Is the GOP a death cult?

Over time the Republican Party went from an increasingly radical right party to an authoritarian tribe under Trump and then to what now appears to be an authoritarian (fascist IMO) anti-vaxx Trumpist death cult. One commentator argues that the party is death cult. It appears that the anti-vaxx crowd is mostly Republicans, so there is at least a strong correlation between Trumpism and anti-vaxx belief and behavior.

NPR, Dec. 5, 2021: More than 90% of Republicans surveyed believe or are unsure about at least one false statement about COVID-19: Misinformation appears to be a major factor in the lagging vaccination rates. Poll data indicates that Republicans are far more likely to believe false statements about COVID-19 and vaccines. A full 94% of Republicans think one or more false statements about COVID-19 and vaccines might be true, and 46% believe four or more statements might be true. By contrast, only 14% of Democrats believe four or more false statements about the disease.

A Washington Post opinion piece makes the death cult argument like this:

Sarah Palin, rocket scientist, offered her thoughts on the coronavirus vaccine at a far-right conference in Arizona over the weekend.

“It will be over my dead body that I’ll have to get a shot,” she proclaimed.

But Palin’s talk of dead bodies is on point. By discouraging vaccination, she and Tucker Carlson and the rest of the anti-science right are quite literally getting people killed. Studies show that those living in the most pro-Trump counties in the United States are dying from covid-19 at a rate more than five times higher than in the most anti-Trump counties.

The Fox News crowd bristles at the notion that the Trumpified Republican Party has taken on aspects of a cult. But it’s looking more and more like a death cult, as my friend Sidney Blumenthal puts it. Nine hundred members of the Peoples Temple died at Jonestown. Thirty-nine died in the Heaven’s Gate mass suicide. But tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of Republicans are dying unnecessarily from covid-19 because they refuse to get vaccinated.

Blogger Charles Gaba, who has been tracking coronavirus death rates by county, reported Monday that since June 30, there have been about 117 deaths per 100,000 people in the reddest 10 percent of the United States (as measured by counties’ vote share for Donald Trump in 2020) — nearly six times the death rate of about 21 per 100,000 in the bluest decile. Likewise, the 100 million people who live in the most pro-Trump 30 percent of the United States had a death rate of about 98 per 100,000 since June 30 — more than triple the 30 per 100,000 among the people who live in the least pro-Trump 30 percent.  

Back in September, Palin had boasted on Fox News: “I am one of those White, common-sense conservatives, I believe in science, and I have not taken the shot.” And now she says she won’t take it — unless and until she’s a dead body.

Thanks to Palin and other death-cult leaders, countless Republicans have become exactly that.

ACASignups.net, Dec. 20, 2021

If the Republican Party isn't a Trumpist death cult, then what is it? The correlation between counties voting for or against the ex-president and deaths at least implies that Trumpism causes deaths more than non-Trumpist anti-vaxx belief and behavior. If one believes that Trumpism causes avoidable COVID deaths, then one can logically believe the Republican Party really is a Trumpist death cult. But, as we all know, correlation does not necessarily mean causation.

Questions: Is the Republican Party a Trumpist death cult? If not, then what is it, e.g., a group of people that just happen to be Republicans and live in counties that merely correlate with places where COVID death rates are higher than the national average for unknown reasons? Is Fox News the high priest of Trumpist dogma and propaganda?