The Republican coronavirus meatgrinder

They have given up on containment

Workers walking off a ledge.
(Image credit: Illustrated | iStock)

The second wave of the coronavirus pandemic continues to accelerate. July 7 saw over 54,000 confirmed cases, a 72-percent increase over the previous two weeks. Many hospital intensive care units are completely full in Texas, Florida, Arizona, and elsewhere, and there is every sign the outbreak will get much worse before it gets better.

In response, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is laser-focused on … immunizing companies from legal liability if they infect their customers or employees. Meanwhile, President Trump is threatening to cut off federal aid to schools that do not reopen in the fall, despite the fact that neither he nor anyone else in his party has gotten behind the massive aid to states and local governments that would be a necessary precondition to even thinking about doing so safely.

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Ryan Cooper

Ryan Cooper is a national correspondent at TheWeek.com. His work has appeared in the Washington Monthly, The New Republic, and the Washington Post.