Do you think Republicans defy professional health advice simply because Democrats support it?

[Kablooie]

I saw a photo of several Republicans standing tight together for a photo with Pence right after the debate. No masks, of course.

I've been trying to figure out why supposedly reasonable adults are flaunting health recommendations when it's so obviously against their own best interests.
The only thing I can figure out is it's a knee jerk reaction to Democrats.

They've become so accustomed to automatically turn against every single thing that Democrats want that they will risk their health and life itself in order to show they defy Democratic beliefs.

It's unbelievably infantile thinking but I can't find any other explanation for all their insanely risky behavior.
For Trump, infantile thinking is standard but it still boggles me how so many of his cronies so willingly jump into his crazy pool and splash around with him like total idiots, at the risk of their own lives and the lives of their families.

[Miguelito Loveless]

1. Anything we say or believe

must be wrong. It is that simple.

[underpants]

2. Yes

[beachbumbob]

3. Yes, a number of

studies been conducted over the years that this is personality trait. We say up, they say down

[Shermann]

4. No question they are an anti-party now, nothing more, nothing less nt

[LakeArenal]

5. Yep. Same with Choice.

[subterranean]

6. The president and right-wing media tell them what to think.

Trump and the right-wing media have been suggesting or outright saying that COVID is no big deal or is fake, mandatory mask-wearing is a plot by Democrats to control them, Dr. Fauci can't be trusted, etc.

I could be wrong, but I think if Trump had consistently said that we could return to semi-normal if everyone would cooperate and where a mask in public places (and if he'd worn one himself more frequently), most Republicans would get on board with that. But unfortunately he's done the opposite, and flouting social distancing and mask-wearing guidelines has become a kind of tribal marker for his supporters. It'll be hard for Joe Biden to change that.

[BlueNProud]

7. Yes

[hurl]

8. Absolutely

In GOP-dominated places like mine, we're down to two teams: Either you are all things evil if you do anything a terrible socialist Democrat suggests, or else you own those idiots by flouting anything they say. Us or Them... Science that contradicts this must be convenient as propaganda to them.

[Doodley]

9. Have you ever discussed climate change with a Republican? They have no facts. They have no

interest in facts. Have you ever discussed universal healthcare? They have no facts again. The only thing they "know" is it's "socialist," or "communist," or something the liberals believe in.

[wnylib]

10. No. I think opposition to Dems is only

part of it. I think they believe that the only wsy to deal with the pandemic now is to push forward with herd immunity. They WANT to spread the virus and get people sick. They know that it will mean a lot more deaths, but don't care. To them, the people most vulnerable are expendable - seniors, younger people with underlying conditions, low income people who are essential workers. The fact that Blacks and Hispanics are being worse affected than the general population is a plus to them.

Trump's inner circle and his followers hold the same belief that he does, the idea that people who die from covid are weak and should be weeded out. Most of all, the rest of society, as far as they are concerned, should go about their business and rebuild jobs and the economy without a thought for the vulnerable ones. As Trump put it, we shouldn't let the cure be worse than the disease. So what if thousands more die? It is what it is.

The fact that their attitude and actions annoy us is just frosting on the cake for them. Their main goal and belief is that people with the health and /or money to look after themselves should do so, without regard for the rest. Or, as my Great Aunt Emma used to say, "They run ahead of the pack with the attitude that as long as they are ahead, the devil can take the hindmost." (She hated people like that. So do I.)

[Kablooie]

14. You may be right. They embrace it because it's a form of eugenics.

Cull the herd of undesirables so everyone getting sick is a big plus for them.

[wnylib]

18. That's it exactly. They are fascists, after all.

They believe in racial superiority. Among other whites, they believe in the superioriy of wealth, power, and dominance of a few over the rest.

What else explains their deliberate exposure of themselves and of others? And their silence and cover up of the infections among the WH staff and members of Congress as they went about their business of fund raising and campaigning? They are forcing their herd immunity belief on the US population.

Mass murderers.

[Wounded Bear]

11. Undoubtedly a big part of it...nt

[GulfCoast66]

12. They are dying to own the libs...literally.

[Sgent]

13. I know some of these people

including at least one R Senator who got in trouble for not wearing a mask. Most were reasonable people 20 years ago, now they are 3 year olds with oppositional defiant disorder.

[Iggo]

15. Yes.

[UnderThisLaw]

16. No, they really are that stupid

[SoonerPride]

17. Do they know we are against drinking hemlock?

We need to publicize how much democrats are against the latest viral fad.

We say don’t take the hemlock challenge.

Make sure republicans know we are anti hemlock.

[Generic Brad]

19. It's not wishful thinking

It’s hateful thinking.