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The Republicans with the help of right-wing media are prolonging the pandemic for political reasons. Consider that 17 of the 18 states that voted for Trump have the lowest vaccination rates. Georgia is the exception. And the surge of coronavirus cases and hospitalizations are primarily in Republican-controlled states, where vaccination rates are well below the national average. This is the consequence of these red states slow-walking their responses to the pandemic including refusing to ban mandatory vaccinations or masking. I can only conclude that to them, an overwhelmed heath care system and needless deaths are acceptable collateral damage. 

It is also telling that no Republican in the House and Senate voted for the $1.9 trillion Covid-19 relief package. Some of these same Republicans realized the liability of voting against vaccinations, money in their constituents' pockets, putting constituents into jobs, and children back to school, then tried to take credit for the legislation. 

Republicans benefit if the pandemic ends too quickly. Trump botched the pandemic response while President Joe Biden generally gets high marks for his handling of the pandemic. By slowing Biden’s movement toward herd immunity and the end of the pandemic, Republicans hope to tarnish Biden’s accomplishment. As Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell put it back in May 2021, “One-hundred percent of our focus is on stopping this new administration.”  

I suspect that Trump with help from his enablers — aided by “the Big Lie” — hopes to rise like the Phoenix from the chaos he created to take control of our country. If that happens, say goodbye to the rule of law and the U.S. Constitution and say hello to a Trump autocracy.