Keith Olbermann has a recurring segment on his YouTube channel — a holdover from his old MSNBC show — called “The Worst Person In The World.” The former-MSNBC commenter lived up to that billing on Monday, sharing the title with Greg Abbott. The Texas governor has declared that now is the “time to open Texas 100 percent,” despite the second most populated state in the United States recording 6,000 new cases of the coronavirus yesterday, along with 271 deaths. “With the medical advancements of vaccines and antibody therapeutic drugs, Texas now has the tools to protect Texans from the virus,” Abbott said. “We must now do more to restore livelihoods and normalcy for Texans by opening Texas 100 percent.”
In response to the governor’s executive order, Olbermann fired off an all-time bad take:
Why are we wasting vaccinations on Texas if Texas has decided to join the side of the virus? https://t.co/Yn2i7zT8KL
— Keith Olbermann⌚️ (@KeithOlbermann) March 3, 2021
“Why are we wasting vaccinations on Texas if Texas has decided to join the side of the virus?” he wrote. For one thing, not every Texas resident (5.2 million of whom did not vote for Trump in the 2020 election) agrees with Abbott — a recent study found that “88 percent of Texas voters said they’re wearing masks when in close contact with people outside of their households. That group includes 98 percent of Democrats and 81 percent of Republicans.” So even with the governor ending the mask mandate, many Texans (myself included) will continue to wear a mask in public. Also, by tweeting that the government is “wasting vaccinations on Texas,” Olbermann is basically calling for people to needlessly die. Even if it’s a joke, it sucks. Or as one reply put it, “I am once again asking you all to stop wishing death on an entire state due to the way it votes.” I’ll say this much about Olbermann, though: he found a way to unite Democrats and Republicans. Both sides took turns ripping his tweet to shreds.
over the last five years or so there have been a lot of people i thought weren’t stupid until they said something exactly like this https://t.co/w6cG6DL7g7
— Jon Bois (@jon_bois) March 3, 2021
…because this Texan + teams of scientists from @BCM_TropMed @bcmhouston @utmbhealth @TXMedCenter shaped coronavirus spike protein science over the last decade that made vaccinations a reality. No question we have issues, but America 🇺🇸 would not have COVID19 vaccines without us https://t.co/UBh4Yipd7J
— Prof Peter Hotez MD PhD (@PeterHotez) March 3, 2021
https://twitter.com/tiredgenerally/status/1366939160963993605
again, for the overprivileged dems in the back
🔘red state residents are people too
🔘red state politicians do not represent all of their citizens
🔘voter suppression is a thing
🔘everyone who wants a vaccine should be able to get one safely and affordably https://t.co/FGqIJyX1j2
— claire de lune (@ClaireMPLS) March 3, 2021
https://twitter.com/2012YesWeWill/status/1366958944820875269
Okay. Seriously? Stop rooting for people to die just because their state government sucks. Don't even fucking root for the people making the decisions to die.
The virus isn't alive. There is no sides. There is only death. https://t.co/pzfFRmHWuD
— Jinxe (@jinxeptor) March 3, 2021
Because being stuck with a fucking awful governor who mistakes money for principles shouldn’t be a goddamn capital offense for the rest of the state.
People are dying when they could be saved, but sure make with the jokey jokes. Where’s your fucking humanity? https://t.co/bcLGLNJUUz
— Dr. NerdLove (@DrNerdLove) March 3, 2021
https://twitter.com/erinbiba/status/1366962701260439552
Ah yes millions should be left to suffer and die because their Governor (who they are already trying to oust) is a festering pile of feces…or…or hear me out…we could support the communities he plans to sacrifice https://t.co/BiVz3oKHWd
— Mikki Kendall (@Karnythia) March 3, 2021
https://twitter.com/AnaMardoll/status/1366944163627991040
And the most damning tweet of all:
https://twitter.com/Eve6/status/1366952566634897409