Former President Donald Trump heard an unfamiliar sound during his Saturday night rally in Cullman, Alabama: Booing, directed at him.
The jeers at Trump events are usually aimed at the media, Twitter and Facebook, Hillary Clinton, or anyone with the last name of Biden, but this time, they came after Trump encouraged the crowd to get vaccinated against COVID-19. "I believe totally in your freedoms," Trump said. "I do, you're free, you got to do what you have to do. But I recommend taking the vaccines. I did it, it's good, take the vaccines."
Immediately, people began to boo. "That's okay," Trump responded. "That's all right. That's good, you got your freedoms. But I happen to take the vaccine. If it doesn't work, you'll be the first to know. Okay." Trump was hospitalized last October with COVID-19, and was vaccinated before leaving the White House in January.
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.
Alabama has been hit hard by the coronavirus, with the highly contagious Delta variant causing a surge in cases. Alabama health officials said 85 percent of people hospitalized with COVID-19 are unvaccinated, and there has been an increase in the number of children with COVID-19; this week, 50 infected kids have been hospitalized, The Guardian reports.
Officials shared their concerns that Trump's rally would be a super-spreader event, with Luke Satterfield, an attorney for Cullman, saying beforehand that the city wants to "prevent as many non-COVID related things as possible, so our hospital can use its resources to focus on the pandemic and its variants. We don't want to put any extra strain on them."
-
Bluetoothing: the phenomenon driving HIV spike in FijiUnder the Radar ‘Blood-swapping’ between drug users fuelling growing health crisis on Pacific island
-
Marisa Silver’s 6 favorite books that capture a lifetimeFeature The author recommends works by John Williams, Ian McEwan, and more
-
Book reviews: ‘We the People: A History of the U.S. Constitution’ and ‘Will There Ever Be Another You’Feature The many attempts to amend the U.S. Constitution and Patricia Lockwood’s struggle with long Covid
-
Can Trump bully Netanyahu into Gaza peace?Today's Big Question The Israeli leader was ‘strong-armed’ into new peace deal
-
Court allows Trump’s Texas troops to head to ChicagoSpeed Read Trump is ‘using our service members as pawns in his illegal effort to militarize our nation’s cities,’ said Gov. J.B. Pritzker
-
The GOP: Merging flag and crossFeature Donald Trump has launched a task force to pursue “anti-Christian policies”
-
Five key questions about the Gaza peace dealThe Explainer Many ‘unresolved hurdles’ remain before Donald Trump’s 20-point plan can get the go-ahead
-
Judge bars Trump’s National Guard moves in OregonSpeed Read In an emergency hearing, a federal judge blocked President Donald Trump from sending National Guard troops into Portland
-
Russia: already at war with Europe?Talking Point As Kremlin begins ‘cranking up attacks’ on Ukraine’s European allies, questions about future action remain unanswered
-
Museum head ousted after Trump sword gift denialSpeed Read Todd Arrington, who led the Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum, denied the Trump administration a sword from the collection as a gift for King Charles
-
Trump declares ‘armed conflict’ with drug cartelsspeed read This provides a legal justification for recent lethal military strikes on three alleged drug trafficking boats
