Do people even believe this anymore?

Read the story here

"The freedom of speech, the right to peaceably assemble is enshrined in the Constitution in the United States, and we have an election coming up this fall." With a straight face, Mike Pence said that to defend the virtually mask-free MAGA rallies.

The question that elicited this response was asked by a reporter wearing a mask. The Vice President understood it perfectly. Masks don't inhibit free speech.

Never mind that the Tulsa venue was famously not full, and the campaign could have encouraged social distancing. It just didn't.

It's obvious that neither the President nor the Vice President cares about public safety as much as they care about pandering to their base.

Their base: Those who complain more about masks than they do the lack of affordable health care; those who worry more about the retirement of Aunt Jemima than the murder of George Floyd. Some are even concerned about "reverse racism." Trump supporters are so infatuated with their own imagined victimhood that they imagine white people will soon be at the mercy of people of color. Never mind that racism is about resources and power, and people of color don't have enough of either to "oppress" these frightened whites.

It must be awful to be so perpetually afraid of "them." So terrified that people you don't know and don't understand will try to take what they believe is their birthright. I feel sorry for Trump supporters. Especially because they have put their faith into two men who care more about campaign optics than the corona virus.

THIS JUST IN! Since I posted this Saturday night, the Vice President has announced he will:

•  Visit Dallas, despite "a resurgence of the coronavirus pandemic that health experts warn could cripple hospital systems and stall the economic recovery."

•  Wait to headline campaign events in Florida and Arizona "amidst spikes in coronavirus cases." 

I choose to look at this as glass as half (or 1/3) full.