As Donald Trump’s marathon White House Cabinet meeting got underway this week, the president spent a lengthy period talking about how impressed he is with himself and his own record. Without a script, his comments eventually referenced the pandemic and his administration’s response to Covid.
Trump: "Operation Warp Speed people say is one of the greatest achievements ever in politics or in the military…Everybody, including Putin, said that 'Operation Warp Speed, what you did with that, nobody could believe it.' We did a great job."
— The Bulwark (@thebulwark.com) 2025-08-26T17:05:43.990Z
“We did a great job with it; never got the credit for the job we did,” Trump declared, repeating a familiar complaint. “Operation Warp Speed, people say, is one of the greatest achievements ever in politics — or in the military, because it was almost a military procedure.
“But everybody, including [Russia’s Vladimir] Putin, said that Operation Warp Speed, ‘What you did with that, nobody can believe it.’ And we did a great job.”
It was, as always, odd to hear Trump again tout Putin’s perspective as important validation, but just as notable was his celebration of Operation Warp Speed, the federal initiative launched early in 2020 to develop, test, create and distribute Covid vaccines, quickly and safely, for the public.
It was the kind of initiative any president would’ve approved under the circumstances, but it was still a lifesaving success — a bright spot in an otherwise incoherent and often bungling public health strategy — and Covid vaccines reached American arms in a remarkably short amount of time.
What Trump neglected to mention, however, is what happened after Operation Warp Speed, including when he stopped saying the word “vaccine” because he didn’t want his MAGA base to boo him in public. What’s more, Dr. Jerome Adams, who served for four years as Trump’s surgeon general in his first term, recently wrote an opinion piece for The Washington Post in which wrote about how he “witnessed the birth of Operation Warp Speed,” and he now finds its “baffling” to see the president “undermining this legacy” by undermining mRNA research. From Adams’ piece: The initiative scrutinized eight companies and three distinct vaccine platforms — mRNA, protein and viral vector — through the largest, most transparent clinical trials of their kind in history. The mRNA platform triumphed because it was the fastest and most effective, and had the cleanest safety profile. While Russia’s and China’s vaccine efforts faltered, Operation Warp Speed delivered six candidates, with mRNA leading the charge. This was no accident; it was the result of Trump and HHS Secretary Alex Azar’s vision for a competitive, science-driven process. To now cast aside mRNA technology is to spit in the face of that achievement. It’s an important detail. The president seemed eager to talk this week about the “great job” his administration did with Operation Warp Speed, but he seemed disinclined to remind the public that the initiative’s success was a breakthrough for mRNA research — the same research his own administration is now abandoning. As for the Covid vaccine that was generated by Operation Warp Speed, Trump also neglected to mention that updated shots for the fall season will be available, but much of the public will struggle to be eligible for them because of restrictions the administration is imposing for reasons that don’t make any sense.
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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