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In late January, a blast of fundraising emails for Donald Trump featured a “MUST-SEE: New Trump Ad” that, among other things, championed Trump’s role in creating a COVID-19 “vaccine in record time, saving millions of lives.”
Two weeks earlier, in an interview on the far-right One America News, Trump criticized “gutless” politicians, including Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who haven’t said if they’ve gotten the COVID-19 booster shot. “You gotta say it, whether you had it or not. Say it,” Trump said. “But the fact is that I think the vaccines saved tens of millions throughout the world.”
[time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”]
Trump’s vocal backing of COVID-19 vaccines puts the former President in a new, and possibly vulnerable, political position. While his support for the vaccine puts him in line with a majority of conservatives—57% have been willing to get at least one shot, according to a December Monmouth University poll—it also lands him squarely in the crosshairs of his most ardent base, many of whom see the federal government’s vaccination campaign as overreach. Thirty percent of Republicans say they “likely will never get” a COVID-19 vaccine shot, according to the Monmouth poll. According to data analysis by the KFF COVID-19 Vaccine Monitor, Republicans also make up an increasingly large share of the unvaccinated, comprising 60% of the unvaccinated in October, up from 51% in July.
“He’s out of touch on the vaccine,” one user wrote on a pro-Trump forum that was a staging ground for the Jan. 6 insurrection after Trump appeared on OAN. Another asked “Why lose half your base over a faulty vaccine actively being used to take away rights?” Someone else responded, “I love Trump but this shit is getting intolerable.” At a rally in Cullman, Alabama in August, Trump was booed when he told the crowd he recommended getting vaccinated.
As he angles for a possible run for the White House in 2024, Trump finds himself in a tight spot, caught between highlighting his…
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Source : time
