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People Are Losing It Over A Bonkers Breitbart Op-Ed Essentially Accusing Democrats Of Tricking Conservatives Into Being Anti-Vax So They’ll Die Of COVID

For years, far right sites like Breitbart News have sowed distrust in journalists, in Democrats, even in experts. They’ve taught their readers that these people aren’t only wrong but evil. Then a once-in-a-century pandemic happened. And when journalists, Democrats, and experts told them to take it seriously, to mask up, to get a vaccine, they did what they were bound to do: They did the opposite. The overwhelming majority of COVID cases and deaths right now involve the unvaccinated. So one Breitbart writer sprung into action: He blamed the deaths of the unvaccinated…on those begging people to get vaccinated.

In two new pieces, longtime Breitbart writer John Nolte — who is vaccinated and who is trying to reason with people who booed Trump himself for recommending the vaccines — made a surreal, bananas argument: that “leftists” like Joe Biden, Nancy Pelosi, CNN, and Howard Stern — who recently had some choice words for anti-vaxxers — are “deliberately looking to manipulate Trump supporters into not getting vaccinated.”

He added, “Nothing else makes sense to me.”

Nolte’s argument, such as it was, was that the unvaccinated would never want to be “bullied or ridiculed or mocked or pushed into doing anything.” Fair enough. But then he went a bunch of steps further:

If I wanted to use reverse psychology to convince people not to get a life-saving vaccination, I would do exactly what Stern and the left are doing… I would bully and taunt and mock and ridicule you for not getting vaccinated, knowing the human response would be, Hey, f*ck you, I’m never getting vaccinated!

The article was widely mocked over the weekend. (More on that soon.) So on Monday, Nolte pulled a popular Republican trick: He doubled down.

The organized left is deliberately putting unvaccinated Trump supporters in an impossible position where they can either NOT get a life-saving vaccine or CAN feel like cucks caving to the ugliest, smuggest bullies in the world.

In other words, I sincerely believe the organized left is doing everything in its power to convince Trump supporters NOT to get the life-saving Trump vaccine.

To his credit, Nolte did call what he referred to as the “Trump vaccine” a “miracle and a lifesaver” (while calling mask mandates “fascist” and calling COVID “the China Virus,” of course). That’s a pretty low bar, though. Besides, he failed to clear another: He didn’t outright tell his readers, many of whom are likely anti-vaxxers, to get vaxxed. “That’s your choice,” he wrote. “But I am telling you to find a better argument.”

When people who aren’t Breitbart readers learned that a Breitbart writer was blaming people who’ve been singing the praises of COVID vaccines for months for the deaths of those who would never listen to them — well, Breitbart became a social media laughingstock.

https://twitter.com/jude_spectre/status/1439993458127773707

Some called Nolte’s argument mere spin.

Others called it gaslighting.

Others pointed out Nolte was basically admitting a large faction of right wing media has been wrong about vaccines.

Some used the opportunity to once again beg people to get vaccinated.

Some a tack that was almost as far-fetched as Nolte’s argument: That telling people to get vaccinated to own the libs might just work.

But, some pointed out, it still makes no sense.

All in all, it’s a depressing reminder of what the culture war has done to some people’s brains.

Bottom line: Get vaccinated if you haven’t. But don’t take it from us: Take it from the guy who also thinks Black Panther is pro-Trump.