Washington Post columnist Max Boot flipped a quote from Benjamin Franklin to call out Republican reluctance to tackle the three biggest crises facing the United States.

Boot, in his column published Wednesday , recalled Franklins fire-prevention advice to Philadelphians that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

Republicans today seem to think an ounce of cure is worth a pound of prevention, he wrote, slamming the GOP for allowing the calamities of COVID-19, global warming and gun violence to rage out of control and then hoping for the best.

Why wont the GOP do more to avert so many foreseeable tragedies? asked Boot, a longtime anti-Donald Trump Republican who left the party following the former presidents rise to power.

Because it is afraid to take on anti-vaxxers and COVID deniers, oil and gas interests, and the gun lobby, he concluded. Due to a combination of extremism and expedience, Republicans are allowing problems to fester at great cost rather than dealing with them at the source.

Read Boots full column here.