Washington Post columnist Jennifer Rubin offered a prediction Sunday morning on MSNBC that more Republicans than Democrats would die from the novel coronavirus outbreak because conservative media outlets are downplaying the threat. <blockquote>JENNIFER RUBIN, WASHINGTON POST: There is a particular cruelty/irony that it is their core viewers, the Republican older viewers, who are the most at risk. And when you think about it, which party immediately canceled all of their rallies? Which party immediately started having their political figures really portray and use their lies as an example? It was the Democrats. So, I hate to put it this way, but there will be less Democrat deaths because there will be less mass gatherings, there will be less opportunities for people to congregate and share this horrible disease. So it is really a very short-sighted strategy. But, I think now the name of the game is how do they get back on Planet Earth. And part of the way that I think that they are doing it is down the memory hole. He jumped right on this right away because of all this planning that we’re doing so well, which is head-spinning for the rest of us who watched him for weeks say this was a hoax. But this is how they do it at Fox News. Suddenly, he's been the most pro-active president... The toughest on it. And so they will contort themselves to get in line and get in sync. And, you know, we’re always saying but, but, but, pointing to the past. They don’t. They simply move with the flow. Every day is a new day. Every day is a new storyline, and they will stick with it. I think the problem will be what happens unfortunately if we start to follow that Italian model where we have mass casualties, and our lives are not disrupted for a week or two, but we’re talking months. And that is going to be some serious stuff. And I don’t know if their brainwashing is so strong as to carry on and make excuses for Trump during that. But this will be some serious stuff.</blockquote>