WASHINGTON, D.C.— People For the American Way’s Right Wing Watch program is monitoring right-wing reaction to the coronavirus crisis on a daily basis. Below is our new weekly roundup of blog posts illustrating how the right’s responses continue to fall into five major categories:

• Dismissing and Downplaying the Threat;
• Distracting Americans with Conspiracy Theories and Finger-Pointing;
• Pushing the Team Trump Line, Whatever It Is;
• Making the Most of It / Shameless Opportunism; and
• Playing God and Portraying Trump’s Actions as Part of a Divine Plan.

These categories are identified by researcher Peter Montgomery in his piece, “Tactics From the Right-Wing Playbook on COVID-19.” Here is the latest RWW reporting on right-wing activities related to each of these categories, including some tweets/video. Note that some items are included in more than one category.

Dismissing and Downplaying the Threat

Disinformation, Coronavirus, and the 2020 Presidential Election
DeAnna Lorraine Plans to Go ‘Undercover’ as a Contract Tracer to Expose the COVID-19 ‘Plandemic’
Tweet: MAGA life coach Brenden Dilley will not be wearing a mask because it’s “better to be dead than a fucking dork.”
Tweet: Josh Bernstein says you shouldn’t wear a mask because when you do, “you’re keeping the germs inside of your own body and you’re not letting the fresh air come in.”
Tweet: Bill Mitchell bellows that there is never an excuse for shutting down the economy, even if “Martians with laser beams landed on the front porch of the White House.”

Distracting Americans with Conspiracy Theories and Finger-Pointing

Disinformation, Coronavirus, and the 2020 Presidential Election
DeAnna Lorraine Plans to Go ‘Undercover’ as a Contract Tracer to Expose the COVID-19 ‘Plandemic’
Brenden Dilley Urges His Audience to Harass Reporters and Politicians ‘All the Time’
Tweet: Chris McDonald says that social distancing guidelines are just like what the Nazis did to the Jews.
Tweet: Rodney & Adonica Howard-Browne claim that if you have gotten a flu shot in the last 10 years, you will falsely test positive for COVID-19.
Tweet: Dinesh D’Souza has racked up 13K+ retweets and 46K+ likes with this doctored image.

Pushing the Team Trump Line, Whatever It Is

Disinformation, Coronavirus, and the 2020 Presidential Election

Making the Most of It / Shameless Opportunism

Tweet: DeAnna Lorraine thinks it would be a good idea to design and sell a t-shirt that seemingly suggests that COVID-19 contract tracers should be shot.
Tweet: Dinesh D’Souza has racked up 13K+ retweets and 46K+ likes with this doctored image.

Playing God and Portraying Trump’s Actions as Part of a Divine Plan

Disinformation, Coronavirus, and the 2020 Presidential Election

About People For the American Way

People For the American Way is a progressive advocacy organization founded to fight right-wing extremism and build a democratic society that implements the ideals of freedom, equality, opportunity and justice for all. We encourage civic participation, defend fundamental rights, and fight to dismantle systemic barriers to equitable opportunity.  Learn more: https://www.pfaw.org.