The New GOP Message to Their Voters: Get the ‘Trump’ Vaccine.
I mean, whatever works?
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Quite literally from the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, the GOP response to it has been what one could only describe as even worse and disorganized than we might have expected. The mass death, the mismanagement, and devastating politicization of a pandemic has had untold ramifications the country will be dealing with for decades to come. After working through an outbreak in a nursing home where I saw things I will never forget and lose 20 of my residents who I consider to be my second family, there’s no denying that this pandemic and the country’s response has been a defining period in my life.
Having said all that, after a year of doing everything they could to minimize this virus and its toll, it’s been nothing less than fascinating to watch the GOP scramble to finally convince their supporters to get vaccinated. One example that stands out in particular comes from none other than Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Trump’s former Press Secretary and current gubernatorial candidate in Arkansas. So how has she gone about it?
By urging GOP voters to get the “Trump vaccine”.
I mean hey, whatever works honestly. If such a silly gimmick prompts even a handful of people to reconsider their stance, then good. But it’s sort of incredible, isn’t it, how for all this time the GOP has attempted to have it both ways? On one hand, people like Charlie Kirk and Tucker Carlson have not hesitated to spread anti-vaccine propaganda to their audiences, not because they haven’t had it themselves as is almost guaranteed that they have, but because they know it’s what their audience wants to hear. And then on the other hand, there are those like Sarah Huckabee Sanders who want Trump to get all the credit in the world for a vaccine that a significant portion of his hardcore followers — the very followers who watch people like Tucker Carlson — are hesitant to take. In their minds, of course Trump should get credit for the vaccine they want nothing to do with.
Personally, one can’t help thinking it’s too little too late in regards to the GOP trying to significant shift their messaging. The genie is out of the bottle, and while it’s worth a shot, I’m certainly doubtful that simply calling it the Trump vaccine is…
