Donald Trump, Remorseless Asshole, Apparently Won’t Encourage People to Get Vaccinated Because It Would Be Doing Biden a “Favor”

As COVID-19 once again surges around the country, government officials, medical professionals, former bodybuilders, and regular old people who just want the pandemic to end have begged, pleaded, and literally given away money to convince those who have not yet gotten vaccinated to do so. Then you have Donald Trump. As a former president of the United States—who regularly complains he doesn’t get enough credit for the vaccines—you might think that he would be out there on a daily basis urging Americans to go get their shot, particularly in light of the fact that a large percentage of his base has refused to do so, and suffered grave consequences. But he has not and the reason, like most things regarding Trump, is that he’s an unrepentant asshole who hasn’t done a thing in his life without asking, “What’s in it for me?”

The Daily Beast reports that “despite pleas from multiple friends and advisers,” Trump has repeatedly rebuffed the idea of mounting “anything resembling a real effort to get his supporters vaccinated.” Some have suggested public service announcements. Others have pitched prime-time interviews and speeches on the topic. Yet others have recommended Trump do vaccine drives at his rallies. Some simply suggested his office send out periodic reminders of the importance of getting inoculated.

All of these ideas have been shot down, in part because in Trump’s sick mind, more people getting vaccinated—and thus protected from from a highly contagious disease that has killed nearly 620,000 people in the U.S. to date—would be helping Joe Biden.

…in recent months, Trump has simply said he doesn’t feel he needs to do any “favors” for Biden, given how much Biden is “destroying” the country—and that if Biden wants to ask him to do something, the sitting president is welcome to ask, the sources recounted…. Trump even released a written statement last month sympathizing with anti-vaxxers because, according to Trump, “people are refusing to take the Vaccine because they don’t trust [Biden’s] Administration, they don’t trust the Election results, and they certainly don’t trust the Fake News, which is refusing to tell the Truth.”

The other reason he’s loath to do little more than say he “recommends” getting vaccinated in random interviews before quickly changing the subject, is that Trump believes telling people to get a lifesaving shot will hurt him politically.

According to two of the sources who have spoken to Trump about this, he has occasionally referenced polling and other indicators—such as what he’s seen on TV—that show how the vaccines are unpopular with many of his supporters. This has left the impression with some of those close to Trump that he doesn’t want to push too hard on the subject, so as to not “piss off his base,” one of the two people said.

In poll after poll this year, self-identified Republicans have been out of step with the mainstream of Americans on a number of public health issues related to the coronavirus pandemic, from attitudes towards mask requirements, to vaccine hesitancy, to blatant anti-vaccine posturing. A Morning Consult poll published Wednesday showed approval for local government mask mandates in offices, gyms, and indoor dining areas enjoyed hovering in the low to mid 60 percent range among Americans overall. But the partisan breakdown shows that, despite majorities of independents and Democrats supporting mask mandates, most Republicans are still opposed to them.

Trump’s political operations have, of course, actively encouraged that divide.

On Wednesday afternoon, Team Trump texted supporters asking, “Why haven’t you claimed your ‘FREEDOM PASSPORT’ shirt from President Trump?” The link sends users to a page from WinRed, the Republican fundraising platform, offering a white T-shirt emblazoned with the American flag and the words “THIS IS MY FREEDOM PASSPORT” for a $45 donation.

Though the page itself does not mention the word “vaccines,” as the Daily Beast notes, metadata tags instruct social media platforms to use the headline “FREEDOM PASSPORTS > VACCINE PASSPORTS” when posting the link on Twitter and Facebook.

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Of course, other Republicans are not much help either

Like Tennessee state representative David Byrd, who almost died from COVID and yet is still trying to outlaw mask mandates and vaccine requirements. Per the Daily Beast:

The day before Thanksgiving, Byrd tested positive for COVID-19. He was flown by helicopter from his hometown of Waynesboro to Ascension Saint Thomas Hospital in Nashville and he issued a plaintive statement on December 7. “Please pray for God’s healing for my lungs, and that He will give me strength and endurance as I battle this virus.” He spent 55 days on a ventilator in the ICU. “My wife and family prayed for a miracle while facing the very real prospect of planning my funeral,” he said in the statement.

He was one of the lucky ones who survived after needing to be intubated. But he was initially unable to use his limbs. And he began to suffer liver failure. On June 12, he received a liver transplant. He was still recovering on July 29, when he arrived in a wheelchair at the House chamber.

You might have thought, after all that, Byrd would have come around to the idea that COVID—which, according to the Daily Beast, he previously insisted was not any worse than the flu—was something to take seriously, and encourage his constituents to protect themselves and others from the virus. But, surprise!

On Wednesday night, Byrd joined all 73 members of the House Republican caucus in petitioning Governor Bill Lee to call a special session of the legislature to prohibit local mask mandates and keep businesses from barring the unvaccinated.

Byrd, of course, signed his name to the petition.

Rand Paul’s wife’s COVID stock purchases significantly shadier than previously thought

Apparently something inspired the senator’s wife to make their first individual stock purchase in at least a decade. Per CNBC:

Republican senator Rand Paul and his wife had not bought or sold stock in an individual company in at least 10 years when Kelley Paul purchased shares of the drug company Gilead Sciences in early 2020. The purchase came early in the novel coronavirus’ initial wave through the United States—and one day after the first U.S. clinical trial began for Gilead’s remdesivir as a treatment for COVID-19, according to records reviewed by CNBC. That purchase and its timing made headlines Wednesday when the Kentucky senator disclosed it for the first time in a mandatory Senate filing—more than 16 months after the legal deadline for reporting it had passed.

Since 2012, Paul has disclosed 187 transactions involving mutual funds, EIFs, trusts, and government bonds in his annual reports. But he has disclosed only one transaction in an individual stock: Gilead.… Paul is a member of the Senate health committee, which received a private briefing in January 2020 on the threat of the coronavirus from Trump administration officials. A Paul spokesperson said the senator did not attend any COVID committee briefings.

As an ethics lawyer told CNBC, “If the [Securities and Exchange Commission] were conducting an insider trading investigation of this transaction they would see the sudden purchase of individual stocks when the subject of the investigation had not purchased individual stocks before and had recently had access to market-moving information as a huge red flag.”

Elsewhere!

“This is real”: Fear and hope in an Arkansas pediatric ICU (Washington Post)

CDC panel unanimously recommends COVID vaccine booster shots for vulnerable Americans (CNBC)

Afghan forces, senior officials surrender as Taliban closes in (Washington Post)

New intel reports indicate fresh efforts by Russia to interfere in 2022 election (CNN)

Judge Rules Joe Biden’s Ban on Evictions Can Remain in Place (Bloomberg)

House Moderates Say They Won’t Back Budget Vote Until Infrastructure Bill Passes (NYT)

“Future of the Party”: Emails Show Fox News’ “Striking Effort” to Boost Ron DeSantis’s Profile (The Daily Beast)

First Live Asian Giant “Murder Hornet” of 2021 Spotted in Washington State (NPR)

Japan mayor apologizes for biting athlete’s gold medal (AP)

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