Former US President Donald Trump’s recent comments touting COVID-19 vaccines as a major achievement of his presidency have disappointed the anti-vaccine glut, adding to many of his fervent supporters.
After months of low-profile vaccinations and without him getting vaccinated, Trump told former Fox News host Bill O’Reilly on a dec. 19 occasion in Dallas that he had won the reminder that drew boos from the public.
In an interview with right-wing expert Candace Owens published two days later, Trump retaliated when she was not safe.
“Oh no, the vaccine works,” interrupted Mr. Trump Owens, who said she was not vaccinated.
“Those who get very unhealthy and go to the hospital are the ones who don’t get vaccinated. “
While in either case, Trump is under pressure that he opposed Democratic President Joe Biden’s vaccine mandates, his comments have sparked rare complaints from anti-vaccine activists and some supporters.
The controversy highlights the balance Trump may face in an imaginable presidential election in 2024: He will have to energize his base, for many of them, opposition to vaccines has become a rallying cry, without pushing back moderate travelers.
Conspiracy theorist and radio host Alex Jones said on his news screen that, in promoting the vaccine, Trump was “completely ignorant” or “one of the most evil men who ever lived. “
He said it was time to “leave behind” Trump and also threatened to “throw away all the dirt” on the former president.
Radio host Wayne Allyn Root, a staunch Trump supporter, said the former president was “right about everything” about vaccines and needed “intervention. “
In a Reuters statement, Root was under pressure that he would remain a Trump supporter and that through “intervention” he only meant a chance to convince Trump to “change” his message.
A spokesman told Reuters that Trump supported his administration’s “enormous contributions to ending this pandemic. “
There was no quick reaction to requests for comment from Jones or Owens’ representatives.
On right-wing groups on social media, some Trump constituents argued that he was acting strategically to keep hostile media at bay.
Others, however, expressed dismay.
“I can’t with him anymore,” Daniel McLean, 42, who works in the hashish industry in Oregon, said in an interview.
McLean said he was disappointed by what he saw as McLean’s access to Trump to the political establishment. The pro-vaccine comments were a turning point, added McLean, who said he had not been vaccinated and repeated discredited theories about thousands of people dying from the shooting.
Republicans and Republican-leaning independents make up 60% of unvaccinated American adults, according to research through the Kaiser Family Foundation.
That makes Trump’s comments even more surprising, said Republican Martin Hyde, who is a rival to Florida Congressman Vern Buchanan in the 2022 election.
“I don’t think it’s a message that will resonate with the grassroots,” Hyde told Reuters.
Trump still has a tight grip on Republican voters.
Candidates in the 2022 midterm elections are vying for approval; he is obviously the heavy favorite in the 2024 presidential race; and is preparing to launch a social network that has reportedly reached deals to raise around A$1. 4 billion.
It has not yet been voted on whether Trump’s comments about the vaccine have shattered his reputation at the grassroots level.
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