Trumpists are certainly racist, on average, but I don't think Krystal Ball's point is political. It's just about business, which cross the red-blue divide. Most Americans are vaccinated. Perhaps you need populations with hardly any vaccinations, to really mutate and spread the new strain of covid.

Or perhaps it's just a happy accident for the drug companies. What look like evil conspiracies are likely due more to stupidity and incompetence.