The COVID Cruelty of Laura Ingraham & Neil Gorsuch

Adam Serwer of The Atlantic famously wrote an article and a book about the Trump era called The Cruelty is the Point. When the book came out in June 2021, Serwer told NPR, "What I mean by cruelty is specifically the demonization of particular groups in order to deny them rights or exclude them from the polity."

Yet this cruelty can also be directed at individuals who are perceived as enemies. Not surprisingly some this cruelty has revolved around COVID as exemplified by FOX News host Laura Ingraham and U.S. Supreme Court justice Neil Gorsuch.

That cruelty would excrete from the mouth of Ingraham should come as no surprise. This is her stock and trade. Still, it does take a certain lack of character to cheer and clap when someone has been diagnosed with COVID which is what Ingraham did with the news that U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley has received a positive diagnosis. And why? Because Milley had the temerity to condemn the January 6th attack on the Capitol and ensure a peaceful transfer of power. For these unpardonable sins, Ingraham delights that Milley got COVID. Ingraham did say that she hopes Milley and others who have tested positive for COVID "are healthy and fine" but did so with all the sincerity of Mike Pence's endorsement of Ted Cruz. 

Then there's the case of Supreme Court justice Neil Gorsuch. He does not have a nightly TV show. But there must be an audience out there somewhere. Because why else would Gorsuch refuse to wear a mask in the presence of Justice Sonia Sotomayor even at the request of Chief Justice John Roberts? It could be that he's just a real prick and not well liked by any of the justices. Sotomayor has diabetes and is thus autoimmune compromised. Conservative justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett have masked up. But Gorsuch's refusal has forced Sotomayor (who sits next to Gorsuch on the bench) to partake in oral arguments and other court activity by phone and teleconferencing. 

The fact that Gorsuch cares so little about the life of his fellow justice that he cannot bring himself to wear a mask out of common courtesy tells you he is not a good person and that it also reflects his particular interpretation of conservative values. Of course, there are Gorsuchs in all walks of life. I guess there is an expectation that someone who is bestowed with a lifetime appointment to the highest court in the land would comport himself as a gentleman. 

Sadly, COVID has laid bare the people who think of the well being of others and the people who think only of themselves. Worse still, the people who think only of themselves believe themselves and their acts of cruelty to be virtuous. To hold such cruel sentiments and to take pride in them does not bode well for our nation's health nor for its very survival.