Democrat officials in multiple states encouraged people to attend large gatherings in Asian neighborhoods to "fight racism" when the pandemic was getting started. So it goes far beyond being "rude to some people". Both sides have made huge mistakes, and it appears that the foreign press is giving one side a pass.
This is going to change rapidly over the coming days, as the virus is rapidly growing the south.
According to JHU, for confirmed cases (not deaths, as in your comment): AZ (#3), FL (#5), MS (#8), AL (#9), SC (#10). (50/50) In approx. another week, GA (currently #11) will probably also become #10.
I've been deriving this data from the JHU data (which is on GitHub) myself for a while now: https://imgur.com/a/RpjEm9Z ; the full chart is remarkably busy, and not that great. I mean to try to clean it up into something more usable, but I've been swamped with my day job all week.
I expect deaths will generally follow in the coming weeks, regrettably. There might be some variance, of course, between states in deaths-per-captia, and that is a graph I've been meaning to make (since that might show something interesting about which states are better dealing with infections), especially after Chris Wallace's interview with Trump, and the remarks the President made there.
Apparently LA (#1) has a Democrat. Huh.
The problem isn't giving both sides the chance to speak, it's pretending that the ideas are equal and giving them equal weight. For example, wearing masks, washing hands, and social distancing as ideas for fighting the pandemic are not similar to drinking bleach and bathing in UV light. Yet both ideas get equal coverage and equal weight, as if they are both valid methods of dealing with the pandemic. This is why we cannot discuss politics and why Americans have to hide their views. People who can think will not put up with the stupidity of the idiotic ideas people who can't think put forward. How can you have a conversation with an idiot who thinks it's a good idea to drink bleach? Or one who thinks corona is spread by 5G towers. There is nothing to talk about. And the idiot cannot converse back either. They are likely unable to actually understand the situation so any evidence provided goes above their head.
Eventually, the idiots move to one side, the rest move to another, and it becomes an intractable problem. That's what we're seeing now in America. The institutions that are led by idiots have failed horribly, often on purpose: White House, Senate, CDC, FDA, Florida, Texas, Arizona, etc. But of course, this is all taboo to discuss in the first place. Politics are taboo in America. That's why no one talks about any issues and why we truly are a "shithole country," as the president called it.
It's a very difficult bind, because the media has fully bought in.
I feel identical, but apparently mirrored politically to you. So in the spirit of charity, how do you feel the R side has gotten more conservative? I don't even need sources, just your perspective.
Since Reagan, the Republican Party has moved very far to the right, focused primarily on lowering taxes for the rich, undermining the social programs they used to support, creative gerrymandering, and suppressing votes they don't like (often black votes).
Under Reagan there was still some sanity and reason behind it and especially under George HW Bush, but since Newt Gingrich, the party seems to have abandoned all common sense, embraced lies to justify war under Bush jr, and with Trump, it's just all lies for the sake of lies, with every remaining principle they used to have thrown out of the window, with the lone exception of power for its own sake, and hurting people they disagree with.
McCain and Romney seem(ed) to be the last of the old guard that still care (somewhat?) about basic honesty.
Though I guess the move towards the current insanity has nothing to do with anything resembling conservatism or "right" anymore. But the party has definitely changed beyond recognition. And I do think it started with Nixon's Southern Strategy, which was already about sacrificing principles for power. The first step on a very long slide down.