Don Giller

I'm inclined to dislike "false consciousness" theories but it's hard not to suspect there's a non-trivial amount of outright disbelief and rejection of evidence. Whether "libs" are faking the death #s or it's 'really' some other cause or another wk of sunlight will do it 1/

... or whatever, I do wonder at how many senior officials / GOP sincerely do not believe that what is happening is actually happening, or at least disbelieve in cause-effect relationships that you and I are taking for granted 2/

We see signs of that with other policy areas -- climate change most clearly -- but even though the virus facts seem direct and immediate enough to be different, they also carry much more uncomfortable short-term implications if you don't reject them 3/

On the "can't admit mistakes" point, it may be more than just Trump stubbornness. If you take the action needed now, it's hard to argue more wasn't needed earlier too. So either admit a massive policy failure (bigger than Trump), or hope to bullshit your way through 4/4

Add to this that they believe that the Trump administration is the last stand against the barbarians; every day for them is 9/11 and every political moment is Flight 93. Once you believe that, you can rationalize almost anything, including letting a pandemic rage out of control.