Trump is attacking DeSantis for Covid vaccines in a possible preview in 2024

[ad_1]

Donald Trump spoke with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in an interview with One America News Network aired Tuesday, accusing politicians of refusing to admit that they received the Covid vaccine booster “with no appetite.”

Broadside reinforces Trump’s unlikely emergence as a pro-vax evangelist — even by Republican standards. And it also described vaccines as a potential battlefield among those hoping for GOP 2024, raising concerns about the likelihood that candidates will identify opposition to vaccines – or even be silent on the issue – as a way to run to Trump’s right.

During the interview, Trump did not mention DeSantis’ name, but it seemed clear who he had in mind. “I watched some politicians being interviewed and one of the questions was, ‘Did you get the booster?’ Because they have a vaccine and they answer like – in other words, the answer is ‘yes’ but they don’t want to say it, because they have no appetite. “

Republican candidates who distance themselves from the vaccine or even paint it as ineffective or dangerous can serve as a way to telegraph anti-establishment or libertarian credentials.

“You got to say it,” he continued. “Whether you have it or not, tell me.”

He then told how he experienced no side effects when taking the vaccine, which he said “saved tens of millions of people around the world.”

A few weeks earlier, DeSantis – Trump’s most serious competition in a race for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination so far – had tried to avoid a question of whether he had been boosted. When Fox News host Maria Bartiromo asked him if he had received a third dose, he replied that “he did whatever I did, the normal shot.” It’s unclear if DeSantis, who received the vaccine at Johnson & Johnson last spring, received the booster – his staff told Politico they didn’t know if DeSantis took one because it was a “private medical” decision.

There are a few things that might motivate Trump to call Republicans who might be embarrassed about discussing whether they received a booster. First, Trump has clearly come to the conclusion that vaccines are nothing to be ashamed of and Republicans should take credit for them, as he has said today several times. He seemed to believe the vaccine worked – he took it himself and was not ashamed to say he had a booster. But he also likely believes that asking the GOP not to reject the vaccine puts him at a political advantage-if Republicans widely accept the vaccine as effective, his self-promotion as the author of the vaccine. becomes a greater success. And if the GOP treats vaccines as a social good rather than a taboo subject or a liberal conspiracy, then Trump has more to be proud of about a potential presidential run in the future.

Trump also likely knew that most Americans had received the Covid-19 vaccine, and that two-thirds of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents were partially vaccinated. In other words, he estimates that it is not yet a big risk to use this technique, and it could have payoffs if he succeeds in building a party consensus that vaccines are a great innovation – which took place under his leadership. (Note that Trump opposed mask mandates and vaccine mandates.)

But Trump may also be worried about something else: the possibility of opening a lane to his “right” for candidates hesitant about the effectiveness of vaccines or openly questioning them. I put “correct” in the quotes because there should be nothing about opposition to getting a safe vaccine that is necessarily a sign of conservatism. But in our world, Republican candidates distancing themselves from the vaccine or even painting it as ineffective or dangerous can serve as a way to telegraph anti-establishment or libertarian credentials. In other words, it could allow a politician to surpass Trump in the contest to see who can express the most hostility to the idea of ​​a cooperative society.

We can see the opening salvos of 2024 politics. And the possibility that vaccines could turn into political football is a dreadful prospect.

[ad_2]