Biden Shrugged

Biden got tired of trying to placate the GOP Covid-deniers, and gave them the tough-love they yearn for.

Sep 13, 2021

Now, I know we’re not supposed to like Ayn Rand. But there was one passage in her book, “Atlas Shrugged,” that always stuck with me.

“If you saw Atlas, the giant who holds the world on his shoulders, if you saw that he stood, blood running down his chest, his knees buckling, his arms trembling but still trying to hold the world aloft with the last of his strength, and the greater his effort the heavier the world bore down upon his shoulders - What would you tell him?"
I…don't know. What…could he do? What would you tell him?"
To shrug.”

Joe Biden just shrugged. He got tired of trying to placate the GOP Covid-deniers, while also recognizing that there was no way he was ever going to reach them. So he shrugged. He called their bluff. He told them that if they really were willing to lay it all down in order not to get vaccinated, if they truly were willing to lose their jobs over it, then go for it.

And what do you know, lots more people are getting vaccinated, and so far, few have quit.

Since United Airlines implemented a corporate vaccinate mandate on its own, half of the remaining unvaccinated got vaccinated, and they expect the other half to be vaccinated by the end of the month.

Tyson Foods’ had the same result. Half of their remaining unvaxxed staff got the vaccine, increasing the number of vaccinated employees from 45% to 72%.

And Delta Airlines, which hit unvaccinated employees with a $200/month health insurance surcharge, has already seen 20% of their remaining unvaccinated staff get the vaccine.

Sylvia Plath, one of my favorite poets, once wrote: “Every woman loves a fascist.” Now, I don’t know about women, but lots of Republicans sure do. Donald Trump tapped into a kind of primal need Republicans have to be led by a hoop in their nose. Republicans love a strongman — and make no mistake, it’s definitely a man — because they desperately crave being told what to think and what to do. (And they’re also incredibly gullible, which makes control all the easier.) Joe Biden wasn’t having any success convincing the GOP vaccine holdouts because they didn’t want a carrot when they worship the stick.

Which brings us to the larger issue of the Republican party’s increasingly fascist and violent turn under Donald Trump. Hillary Clinton says Democrats have “the responsibility gene.” Meaning, we always try to do the right thing, the thing that best benefits the country, even if it hurts our own party’s political prospects in the short or medium term. We’re the party of the big boys and girls; we’re the adults in the room. And with the GOP’s fascist turn, we’re still trying to play nice. What are Biden’s top priorities? Infrastructure, health care, the economy, Covid. All laudable goals. But what about the Insurrection? What’s going to happen to all those issues we care about if the Republicans openly steal the presidential election in 2024? Or steal the Congress in 2022?

Biden ran on bringing the country together, as did Obama in 2008. But how do you do that? I’m not convinced that you unite the country through kindness, when the other guys see empathy as weakness. I’m not sure we have much choice other than to play hardball, and maybe even chicken. If Mitch McConnell and the Republican elites are willing to play with fire, and stoke the violent instincts of their base — and try to get their own base killed by feeding them Covid disinformation — I’m increasingly wondering if we shouldn’t just let them. I don’t know if the old adage is true, that an addict needs to hit rock bottom before they’re willing to help themself, but in politics, I feel like it just might be. Things may need to get a lot worse before they can get better. Maybe more bad things have to happen before the Republican elites finally wake up, and start being part of the solution rather than the problem.

I know it’s risky. But I’m not seeing an alternative, when the other guy keeps returning a hug with a shotgun.

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