GOP governors are now at risk of becoming the faces of the deadly COVID delta surge: report

A new Washington Post report on Wednesday argued that Republican governors are running the risk of becoming the face of the delta variant and the disaster it is inflicting on their states.

The report started out by showing that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is under siege for his handling of the pandemic.

"DeSantis is waging war on school districts seeking to defy his executive order prohibiting mask mandates for students — while the state sees its rates of hospitalization from covid surge past the worst levels of 2020," the Post described.

While DeSantis is on a state-wide victory lap, hospitals are coordinating with the federal government for more ventilators and help to handle the influx of hospitalizations. DeSantis was asked about it and said he doubted it was even happening. It was, and he had no idea.

After banning mask mandates, Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX) is now begging for emergency medical help by asking out-of-state health workers to come to his state. Abbott also asked Texas hospitals to postpone elective surgeries until the current COVID-19 wave has passed.

"In South Dakota, Gov. Kristi L. Noem welcomed hundreds of thousands of revelers to the Sturgis motorcycle rally that last year bore characteristics of a superspreader event for the virus," the Post wrote. There were 600 cases of COVID that were traced to that event last year. This year, with the more contagious delta variant, it's unclear how bad things could be.

Arkansas saw a dramatic increase in cases (particularly among children) and the GOP legislature there moved to block mask mandates too. In that state, the governor can be overruled by a simple majority. So, Gov. Asa Hutchenson (R-AR) said that he didn't even try to veto the law because he knew it would be overturned. He now says he regrets not standing in the way.

Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves (R) was blasted by a local columnist this week for going awol on the pandemic -- even though by Wednesday, Mississippi hospital parking lots were clearing out to handle the influx of COVID patients.

"Vaccination mandates for government workers or nursing home staff have overwhelmingly come from Democrat-led states, though in liberal Maryland, Gov. Larry Hogan (R) recently joined Virginia in ordering state workers to get vaccinated or face regular virus testing," said the Post report. "And while many Republican governors turned to statewide mask mandates during last summer's Sun Belt surge of the virus, this year is different, as some leaders move to block cities, school districts, and companies from making their own mask or vaccine requirements."

The Lincoln Project agreed, going after at least two of the most egregious governors in the video below: