Anti-maskers Derail Commissioners’ Meeting

Not content with shutting down school boards, anti-maskers stormed a Klickitat County Board of Commissioners meeting Tuesday this week. According to the Goldendale Sentinel, a mini-mob of about 40 individuals engaged in their usual hollering and refusals to wear a mask. As a result, Commissioner David Sauter ended the meeting, stating that the commission may be forced to confine their meetings to Zoom-only affairs.

Meanwhile, hospitals in Republican-dominated areas of our nation continue dealing with a crisis of COVID-19 cases overflowing ICUs and burning out staff. As of Sept. 16, there are 94 active cases in Klickitat County, but the actual number may be far higher. Unofficial reports indicate that numerous Klickitat County residents who have COVID-19 symptoms are not seeking medical attention or a test. Instead, these individuals downplay the symptoms or assert that they’ve got a case of the flu. 

Typically, anti-maskers find common cause with anti-vaxxers, embracing what they call “medical freedom.” The loudest voices among the Republican leadership in our nation egg them on. 

But are these antics a winning formula?

Even some Republican-leaning voters are wearying of all the hullabaloo their party is raising. For example, on the Klickitat County Republicans Facebook page, an individual who opposes the vaccine mandate announced she will no longer participate in the protests, stating that she “will not treat others, who disagree, disrespectfully nor will I participate with those who use threats.”

While ex-President Trump might be quietly eating taco salads at his Mar-a-Lago redoubt, we need look no farther than the boorish behavior of our own county’s anti-maskers to see that Trumpism itself is thriving. Can shining a spotlight on the anti-public health, anti-democratic bullying faction of the Republican party help elect Democrats?

The answer to that question depends on us. One would think that defeating a party that has largely devolved into a cult would be easy, but that’s not the case in these crazy times. We’ll have to work to win.