"DEMPANIC"

Right-wingers have a knee-slappingly hilarious term for the coronavirus crisis:

We don't have a pandemic what we have is a Dempanic just another thing to blow out of proportion to hurt Trump because y'all know he's gonna beat your ass again in November

— Steve Stickler (@stickler_steve) March 12, 2020

#QAnon ... watch the Stock Market SOAR like never before as soon as this bogus DEMPANIC is debunked/runs-its-course. You read it here first! 🤓

— Howard Stallings (@JacksonHolly) March 12, 2020

If you thought Tom Hanks or the NBA or Trump's limp, pointless, error-filled speech would inspire the wingnuts to take the coronavirus seriously, it's not happening -- notice that the tweets above were from earlier this afternoon. These folks still believe the epidemic is a phony story ginned up with the specific intend of bringing down the president.

What will it take? I don't even think they'll change their minds if Trump contracts the virus (and given his recent close contact at Mar-a-Lago with a Brazilian government official who's tested positive, he might) -- if Trump gets sick from this, it will absolutely be blamed on George Soros, the intelligence community, and/or the Democrats.

But what about deaths in MAGA country? Take a look at this report:

Jonathan Shuttlesworth, a televangelist who co-founded Revival Today TV, called out European churches that are taking measures to prevent the spread of coronavirus.

“Shame on every European full gospel church, bunch of sissies, that shut down during this thing,” he said....

“If you’re putting out pamphlets and telling everybody to use Purell before they come into the sanctuary and don’t greet anyone, you should just turn in your ministry credentials and burn your church down — turn it into a casino or something,” he said. “You’re a loser. Bunch of pansies. No balls. Got neutered somewhere along the line and don’t even realize it.”

... While he rejects a science-based approach to coronavirus prevention, he did say last week that there is something that will protect America from the disease: Donald Trump’s policy towards Israel.

“They can say whatever they want, he honored Israel. Obama honored the enemies of Israel; Trump honors Israel, and it’s a massive difference. And because of that, I predict America will be minimally affected by coronavirus,” Shuttlesworth said.

He said that “Pacific Northwest, California, and New York” are “four places” that will not be protected by Trump’s views on Israel because they gave “God the middle finger in the shape of an Empire State Building lit up in pink to celebrate the passage of the [legislation] that you can kill a baby.”

That last bit is the key: Liberal metropolises are likely to fare worse in this epidemic, at least in the early stages, because their residents include so many more international travels. First the deplorables will say, as this preacher does, that we deserve it. Then, when the disease reaches where they live, they'll say we spread our contagion to them. What they'll never do is look at the federal government's failed response and blame Trump, even if there are a million Americans dead.