Booster Shots

Thank you, Bill O’Reilly and Trump, for saying what needs to be said: they got vaccinated and also received the booster shots.

Yesterday, I did a post describing how the data shows extreme surges happening in the US. At the end, I wanted to add more to the post, but I couldn’t remember what I wanted to say.

Now I remember: it was about Trump’s tour with Bill O’Reilly and his comment about being boosted. He told the crowd that what they did was historic and prevented a lot of deaths.

““Take credit for it,” the former president urged. “Take credit for it. It’s a great — What we’ve done is historic. Don’t let them take it away. Don’t take it away from ourselves. You’re playing that — you’re playing right into their hands when you’re sort of like, ‘Oh, the vaccine!’”

“Trump reveals he got covid-19 booster shots”, New York Post, Jackie Salo and Samuel Chamberlain, December 20, 2021.

He is right: the vaccine was developed and tested during his administration and is playing a big role in preventing deaths. It would be way worse than it is now. President Biden and his communications spokesperson even gave Trump (and the scientists) credit for the historic development of the vaccine.

Unfortunately, the crowd booed.

Trump then said something like: “No, no, no, no, no, no, it’s okay. It’s just a small group over there. If you don’t want to take it, you shouldn’t be forced to take it.”

In the past week, I read some news surrounding some data analysis on who was dying. Some research indicated that counties that were very pro-Trump had a three times greater likelihood of dying than those counties that went heavily for Biden, especially if they were unvaccinated. And I think I also read something like even the vaccinated in a heavily Trump counties had a higher risk of dying.

So, it seems like Trumplicans are dying. They are killing themselves.

Trump and Bill O’Reilly probably realize the danger of perpetuating the misinformation. I just found an article where Trump went on a Candace Owens show and encouraged people to take the jab.

“Trump called the COVID-19 vaccine “one of the greatest achievements of mankind.”

He also rejected vaccine hesitancy and skepticism.

“If you take the vaccine, you’re protected,” he said in an interview with Candace Owens.

Former President Donald Trump hailed the COVID-19 vaccine and pushed back on vaccine skepticism in a new interview with conservative commentator Candace Owens.”

“Trump hails the COVID-19 vaccine as ‘one of the greatest achievements of mankind’ and rejects vaccine skepticism in new interview”, Business Insider, Oma Seddiq, December 23, 2021.

This is amazing! Keep going! Keep going! Keep getting the message out!

“In her interview with Trump, Owens raised doubts about the vaccine, saying the COVID-19 death toll has still increased even as the vaccines have been made available over the past year.

Trump firmly rejected the proposition. “No, the vaccine worked. But some people aren’t taking it. The ones that get very sick and go to the hospital are the ones that don’t take their vaccine.”

Though Trump said he disagrees with vaccine mandates, he encouraged getting the shot.

“If you take the vaccine, you’re protected. Look, the results of the vaccine are very good. And if you do get [COVID-19], it’s a very minor form. People aren’t dying when they take their vaccine,” the former president said.”

“Trump hails the COVID-19 vaccine as ‘one of the greatest achievements of mankind’ and rejects vaccine skepticism in new interview”, Business Insider, Oma Seddiq, December 23, 2021.

Unfortunately, I don’t think he has much control over his base. I think they kind of control him in some tiny fashion. He looks to see what sells to his base and then doubles down on the rhetoric. When he has his rallies, he tests out statements to see which direction the sentiments are going and then he plays up to those sentiments, especially if those sentiments match his. No, the base is leading him.

The base did the same thing with Fox News when Fox News called the Arizona vote results for Biden. A lot of them said they were going to find another news site that would cater to what they wanted to hear. They didn’t want to hear from Fox that Trump lost.

And since then, Fox seems to have heavily doubled down on the misinformation.

I remember during 2020, during those days when the far right descended upon Michigan capitol building to protest the lockdowns, Trump stood behind those groups. There was something about the dynamic that left me the impression that those people “told” him what they wanted to hear. I got the impression that the people were leading Trump, not the other way around. Even when there were mask arguments, they led the discussion, not him.

Now, when he tells them it is okay to get vaccinated, they boo him because that is not what they want to hear.

They love Trump because he allows them to be themselves and tells them what they want to hear. But they are not going to be moved into going where they don’t want to go.