Here, again, are the 2016 exit poll results among voters over the age of 65:

Arizona: Trump 55, Clinton 42 (+13)

Florida: 57-40 (+17)

Georgia: 67-31 (+36)

Michigan: 51-47 (+4)

North Carolina: 60-37 (+23)

Pennsylvania: 54-44 (+10)

Wisconsin: 49-48 (+1)

Now let’s look at the states that have imposed stay-at-home orders:

x GRAPHICAL LIST OF "STAY AT HOME" STATES, 3/24 AM

Since this is fast changing, this map is as of this morning, knowing there will be more changes (map does not include Hawaii's restrictions) pic.twitter.com/2rdHwWIGaq — John Couvillon (@WinWithJMC) March 24, 2020

Michigan and Wisconsin—both with Democratic governors—have shut down, but there is very little partisan difference among seniors in those two states, in either case. The rest, with the much wider Republican advantages, are mostly business-as-usual.

Arizona (+13 Trump), Florida (+17), and Georgia (+36) are open or mostly open. All three are projected to be within a couple of points in the presidential contest, and yet their Republican governors are resisting any real action! They are literally killing their most important voters.

Even when they’re not killing them, many Republicans are suppressing their own vote. Let’s look at a map of vote-by-mail states:

While all states should abandon in-person voting and go the route blazed by Oregon (the first state to move to all-mail voting), absentee voting is the next best thing. And look at that—almost every state that doesn’t allow no-excuse absentee ballots is Republican. Who is most likely to stay home on Election Day in the midst of a global pandemic that is particularly deadly for seniors? Seniors!

And while none of those states are competitive at the presidential level, they all have down-ballot races that could be impacted by the suppression of their most loyal voting bloc. Does South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham really think he’s going to win reelection on the strength of the youth vote? And Texas is already moving in our direction. Do Republicans really want to accelerate that timeline?

If a was a psychotic partisan, I’d be cheering Trump and his merry band of market-first nihilists. Their rank stupidity and greed, if allowed to proceed unchecked, would only accelerate the generational transition to a more liberal populace. But I’m not a psychotic partisan. I am a human, who doesn’t want any other human prematurely … exiting the electorate. And apparently that is suddenly controversial.

So it feels crazy to be screaming at Republicans to get their shit together, because it benefits them politically to get their shit together. But here we are. Because 2020 couldn’t possibly get any crazier.