On July 13 of this year, the Twitter account of Prager University (which is actually a conservative YouTube channel, not a real educational institution) posted a photo of a protest for Black lives accompanied with the following caption:
NEVER FORGET:
— PragerU (@prageru) 2020년 7월 13일
This protest was allowed in California.
No masks or social distancing required.
However, salons, restaurants, retail stores, bars, and many businesses will be forced into bankruptcy.
Churches are being forced to close.
The Left is weaponizing #COVID19. pic.twitter.com/AwD8DQNTd2
There’s a lot to unpack here. While this is only one tweet from one account, many in the conservative media have echoed its claims. I could certainly write a lengthy article concerning this single tweet, but I want to focus specifically on a trope that has become common in right-wing discourse: In this post I will explore the validity of the claim that protests for Black lives have spread COVID-19, and what these repetitions of the claim say about the political discourse of the United States.
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