In the aftermath of the latest mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas — which left 19 small children and two adults dead — Republicans are working through their usual playbook to buy time until the shooting fades from the headlines. So there's lots of "mental health" talk from the same politicians and pundits who want to gut our already paltry social services. And there's lots of whining about how the real victims here are Republicans being criticized for their sociopathic policies, and not the dead kids and their families. Lots of fantasizing about how the solution is a "good guy with a gun," even though multiple officers were on the scene and exchanged fire with the shooter before he entered the school, to no avail. (All these self-appointed gun experts of the GOP refuse to understand unarmed school teachers and 10-year-olds make easier targets than a shooter armed with an assault rifle.)
The script Republicans roll out is predictable and nonsensical. It's meant to be. Meaningless noise is a useful political tactic. It exhausts people, leaving them too demoralized to fight for a better world.
