Blaming DeSantis for the current situation in Florida might make Democrats feel good and reinforce the message that voters should never, ever consider casting a ballot for a Republican. But the anger is rooted in a tendentious reaction to what’s really happening in the state — which is that the politically ambitious governor is baiting the left into precisely such a reaction in order to reinforce the message that voters should never, ever consider casting a ballot for a Democrat.

That’s what the politics of endless COVID is liable to look like — with the same ideological and cultural polarization that prevailed before the pandemic persisting, expanding, and intensifying as anger, exhaustion, frustration, and anxiety mount with the passing months and years. There’s just too much political and psychological benefit to blaming ideological opponents for our struggles and suffering. Most people will find the temptation too alluring to resist.

Of course it’s possible that things will de-escalate with time as each side comes to recognize the shortcomings of its own predispositions. Michelle Goldberg recently expressed well-justified irritation with the FDA for dragging its feet in approving COVID vaccines for children. Such objections to the way public health authorities are handling the pandemic could become widespread in blue states and regions if persistent restrictions lead to further economic stagnation and signs of psychological and social harm for both children and adults. Red states and regions could likewise grow fed up with widespread loss of life and debility from an illness that state and local governments steadfastly refuse to respond to in any kind of systematic way.