It seemed like a straightforward question. As part of a fairly long interview with Fox News’ Bret Baier, the host asked Donald Trump whether he believes Covid vaccines worked. The former president called it “an interesting question” — which he didn’t want to answer.
“I have a Democrat friend who is very smart — and hopefully he votes for me — but he’s very smart. He said, ‘I don’t understand one thing about you. I watch your rallies, they’re incredible. You talk about beating ISIS, you talk about taxes, you talk about regulation, you talk about everything, but I’ve never heard you talk about the incredible job you did with the vaccines.’ Because as you know, I got them done in nine months, and it was supposed to take anywhere from 5 to 12 years. I broke their ass, OK? … I said, ‘I really don’t want to talk about it.’ Because as a Republican, it’s not a great thing to talk about because, for some reason, it’s just not.”
The host interjected and asked, “For some reason?” Trump replied, “Yes, for some reason.”
For now, let’s put aside the obvious fact that the Republican almost certainly made up a fake conversation with his unnamed Democratic “friend.” Let’s also put aside the curious “broke their ass” rhetoric.
What matters, of course, is that Trump had an opportunity to brag about the efficacy of the lifesaving vaccines that were developed during his tenure, but he was afraid to — “because as a Republican, it’s not a great thing to talk about.”
It’s a lesson the former president appears to have learned over time.
Revisiting our earlier coverage, it was nearly two years ago when Trump held an event in Alabama — one of the nation’s reddest red states, where the Republican ticket won by 25 points in 2020 — where he encouraged attendees to get Covid vaccines. The booing was audible and immediate. Four months later, at an event in Texas, he acknowledged having received a booster shot, at which point he was again booed by his supporters.
Last summer, the Republican headlined a rally in Anchorage, Alaska, where he said “vaccine” is a word “that I’m not allowed to mention.”
In context, Trump clearly wanted to celebrate what he considers one of his big accomplishments, but he also wanted to avoid getting booed by his own supporters. So he split the difference: The former president said he’s “proud” of the scientific breakthrough that he was afraid to reference out loud.
It’s just not common to see Trump get browbeaten into submission like this. We’re accustomed to seeing the Republican try to bully others, but on this one issue, he’s the one who has been bullied, to the point that he can’t even bring himself to answer a simple question on Fox News because he’s afraid of how GOP voters might respond to the truth.
Making matters considerably worse, the former president has begun pandering to his party’s vaccine opponents: At an event in Georgia earlier this month, Trump vowed to end federal funding for “any school that has a vaccine mandate … from kindergarten through college.” The audience cheered the vow. All of this is a reminder of an underappreciated political dynamic: Trump’s acolytes adore him, just so long as he’s saying what they want to hear. The Republican has a gift for exploiting the GOP base’s instincts, but that doesn’t necessarily mean he has the power to change those voters’ minds. On the contrary, they’ve changed his: The former president would love to be able to boast about vaccines, but he now realizes that his party won’t let him. He doesn’t lead his supporters, so much as he reflects their id. As The Washington Post’s Philip Bump put it late last year, in a conflict between Trump and Trumpism, it’s the latter that often prevails. This post revises our related earlier coverage.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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