Don't question Trump's reversal on vaccines — praise it


I come now to praise Donald Trump.
It's weird! He's awful! But it's the right thing to do, because this week the former president did a rare good thing: During a joint appearance Sunday with the former Fox News host Bill O'Reilly, he told his followers that he had received a booster vaccine for COVID. The crowd booed — anti-vax sentiment has become a core Republican tenet in 2021, so much so that GOP officials who have gotten their shots tend to hem and haw around the question. Trump himself has at times been hesitant to challenge his followers on the topic.
On Sunday, though, he leaned into his administration's role in getting vaccines into production — and invited his followers to share in the achievement. "We did something that was historic," Trump told the audience. "We saved tens of millions of lives worldwide … Take credit for it. Take credit for it."
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
On Monday, he doubled down with a handwritten note to the New York Times' Maggie Haberman:
Now, this is what Trump should have been doing all along. If he'd been willing to get his initial vaccine shots publicly, or if he's spent 2021 urging Republicans to do the same, it's possible that a lot of lives would have been saved. Would Fox News have done so much work to sow doubts about vaccines if Trump had argued more vocally in their favor? Unlikely. Instead, people living in pro-Trump counties were three times as likely to die of COVID during most of this year as people living in places that supported President Biden in last year's election. That's a lot of terrible, unnecessary carnage.
Why did Trump suddenly embrace his vaccine legacy? Maybe he wants more credit for their existence — right now his presidency is remembered mostly for what it got wrong on COVID. Or maybe he has decided that it's not a great idea for the Republican Party to keep putting its most ardent voters at risk of premature death. Maybe it's just a Christmas miracle. Who knows? It's Trump: Whatever the reason, it's probably selfish and narcissistic, and he'll probably do something in the next few days to make me regret writing something even minimally favorable about him.
For now, though, he has done the right thing. Let's hope that his followers take note and that it's enough to save a few more lives.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Joel Mathis is a writer with 30 years of newspaper and online journalism experience. His work also regularly appears in National Geographic and The Kansas City Star. His awards include best online commentary at the Online News Association and (twice) at the City and Regional Magazine Association.
-
Groypers: the alt-right group pulled into the foreground
The Explainer The network is led by alt-right activist Nick Fuentes
-
10 concert tours to see this upcoming fall
The Week Recommends Concert tour season isn't over. Check out these headliners.
-
How to put student loan payments on pause
The Explainer If you are starting to worry about missing payments, deferment and forbearance can help
-
Is Kash Patel’s fate sealed after Kirk shooting missteps?
TODAY'S BIG QUESTION The FBI’s bungled response in the immediate aftermath of the Charlie Kirk shooting has director Kash Patel in the hot seat
-
Russian drone tests Romania as Trump spins
Speed Read Trump is ‘resisting congressional plans to impose newer and tougher penalties on Russia’s energy sector’
-
Trump renews push to fire Cook before Fed meeting
Speed Read The push to remove Cook has ‘quickly become the defining battle in Trump’s effort to take control of the Fed’
-
Will Donald Trump’s second state visit be a diplomatic disaster?
Today's Big Question Charlie Kirk shooting, Saturday’s far-right rally and continued Jeffrey Epstein fallout ramps-up risks of already fraught trip
-
Air strikes in the Caribbean: Trump’s murky narco-war
Talking Point Drug cartels ‘don’t follow Marquess of Queensberry Rules’, but US military air strikes on speedboats rely on strained interpretation of ‘invasion’
-
Graphic videos of Charlie Kirk’s death renew debate over online censorship
Talking Points Social media ‘promises unfiltered access, but without guarantees of truth and without protection from harm’
-
Calls for both calm and consequences follow Kirk killing
TALKING POINTS The suspected assassination of far-right activist Charlie Kirk has some public figures pleading for restraint, while others agitate for violent reprisals
-
Why does Donald Trump keep showing up at major sporting events?
Today's Big Question Trump has appeared at the Super Bowl, the Daytona 500 and other events