Early last year, as the Coronavirus approached pandemic proportions, President Donald Trump continued issuing frequent reassurances that it would soon disappear “into thin air.” Months later, he excused his failure to take the needed drastic measures to curb the virus, claiming that he did not want to create a panic.
Q4 2020 hedge fund letters, conferences and more
Operation Warp-Speed
Still, once he was finally persuaded that the virus did indeed pose a deadly threat to millions of Americans, he swiftly took measures to create a safe and effective vaccine. Then, when convinced by epidemiologists that it would take many months rather than just a few weeks to develop such a vaccine, President Trump facilitated the provision of tens of billions of dollars to finance to test and then mass produce the vaccine. The key was to remove all financial risk from the giant pharmaceutical companies, while still holding out the possibility of earning huge profits.
Trump nick-named this process "warp-speed" and frequently issued extremely optimistic forecasts as to when the vaccine would become available to millions of Americans. It was clearly his fervent hope that there would be widespread distribution before Election Day, and that the voters would give him all the credit he deserved for saving lives.
As luck would have it, not only did the vaccines not become available until after Election Day, but it turned out that the Trump administration had not developed a plan to swiftly and orderly distribute them. In addition, during his remaining time in office, President Trump did very little to improve distribution or to encourage Americans to get vaccinated.
And then too, after having left office, the ex-president has been virtually silent about the entire issue. One would think that he would be anxious to have as many Americans as possible be protected by the vaccine that he had been so vitally involved with developing.
Trump Supporters Are Refusing To Get The Vaccine
Well, it doesn’t take a team of psychiatrists to explain this behavior. Tens of millions of Americans, many of whom continue to be ardent Trump supporters, are refusing to get these potentially life-saving shots. So, you would think that Trump would be recording multiple public service announcements urging them to get vaccinated. Why isn’t he doing this?
This question speaks to Trump’s sole motivation: What’s in it for him? If more of his followers get vaccinated, will he get all the credit? Or will he have to share some of that credit with President Joe Biden?
His followers love him, but does Trump love them back? Is there enough room in his heart to love anyone but himself? But perhaps I’ve gone too far. I don’t want to be accused of trying to practice psychiatry without a license.
