Congratulations to Vermont’s conservative nutcases, who managed to fill the better part of a bus to Washington, D.C. for Wednesday’s hopeless Trump rally. The above is a screenshot taken from a Facebook video, which shows a bunch of proud right-wingers stuffed into a bus with nary a trace of masks or social distancing.

It’s a 10-hour ride to Washington, a full day of rallying with other anti-maskers, and then a 10-hour ride back to Vermont, trapped in this mobile superspreader. If there’s a single speck of coronavirus on board, they’re all getting the Covid.

I’d just be satisfied with calling them anti-social idiots, but you know, I’m old and have existing conditions that put me at high risk for Covid, so I take this personally. These people are dangerous. I hope to Hell that none of them live anywhere near my neck of the woods. Or near anybody you might care about.

These people will almost certainly come back to Vermont with loads of coronavirus coursing through their veins. It’s probably too much to ask for the bus to be stopped at the state line. But maybe the State Police facial recognition experts could do a close analysis of this video so they can get a headstart on contact tracing. We’re gonna need it.

I wrote previously about this trip, which bore the imprimatur of the Chittenden County Republicans. That’s a great way to make political inroads in Vermont’s most liberal county.

The video was posted by a group I’d never heard of: Vermonters for Vermont, which is a nomenclatural ouroboros if I’ve ever seen one.

VfV is the brainchild of one Gregory Thayer, Rutland-based tax preparer. If you were looking for help with your 1040, I suggest you keep on looking. I wouldn’t hire this man to walk a dog.

Thayer is a former Rutland alderman and chair of the city Republican Party. He was last seen speaking to a pro-Trump “Stop the Steal” rally on December 5 in Montpelier, so we know where he stands. In a 2018 opinion piece posted on VTDigger, he touted “Vermonters for Vermont” in rather grandiose terms:

A political education program, bringing all the conservative Republican fringe groups together to develop a message and plan to organize and reach out to all Vermonters: Vermonters for Vermont, Vermonters for Trump, Vermont for Healthcare Freedom, Vermont School Choice Groups, Gun Owners of Vermont group, Green Mountain Republicans, and other groups that espouse true conservative Republican values. We will be aggressive, fact based, and provide information with humility.

A few points. First, it’s nice of him to freely characterize conservative Republicans as “fringe.” It’s funny, they don’t like it when I call them “fringe.”

Second, what an egomaniac. To think that he could unite all those disparate groups under his own banner. I once had a chat with the then-head of Gun Owners of Vermont, and he openly despaired of getting his members to go in a single direction. That’s just one of the freedom-lovin’, authority-disrespectin’ groups that Thayer dreamed of uniting. I guess he’s possessed of some secret political juju that no other conservative leader has.

Finally, “humility.” This guy. Did he prove his humility by speaking to that raging crowd of Trumpswabs in Montpelier? Or when he posted a video of a bus full of Covid deniers proudly disobeying public health guidance?

Anyway. The Rolling Petri Dish should be returning to Vermont sometime early Thursday morning, If the State Police don’t infringe on their God-given right to be complete assholes. If you see the bus on the road, why not give ’em a good old single-finger salute?