Trump, COVID, Texas

Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick is a notorious lying sack of shit and everyone knows it. Yesterday, Patrick went on the Laura Ingraham's Fox News show and said "The COVID is spreading, particularly-- most of the numbers are with the unvaccinated, and the Democrats like to blame Republicans on that. Well, the biggest group in most states are African Americans who have not been vaccinated. The last time I checked over 90 percent of them vote for Democrats in their major cities and major counties, so it’s up to the Democrats to get, just as that it’s up to Republicans, to try to get as many people vaccinated."

Thursday in a post called This Day In COVID-- The Good, The Bad And The Republican. I looked at the correlation between counties that voted overwhelmingly-- over 90%-- for Trump in 2020 and vaccination rates. The correlation was amazing. These 90% and above Trump counties have incredibly low vaccination rates. Here, look:

• Roberts Co.- 96.2% Trump (23% of adults fully vaccinated)

• Borden Co.- 95.4% Trump (24% of adults fully vaccinated)

• King Co.- 95.0% Trump (14% of adults fully vaccinated)

• Glasscock Co.- 93.6% Trump (32% of adults fully vaccinated)

• Armstrong Co.- 93.1% Trump (30% of adults fully vaccinated)

• Motley Co.- 92.6% Trump (21% of adults fully vaccinated)

• Wheeler Co.- 92.4% Trump (30% of adults fully vaccinated)

• Sterling Co.- 91.4% Trump (26% of adults fully vaccinated)

• Shackelford Co.- 91.1% Trump (28% of adults fully vaccinated)

• Oldham Co.- 90.9% Trump (26% of adults fully vaccinated)

• Loving Co.- 90.9% Trump (17% of adults fully vaccinated)

• Jack Co.- 90.4% Trump (28% of adults fully vaccinated)

• Hansford Co.- 90.3% Trump (33% of adults fully vaccinated)

• Throckmorton Co.- 90.2% Trump (34% of adults fully vaccinated)

• Archer Co.- 90.0% Trump (38% of adults fully vaccinated)

• Hartley Co.- 90.0% Trump (38% of adults fully vaccinated)

95% of King County voters went for Trump. 86% of the adults are not fully vaccinated. There aren't enough Black residents to include them along with other minorities as "other." Over 94% of the residents are white and the only other sizable group are Native Americans (1.1%). But let me try my little experiment another way. Keep in mind that statewide-- largely because of high vaccination rates in blue cities like Dallas, Austin, San Antonio, Houston and El Paso, Texas has a 46% vaccination rate overall. These are all the counties with 25% of lower vaccinaton rates (along with their 2020 Trump percentages):

• King Co.- 14% vaccinated (95.0% Trump)

• Gaines Co.- 15% vaccinated (89.3% Trump)

• Loving Co.- 17% vaccinated (90.9% Trump)

• Newton Co. 18% vaccinated (80.1% Trump)

• Motley Co.- 21% vaccinated (92.6% Trump)

• Martin Co.- 22% vaccinated (86.0% Trump)

• Crane Co.- 22% vaccinated (83.0%% Trump)

• Roberts Co.- 23% vaccinated (96.2% Trump)

• Shelby Co.- 23% vaccinated (79.1% Trump)

• Upshur Co.- 24% vaccinated (83.7% Trump)

• Borden Co.- 24% vaccinated (95.4% Trump)

• Panola Co.- 24% vaccinated (81.4% Trump)

• Live Oak Co.- 25% vaccinated (83.1% Trump)

• Delta Co.- 25% vaccinated (83.4% Trump)

• Orange Co.- 25% vaccinated (81.1% Trump)

• Cass Co.- 25% vaccinated (79.2% Trump)

• Sherman Co.- 25% vaccinated (89.3% Trump)

• Dawson Co.- 25% vaccinated (77.9% Trump)

• Lipscomb Co.- 25% vaccinated (89.1% Trump)

So the correlation holds in either direction. Counties that voted overwhelmingly for Trump are unvaccinated and unvaccinated counties all went for Trump in a bit way.

Yesterday, NBC News reminded us that Patrick used to blame undocumented migrants for the disastrous pandemic in Texas but since being proven wrong, he decided to blame African-Americans. "Patrick told Ingraham that Democrats are 'doing nothing for the African American community,' while Republicans are 'encouraging people' who want the vaccine to take it. But he added, 'we respect the fact if they don't want the vaccination, we're not going to force it on them. That's their individual right.'"

Yesterday, Patrick and Abbott infected 22,135 more Texans, bringing the total to 3,441,692. The dynamic duo also killed another 184 deaths, the most of any state in the country, by far.