Donald Trump is Vaccinated. Is Anybody Surprised?
This past Friday, Donald Trump had a follow-up to his April physical exam at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. From NBC News:
The White House on Friday released a memo from President Donald Trump's physician summarizing his visit to Walter Reed Army Medical Center earlier in the day, which included a Covid vaccine booster and a flu shot.
Trump’s doctor, Sean P. Barbabella, said in the one-page document that Trump “remains in exceptional health, exhibiting strong cardiovascular, pulmonary, neurological, and physical performance...”
...Barbabella said Trump, 79, received the flu shot and a Covid vaccine booster “in preparation for upcoming international travel.” Trump is scheduled to leave for the Middle East on Sunday after helping secure a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas this week.
Let's dissect this, shall we?
For over 5 years, Trump has explicitly told his supporters not to trust the science. He knew of the potential seriousness of COVID as early as February 2020, but refused to act. By early March, he was insisting that COVID would magically disappear. In April of 2020, he suggested people inject bleach if they got infected with COVID. Three months later, Herman Cain died on the campaign trail by willingly refusing to wear a mask while attending a Trump rally in Tulsa. Throughout his first term, Trump would do everything in his power to dissuade his supporters from following proper medical advice. He called Dr. Anthony Fauci a "disaster" and sidelined him for the incompetent Dr. Deborah Birx. In October, when he was diagnosed with COVID, Trump intentionally risked the health of the Secret Service to have a joyride and wave to his supporters. By the time he had left office, it was generally recognized that Trump's inaction during the early days of COVID led to 40% higher deaths than other G7 countries that acted on proper medical advice.
Trump's anti-science stance has continued throughout his second term, starting with the appointment of Robert F. Kennedy as Secretary of Health and Human Services. Kennedy's wild, anti-science conspiracy theories were known throughout the primary, but the damage he has done to the American healthcare field will last for generations. Upon taking office in January, Kennedy immediately dismissed evidence that vaccines were safe and began work to immediately discredit them. By mid-February, he was already ordering an end to federal funding for schools that required the COVID vaccine. In May, Kennedy stated that the CDC would no longer recommend the COVID vaccine for pregnant women and healthy children. In June, he fired all 17 members of the advisory committee on immunization to the CDC. In August, Kennedy canceled $500 million in mRNA development and fired the head of the CDC. Later that month, the FDA released new guidelines that restricted the COVID vaccine to seniors and the immunocompromised. At a September Senate Finance Committee hearing, Kennedy doubled and tripled down on his conspiracy theories, continually insisting that nobody knew how many people actually died from COVID while trying to justify his actions over the administration's first 8 months. The contentious hearing gave a window into the demented and destructive views that have guided Kennedy and, by extension, Donald Trump in their war against the science of vaccinations.
Yet when push comes to shove, Donald Trump willingly gets the jab.
Because *of course* he does. Because Donald Trump is a disgusting hypocrite. But we knew all this. We knew that Trump and Kennedy, and his whole administration, believed in the science behind closed doors. After all, even 90% of Fox News employees were vaccinated in September of 2021, despite their on-air personalities consistently expressing doubt about the vaccine's effectiveness. For the entire Republican Party, it was never about protecting their voters but using them and their fear to vote against the Democratic Party. Vaccines were perfect for them because it wasn't the vaccine itself but what it stood for: government overreach. Requiring certain workplaces to have vaccinated employees wasn't about public health; it was about a personal choice that employers were infringing upon. Sure, tens of thousands of Republicans died due to their false anti-vax beliefs, but it was a price the GOP was willing to pay to sow seeds of doubt against Democrats. If a few thousand of their most vulnerable voters like Herman Cain, happened to perish, then so be it.
This is the GOP in a nutshell: a party of gross hypocrisy that preys on uneducated voters. The message is simple: Republicans act one way in public and another way in private. We heard this from Eric Swalwell during the first Trump impeachment hearing when Ted Cruz came up to him and complimented his presentation. For Republicans, governing is like the Worldwide Wrestling Entertainment model: they take on the role of a character when the cameras are on and are a completely different person when they are off. This helps explain Marjorie Taylor Greene's recent rhetorical shift: yes, she is still a terrible individual, but she is also a terrible individual who knows she needs the support of her constituents to get re-elected. Marjorie knows she is unemployable in every other field other than government and needs to be seen as a fighter for her district, which is one of the most rural in the entire state of Georgia. Her recent criticism of Donald Trump is not noble; it's desperate. It shows someone willing to drop the veil of hatred and harassment if only to temporarily get back on the good graces of the people she is elected to serve.
The Cult of Donald Trump will be studied for decades. But his recent admission to being vaccinated should send another fissure down the party. Does Robert F. Kennedy lessen vaccine regulations? Do the GOP-led states currently requiring a prescription to receive the vaccine now rescind that requirement? Why is it that Donald Trump can get the vaccine and his supporters cannot? While most of his sheeple won't hear the news about Trump's vaccinations, some may. Those who do may have questions about how and why we got to a place where the president has access to a shot and they don't. It won't be as divisive as the Epstein Files, but once again, Donald Trump and the Republican Party have proven themselves to be massive hypocrites, this time as it relates to the public health and safety of an individual and their family.
A message that Democrats will be more than happy to bring to the forefront for the 2026 midterms.
For over 5 years, Trump has explicitly told his supporters not to trust the science. He knew of the potential seriousness of COVID as early as February 2020, but refused to act. By early March, he was insisting that COVID would magically disappear. In April of 2020, he suggested people inject bleach if they got infected with COVID. Three months later, Herman Cain died on the campaign trail by willingly refusing to wear a mask while attending a Trump rally in Tulsa. Throughout his first term, Trump would do everything in his power to dissuade his supporters from following proper medical advice. He called Dr. Anthony Fauci a "disaster" and sidelined him for the incompetent Dr. Deborah Birx. In October, when he was diagnosed with COVID, Trump intentionally risked the health of the Secret Service to have a joyride and wave to his supporters. By the time he had left office, it was generally recognized that Trump's inaction during the early days of COVID led to 40% higher deaths than other G7 countries that acted on proper medical advice.
Trump's anti-science stance has continued throughout his second term, starting with the appointment of Robert F. Kennedy as Secretary of Health and Human Services. Kennedy's wild, anti-science conspiracy theories were known throughout the primary, but the damage he has done to the American healthcare field will last for generations. Upon taking office in January, Kennedy immediately dismissed evidence that vaccines were safe and began work to immediately discredit them. By mid-February, he was already ordering an end to federal funding for schools that required the COVID vaccine. In May, Kennedy stated that the CDC would no longer recommend the COVID vaccine for pregnant women and healthy children. In June, he fired all 17 members of the advisory committee on immunization to the CDC. In August, Kennedy canceled $500 million in mRNA development and fired the head of the CDC. Later that month, the FDA released new guidelines that restricted the COVID vaccine to seniors and the immunocompromised. At a September Senate Finance Committee hearing, Kennedy doubled and tripled down on his conspiracy theories, continually insisting that nobody knew how many people actually died from COVID while trying to justify his actions over the administration's first 8 months. The contentious hearing gave a window into the demented and destructive views that have guided Kennedy and, by extension, Donald Trump in their war against the science of vaccinations.
Yet when push comes to shove, Donald Trump willingly gets the jab.
Because *of course* he does. Because Donald Trump is a disgusting hypocrite. But we knew all this. We knew that Trump and Kennedy, and his whole administration, believed in the science behind closed doors. After all, even 90% of Fox News employees were vaccinated in September of 2021, despite their on-air personalities consistently expressing doubt about the vaccine's effectiveness. For the entire Republican Party, it was never about protecting their voters but using them and their fear to vote against the Democratic Party. Vaccines were perfect for them because it wasn't the vaccine itself but what it stood for: government overreach. Requiring certain workplaces to have vaccinated employees wasn't about public health; it was about a personal choice that employers were infringing upon. Sure, tens of thousands of Republicans died due to their false anti-vax beliefs, but it was a price the GOP was willing to pay to sow seeds of doubt against Democrats. If a few thousand of their most vulnerable voters like Herman Cain, happened to perish, then so be it.
This is the GOP in a nutshell: a party of gross hypocrisy that preys on uneducated voters. The message is simple: Republicans act one way in public and another way in private. We heard this from Eric Swalwell during the first Trump impeachment hearing when Ted Cruz came up to him and complimented his presentation. For Republicans, governing is like the Worldwide Wrestling Entertainment model: they take on the role of a character when the cameras are on and are a completely different person when they are off. This helps explain Marjorie Taylor Greene's recent rhetorical shift: yes, she is still a terrible individual, but she is also a terrible individual who knows she needs the support of her constituents to get re-elected. Marjorie knows she is unemployable in every other field other than government and needs to be seen as a fighter for her district, which is one of the most rural in the entire state of Georgia. Her recent criticism of Donald Trump is not noble; it's desperate. It shows someone willing to drop the veil of hatred and harassment if only to temporarily get back on the good graces of the people she is elected to serve.
The Cult of Donald Trump will be studied for decades. But his recent admission to being vaccinated should send another fissure down the party. Does Robert F. Kennedy lessen vaccine regulations? Do the GOP-led states currently requiring a prescription to receive the vaccine now rescind that requirement? Why is it that Donald Trump can get the vaccine and his supporters cannot? While most of his sheeple won't hear the news about Trump's vaccinations, some may. Those who do may have questions about how and why we got to a place where the president has access to a shot and they don't. It won't be as divisive as the Epstein Files, but once again, Donald Trump and the Republican Party have proven themselves to be massive hypocrites, this time as it relates to the public health and safety of an individual and their family.
A message that Democrats will be more than happy to bring to the forefront for the 2026 midterms.