Asked about the vaccine by Maria Bartiromo on March 16, he said, “I would recommend it and I would recommend it to a lot of people that don’t want to get it and a lot of those people voted for me, frankly… It is a great vaccine. It is a safe vaccine and it is something that works.”
Does he still feel that way?
I don’t mean to imply that he’s anti-vax. He’s been vaccinated himself. What I mean is, as headlines proliferate about low vaccination rates in red counties and the partisan tribal lines around the issue harden, he may be shifting towards what we might call a more base-pleasing anti-anti-anti-vax position. He’s not against the vaccine but he’s against the people who are promoting the vaccine. Which is destined to convince some of his fans to feel skeptical about what those people are promoting.
Linking the vaccine to election conspiracy theories in particular is going to supercharge vaccine skepticism as a new populist litmus test. As a Twitter pal put it, “Trump is making explicit that refusing the vaccine is an emblem of resistance to the Biden Administration, and a way to show how mad you are about the 2020 election.” How can you be a member of MAGA Nation in good standing if you’re willing to take Joe Biden at his word that the vaccines are safe and effective?
You don’t take him at his word when he says he won fair and square, do you?
Not anti-vax. He’s not saying the vaccines don’t work. But he is saying that you can’t blame anyone who chooses not to get vaccinated because Biden, the lead spokesman for the national effort, allegedly has no credibility. Anti-anti-anti-vax.