ADVERTISEMENT

Trump endorses Covid boosters and calls out politicians who won’t reveal their status.

Kenneth Griffin

HR Legend
Jan 13, 2012
11,973
17,937
113


Former President Donald J. Trump gave a full-throated endorsement of coronavirus booster shots on Tuesday night and said politicians who refused to say whether they had received one were “gutless.”

After nearly two years in which Mr. Trump downplayed the threat of the coronavirus — and in which his allies spread misinformation about the vaccines — many of his supporters are resisting even their initial shots, much less a booster. Vaccination rates are much lower among Republicans than among Democrats.

Mr. Trump himself received his initial vaccine series quietly in January 2021, and did not publicly encourage Americans to get vaccinated until the end of February. When he said in an appearance last month that he had gotten a booster, the audience booed him.

In the interview aired on Tuesday on the far-right One America News network, Mr. Trump said: “I’ve had the booster. Many politicians — I watched a couple of politicians be interviewed and one of the questions was, ‘Did you get the booster?’ Because they had the vaccine. And they’re answering like, in other words, the answer is yes, but they don’t want to say it. Because they’re gutless. You got to say it, whether you had it or not. Say it.”

Mr. Trump did not mention any politicians by name in his comments, but many viewers interpreted his statement as a criticism of Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, who is one of those politicians — and who has not ruled out running against Mr. Trump in a Republican primary in 2024. Mr. DeSantis’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Wednesday.

Mr. Trump’s comments were in response to a question from the O.A.N. host Dan Ball, who asked if the former president regretted his push for vaccination “after so many months of the vaccine being administered and these side effects.”

Mr. Trump said that he had not experienced any side effects and added, “The fact is that I think the vaccines saved tens of millions throughout the world.”

But, Mr. Trump said, he continued to oppose vaccine mandates, which some state and local officials have enacted and the Biden administration is pursuing.
 
Definitely noticing attempts to distance himself from the Governor of Florida.
 
To be fair to Trump, I'm not sure you can pin too much blame on him for the unvaxxed.

To the extent that he has aggressively endorsed any number of anti-government conspiracy theories, and did not aggressively encourage people to get vaccinated, and constantly sowed doubt on the veracity of our health care leaders, he certainly proactively created an environment in which his supporters were likely to reject vaccinations and embrace anti-vax theories.

It is not a coincidence the MAGATS represent the overwhelming majority of anti-vax folks.
 
To the extent that he has aggressively endorsed any number of anti-government conspiracy theories, and did not aggressively encourage people to get vaccinated, and constantly sowed doubt on the veracity of our health care leaders, he certainly proactively created an environment in which his supporters were likely to reject vaccinations and embrace anti-vax theories.

It is not a coincidence the MAGATS represent the overwhelming majority of anti-vax folks.

True to some extent but he has repeatedly said that he got vaccinated and encouraged his supporters to do so as well.

At the very least he's not out there telling people not to trust the vaccine.
 
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT