https://hillreporter.com/report-tru...e-vaccine-to-maga-but-hes-ignoring-them-96285
Report: Trump Advisers Have Begged Him to Promote Vaccine to MAGA But He’s Ignoring Them
BY
TODD NEIKIRK March 25, 2021
COVID vaccines from Moderna and Pfizer were developed during Donald Trump’s presidency. And he will tell anyone who will listen that he played a big part in that happening. Trump was even vaccinated while he was still in office (though he kept it quiet).
Since Joe Biden has become president, millions of Americans have gotten their shot each day. But Trump supporters are still very hesitant to get the vaccine themselves.
According to a new report from the Daily Beast, advisers have been begging Trump to promote the vaccine to his followers. He has largely ignored those pleas.
Asawin Suebsaeng quotes a Trump source as
saying, “I have practically begged him to get out there constantly [during his post-presidency] and make videos calling on his supporters who are hesitant to get their shots. Last time I checked in, I hadn’t heard of any positive movement in that direction.”
Trump briefly promoted the vaccine during a recent Fox News appearance, but the Morning Consult
reports that this did little to change his supporters minds.
Former campaign adviser Michael Caputo
says, “Donald Trump and I had a conversation about broader issues, and I mentioned it briefly. It was a glancing conversation in the Oval Office in September, in between meetings, and I mentioned how vaccine hesitancy was likely going to be a big problem, especially among Republicans and Trump supporters. And he said, ‘Yes, I understand, and it’s a problem.’”
Caputo
continued, “We started getting more and more suspicious of [anti-vaccine sentiment on the right] as I left. We were talking amongst ourselves in HHS in August, saying that it was ironic that the most vaccine-hesitant among us were our friends, our allies. And we still face that question.”