With President Joe Biden ensconced in the White House, the MAGA seditionists and even QAnon have moved on to a new cause: stopping the vaccines.
March 26, 2021

From The New York Times:

Although negative reactions have been relatively rare, the numbers are used by many extremist groups to try to bolster a rash of false and alarmist disinformation in articles and videos with titles like “Covid-19 Vaccines Are Weapons of Mass Destruction — and Could Wipe out the Human Race” or “Doctors and Nurses Giving the Covid-19 Vaccine Will be Tried as War Criminals.”

If the so-called Stop the Steal movement appeared to be chasing a lost cause once President Biden was inaugurated, its supporters among extremist organizations are now adopting a new agenda from the anti-vaccination campaign to try to undermine the government.

Bashing of the safety and efficacy of vaccines is occurring in chatrooms frequented by all manner of right-wing groups including the Proud Boys; the Boogaloo movement, a loose affiliation known for wanting to spark a second Civil War; and various paramilitary organizations.

Not surprisingly, the Fox News propagandists have been promoting the anti-vax sentiment, just as they did with the Big Lie about the election.

The alliance is growing larger and more vocal, The Times reports. In April, Michael Flynn and Sidney Powell are to appear at an anti-vaxxer conference promising to teach “how to fight back for your health and freedom.”

This movement may well fizzle out, just like the raucous opposition to Obamacare eventually fizzled.

Some analysts believe its life span will prove limited, with the far right pivoting to some other issue, like immigration. Eventually, hundreds of millions of Americans will be vaccinated, they noted, and vaccine skepticism is not the same thing as being anti-vaccination. Some doubters will soften if time proves the vaccines effective.

But the seditionists can still do a lot of damage in the meanwhile, just like the righties did a lot of damage to Obamacare.

Just this week, for example, this happened:

Larry Harris is accused of following a convoy of National Guard soldiers before attempting to run them off the highway with his truck several times in Lubbock County, according to Idalou police Chief Eric C. Williams.

Harris, 66, of Willcox, Arizona, eventually turned his truck into oncoming traffic, stopping three National Guard vans near Idalou, Williams said. He then pointed a gun at a soldier, identified himself as a detective, ordered the guardsmen out of their vehicles and demanded to search their vans, according to police.

Harris told police he thought a kidnapped woman and child were in the van. Sure, he could just be a lone quack but he also quacks like a QAnon supporter.

The larger point is that there could well be more incidents like this before the seditionists move on to God knows what next.

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