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Texas GOP's Tweet Dragging People For Standing In Line To Get Tested Instantly Backfires
Lately it seems like Republicans' two favorite things are voter suppression and mocking people who take COVID-19 seriously. So it probably should surprise no one that in a recent tweet, the Texas Republican Party seemed to be trying to kill two birds with one stone.
The state party recently tweeted a photo that has become something of a sign of the times lately: people waiting in long lines for COVID-19 testing amid the surging Omicron variant outbreak and a related shortage of both test kits and testing personnel.
But according to the caption included with the photo, these endless lines mean just one thing to the Texas GOP.
There's no need for mail-in or early voting in elections.
See the tone-deaf tweet below.
If you can wait in line for a covid test, you can wait in line to vote.pic.twitter.com/Y8YrKEspYP— Texas GOP (@Texas GOP) 1641582185
The Texas GOP's tweet read:
"If you can wait in line for a covid test, you can wait in line to vote."
The tweet struck most people as a thinly veiled reference to the 2020 election, when mail-in voting became predominant for the first time due to the pre-vaccine stage of the pandemic.
Mail-in voting's supposed unreliability and ease of use for voter fraud was one of the cornerstones of Republicans' claims that the 2020 election was stolen from former Republican President Donald Trump by Democratic President Joe Biden.
Given the near total lack of evidence of mail-in voting fraud from the 2020 election, the right-wing has long since changed the focus of its election fraud claims to supposedly tampered-with voting machines--also a fallacious claim. But with the midterm elections just months away, perhaps the GOP is looking for any opportunity it can to sow distrust about mail-in voting again.
Missing from the Texas GOP's analysis is that the long lines for COVID testing are occurring because of an actual crisis, rather than long lines at polling places each election cycle, which are usually due to thinly disguised attempts at voter suppression by Republican politicians and leaders.
And as someone on Twitter pointed out, they also seemed blithely aware that, like voting, COVID testing can also be done at home.
If I can test at home, I guess I should vote at home, right?pic.twitter.com/ODymCvodMB— Abe Connally (@Abe Connally) 1641584874
And that was just one response that pointed out the ridiculousness of the Texas GOP's tweet, as people flooded the replies with clapbacks.
If you can go without the protection of a mask, then you can go without the protection of a gun.\n\nAm I doing this right?— Andrew (@Andrew) 1641587997
Here\u2019s a hot take: you shouldn\u2019t be forced to wait in line for either one. Do you even hear yourself? You sound like the villain in a cartoon. How are you ok with what you\u2019ve become?— New Year\u2019s Dane (@New Year\u2019s Dane) 1641584373
In TEXAS we like WAIT for stuff. I STAND OUTSIDE in a LINE with my FAMILY FOR HOURS JUST FOR FUN— PeterDavies (@PeterDavies) 1641584321
Alternatively, you shouldn\u2019t have to wait in line for either one.— Krazy Katbot \ud83d\udc08\u200d\u2b1b\ud83e\udd16 (@Krazy Katbot \ud83d\udc08\u200d\u2b1b\ud83e\udd16) 1641585935
I hope the @texasdemocrats run the hell out of this tweet in every single ad this election season.— Bama resistance \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8 (@Bama resistance \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8) 1641584355
\u201cIf you can be freezing when you are outside ice fishing, you can be freezing inside your house when our incompetent power grid stops working\u201d— Attorney-at-Law (@Attorney-at-Law) 1641587460
Citizens should not have to wait in line for hours to exercise their CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT TO VOTE!pic.twitter.com/A3sc14QLdP— Rocky Mountain High (@Rocky Mountain High) 1641584684
Translation: "The more people that vote, the less chance we have of winning."— John Desrocher (@John Desrocher) 1641584555
Which of the hundreds of voting locations closed (in blue counties) by the Texas @GOP are you referring to?pic.twitter.com/in5lFc9Un6— RexPublic (@RexPublic) 1641649266
Even more ridiculous is the fact that the actual statistics for the 2020 election show that a majority of voters--some 54%--did stand in line to vote in person.
Sometimes you just lose elections because people like the other candidate better. Cool tweet, though, guys!