enemies, like the Russians.  We know that the Russians have worked for decades to recruit people to help them.  We know that they have occasionally been successful, sometimes undetected for decades.  With the hundreds of politicians, many motivated by a desire for power and/or money, it would not be at all surprising if some were subverted by our enemies to take actions that weaken our country.  And more might be do so unwittingly.  We know that the Russians have worked thru social media to encourage resistance by our citizens to take effective measure to protect themselves and our country from Covid.