Donald Trump can rely on his supporters, who mostly follow him faithfully. But there is some dissent on the subject of corona vaccination.
Cullman – Donald Trump is back on tour. In the extended run-up to the 2022 mid-term election, he prefers to visit regions with a republican character and let his fans celebrate on stage. His subjects are now evergreens. As usual, Trump is sowing doubts about the integrity of US elections, demonizing the Democrats around Joe Biden and dismissing members of his party who dare to contradict him and his political views.
His fans appreciate this with thunderous applause and frenetic cheers. But when it comes to vaccination, it seems that the former president still needs some conviction. This dissent has now emerged fairly openly in Cullman, Alabama. The small town serves as the administrative seat of the district of the same name, which has been in Republican hands since 1984 in presidential elections – Donald Trump was in a sense playing for the home game. And for a long time everything went as planned.
Donald Trump delivered his punchlines, and his following thanked him with their enthusiasm. But then Donald Trump turned to vaccination. Vaccination against the coronavirus, as all surveys show, is viewed with skepticism, especially in those regions of the USA that are more republican. the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) post on their home page regularly all vaccination quotas of the US states.
Donald Trump calls for corona vaccination – Republican states with the lowest vaccination rates
While the vaccination rate in more urban, democratic states such as California, New York, Pennsylvania, Connecticut and Massachusetts is over 60, sometimes over 70 percent, republican states such as Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Missouri have a vaccination rate of significantly under 60 percent. Even more of the rural republican states of Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Wyoming and Tennessee are below 50 percent.
An expression has long been established in the US media that summarizes vaccination events in the country. When it comes to the vaccination quota, there is more and more talk of the “blue-red gradient”. The media are referring to the traditional party colors of Democrats (blue) and Republicans (red) to describe the fact that the vaccination rate is obviously falling with local enthusiasm for Republicans.
Vaccination Quota in the United States: Many people are unvaccinated, especially where there is a Republican election.
© Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
–
Accordingly, it would have been easy for Donald Trump to complain about vaccination in front of his supporters. If there are enough role models, various influential Republicans such as MP Majorie Taylor Greene, close to QAnon, and conservative commentators such as star presenter Tucker Carlson of Fox News continue to cast doubts about the effectiveness of the corona vaccination. And yet Trump again called for vaccinations.
Donald Trump is booed for calling on his fans to vaccinate
Ever since the first corona vaccines were approved in the USA, the Republican has been celebrating the associated medical breakthrough and has indicated more than once that he sees himself as primarily responsible for the fact that effective vaccines could be researched and approved so quickly. And since then Trump has been unwavering as a friend of the vaccine, calling the vaccines “safe, effective and great”.
In this way, as it was now seen in Cullman, the politician is increasingly alienating himself from the hard core of his followers, at least on this point. Donald Trump’s call to vaccinate fell in the midst of applause from his fans: “I recommend you get vaccinated! It is good. Take the vaccine! ”Abruptly, a large part of the audience fell silent, behind Trump you can see people whose euphoria is immediately stifled, whose previously enthusiastic facial expressions are now skeptical. Some of them even lower their campaign signs.
And then there comes a moment that Donald Trump has probably never experienced before: parts of his own following boo. This is nothing new in itself, Trump often gives them an opportunity to boo on others, such as Democrats or unpopular party rivals. In these moments he enjoys the ritual outrage of his followers for those whom he himself disapproves. But that his fans boo into himself, or at least something that he would like to give them along the way – that is new for Trump.
Donald Trump’s party: Republican leaders are for – and against – vaccination
However, the media professional quickly regains the mood and reassures his fans. “That’s okay, that’s okay,” he reacts to the verbal rejection and the sudden silence in the room. “But I am vaccinated. And if it doesn’t work, I’ll be the first to let you know. But it works. “When there is still no enthusiasm, Trump adds understandingly:” You have your freedoms, you have to cultivate them. “
The Republicans’ strategy on vaccination, meanwhile, is as confused as that particular moment of the Trump happening in Alabama. While Ron DeSantis, Governor of Florida and a promising candidate for higher orders within the Republican cosmos, even fights the wearing of masks in his state with bans, the party’s parliamentary group leader in the US Senate, Mitch McConnell, speaks out in favor of vaccination.
As soon as possible, McConnell said in a rare agreement with Trump, “the vaccine must get into everyone’s arms so that we do not have to face another situation in the fall that we went through last year”. McConnell brushed aside vaccination criticism at the end of July with an appeal: “Ignore all these other voices that are proven to give you bad advice!”
Alabama declares a state of emergency – Donald Trump still appears in front of maskless fans
Meanwhile, the vaccination rate continues to rise slightly across the country. Meanwhile, 174.4 million people in the United States are fully vaccinated, according to the CDC. 60.5 percent of all Americans have now received at least one vaccine dose. The rate of a single vaccination for over 65-year-olds is now 91.4 percent, for adults over 18 years of age 72.9 percent and for children and adolescents over 12 years of age 70.8 percent.
| State | Alabama |
| capital city | Montgomery |
| population | 4.903 million (as of 2019) |
| Vaccinated at least once | 2.340 million (as of August 22, 2021) |
| Governor | Kay Ivey (Republikaner) |
—
In Alabama, by the way, where Donald Trump had to be booed by his own fans for the first time, the vaccination rate is 47.7 percent. Only five of the 50 states in the country have even lower vaccination rates. Shortly before Donald Trump and his entourage were there to campaign, the state had to declare a state of emergency. This did not prevent his fans from gathering close together and for the most part without a mask in front of the stage to cheer their idol. It is unlikely that many of them were vaccinated, given their response to Trump’s vaccination appeal. (Mirko Schmid)
–