Well, the old expression,With age comes wisdom only applies if you don’t watch a lot of Fox News. Here’s a distressing article from The Washington Post proving once again that Republicans really do put themselves at a great big disadvantage relying on Trump’s self serving statements and the skewed comments from Fox News hosts. However this time, the misinformation campaign emanating from Trump and Fox News has real life and death consequences effecting not just them, but all Americans.
Case in point. The Villages, a huge retirement community in Central Florida, has 115,000 residents, 2/3rds of whom identify as Republicans.. And half of those report that Fox News is their preferred main news source.
According to the article, a large number of the residents aligning themselves with what they heard on Fox News, do not recognize the virus as a major a threat. They are dismissing the CDC’s recommendations as overblown and thus are out in public socializing. (see accompanying photo.)
And here is the most disturbing part. The incursion of the virus into that densely populated elderly community, with the average age of 69, could happen quickly. The Villages has the potential for becoming a undeniable hot spot which could then overtake the regional health system’s ability to handle the numbers.
Experts have studied how being exposed to propaganda can overwhelm reasonable thinking. In this case, at the Villages, misinformation from Fox news and Trump has tampered dangerously with people’s ability to use common sense.
These conservatives, sadly for all Americans, have joined up with other Fox News viewers and bought into a con man’s deadly game of fool the American people about the nature of this infectious disease. And these fooled Trump loyalists, will have unwittingly, (can we give them that?) added to the unfolding crisis.
And on the contrary, Mr. President, you are responsible for the magnitude of this calamity.