[guest post by Dana]

Despite his fellow vaccine-skeptic colleagues dropping like flies from COVID-19, popular radio host Dennis Prager, an overweight 73-year old who has not had a COVID vaccination, announced that he was not only infected with the coronavirus but had been trying to get infected:

Early in the pandemic, right-wing radio show host Dennis Prager said he did not mind eating with utensils that had fallen on the ground. Now, after the virus has killed more than 700,000 Americans, Prager has revealed that he’s been actively trying to get a coronavirus infection all along.

On Monday, the 73-year-old host of “The Dennis Prager Show” told his audience that his plan worked. Prager said he tested positive for the coronavirus last week.

“I have engaged with strangers, constantly hugging them, taking photos with them knowing that I was making myself very susceptible to getting covid,” he said. “Which is — indeed, as bizarre as it sounded — what I wanted, in the hope I would achieve natural immunity and be taken care of by therapeutics.”

Additionally:

“I have done what a person should do if one is not going to get vaccinated,” he continued.

“It is infinitely preferable to have natural immunity than vaccine immunity and that is what I have hoped for the entire time,” Prager explained… “That is exactly what has happened. It should have happened to the great majority of Americans.”

Did Prager even consider for one second that, due to his irresponsible actions, he could have potentially infected other individuals while he was pre-symptomatic or even asymptomatic? Of course, he didn’t:

Days before he announced he had tested positive, Prager was in Colorado, where he spoke at a campaign event for Heidi Ganahl, a Republican running for governor. Officials with her campaign told KUSA they were not aware of Prager’s plan to get infected with the coronavirus.

“We are reaching out to all those who attended to make sure they are informed,” Ganahl’s campaign told the station in a statement. “We encourage those who attended … to get tested and follow CDC guidelines if they experience any Covid-like symptoms.”

As for Prager’s treatment plan, you can already guess what it’s been:

He has received a course of Regeneron’s monoclonal antibody treatment and told his audience that he has been following the “Zelenko Protocol,” an ineffectual combination of prescription drugs popular with the far right but not meant to treat COVID, and is now also taking ivermectin, an unapproved medication that is used in animals and humans to treat infections caused by parasitic worms and certain skin conditions, but again, not COVID.

And the irony of it all:

“Not everyone has the time or the inclination to learn what they need to learn and follow through with daily and/or weekly consumption. I think each individual has to make their own cost/benefit analysis of both therapeutics and vaccines. I was not comfortable getting an experimental vaccine produced with brand-new technology that had never before been deployed in humans on a mass scale without long-term safety data.

Ah:

Regeneron monoclonal antibody cocktail is still in the experimental stages and has only been approved for emergency use by the FDA.

I did a Google search for reports on Prager and COVID, and I saw only three right-leaning outlets reporting on it. One actually had a report titled, “Liberals Pounce After Dennis Prager Says He’s Tested Positive for the Coronavirus”. [Ed. Oh, please! It’s not that he got it, it’s *how* he got it.] Clearly, tribalism rules, no matter how insipid the reason.

Anyway, here’s Prager making his announcement:

Dennis Prager announces he has COVID-19 while ranting against vaccines and declaring that he was trying to get infected
https://t.co/z12VuK3Wrw pic.twitter.com/0OP0Ge2aYi

— Jason Campbell (@JasonSCampbell) October 18, 2021

–Dana

[guest post by Dana]

Just doing a little damage control:

A poll of Greene’s constituents found 4 percent of voters didn’t plan on casting a ballot in the 2022 midterms, according to the Georgia representative. While Greene’s been a vocal critic of the handling of the 2020 election and is pushing for a full audit of Georgia’s results, she told constituents that if 4 percent of them had stayed home in 2018, Georgia would currently have a Democratic governor.

…

“Voices online that are telling you not to vote are doing the Democrats’ dirty work. Stop listening to grifters telling you not to vote,” Greene posted on Twitter. “We must root out the fraud, but we also have to VOTE.”

…

While Greene shared in Trump’s frustration about the ruling, she said on Monday that Republicans needed to “flood the polls” in 2022 to keep Democrats from winning “by default.” She also continued to advocate for auditing the 2020 election, prosecuting “the fraud” and ending widespread mail-in ballots.

So who is the grifter doing the “Democrats’ dirty work” and basically working to sabotage the midterms by telling Republicans they should stay home rather than vote? Well…

Days earlier, former President Donald Trump said Republicans wouldn’t vote in the midterms or the 2024 presidential election if the “election fraud isn’t solved.” He called it the “single most important thing for Republicans to do” and denied that he’s failed to provide evidence that he’s the rightful winner of the election.

Trump’s statement came hours after a Georgia judge dismissed a lawsuit alleging fraud in the 2020 election. Plaintiffs sought a review of more than 100,000 votes, but the judge denied they properly alleged a particularized injury and thereby ruled they lacked standing to claim their constitutional rights were violated.

The former president called the case’s dismissal a “disgrace” to America and claimed “nobody” wanted to do anything about the country’s “corrupt” elections.

Meanwhile, the Trump camp continues the grift:

Members of Donald Trump’s mailing list have been asked to contribute $45 each to “solve the election fraud of 2020,” despite no evidence of mass voter fraud.

Team Trump’s pleas for funds on Sunday evening came only days after the former president insisted Republicans “will not be voting” in the 2022 midterm and 2024 general elections until the supposed voter fraud is “solved.”

…

A message sent on behalf of Trump told supporters “we need at least $45 from EACH Patriot reading this email” in order to “defend our elections from the lying Left and WIN BIG in 2022 and then again in 2024.”

It would be nice if this guy no longer mattered, and that there was no longer the possibility that he could legitimately win (how ironic) a presidential election and get his hands back on the levers of power, but it can’t be ruled out:

Two-thirds of Republican voters say they want former President Donald Trump to run for president in 2024, according to a new Morning Consult/Politico poll.

…Overall, the survey found that Trump remains the GOP front-runner by a wide margin, with support from 47 percent of the party’s electorate — roughly in line with the 50 percent support he secured in an average of four other 2024 presidential primary polls conducted since he lost to Biden in November.

The survey also tested the strength of Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton, Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley, Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Florida Sen. Rick Scott and South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, all of whom received backing from at most 1 percent of Republican voters.

P.S. Good news, not every Republican will fall in line if Trump runs in 2024:

Bill Cassidy is 1 of 7 GOP senators who voted to convict Trump before he left office.@mikeallen: After that, Louisiana's Republican Party censured you.

Cassidy: I slept very well that night.

Allen: It's clear you ain't votin' for [Trump if he runs again].

Cassidy: I'm not. pic.twitter.com/tUcF3pAvCR

— Axios (@axios) October 17, 2021

–Dana

Each does so with the exact level of grace you would expect from the man.

Here is Pence:

Colin Powell was a true American Patriot who served our Nation with distinction in uniform, as a four-star general, National Security Advisor, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs and as 65th Secretary of State. Karen and I are praying for his wife, Alma, and the entire Powell family.

— Mike Pence (@Mike_Pence) October 18, 2021

And here is Trump:

Given the chance to be gracious about someone’s death, or say nothing at all, Trump takes a decidedly different route pic.twitter.com/HMgFAiiRcK

— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) October 19, 2021

This is one of the few times when Trump and his fiercest critics are looking forward to the same event.