As the Delta variant surges and the unvaccinated swamp ICU units, especially in southern red states, Donald Trump is at it again.
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Instead of urging his followers to stop the nonsense and get their vaccinations, he now is casting doubt as to the motives behind the Biden administration's decision to offer booster shots to those who have received the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines.
In an interview with Fox Business' Maria Bartiromo, he suggested that the decision is all about money and that the pharmaceutical companies are just in it for the profits. Here's what he said:
"You know what, that sounds to me like a money-making operation for Pfizer, okay, think of the money involved. That's tens of billions of dollars. If you're a pure businessman you'll say, 'You know what, let's give them another shot, $10 billion of money coming in,' the whole thing is crazy."
Here's what Lachlan McIntosh said on Twitter:
"Trump will be one (of) the first to get his booster shot, while his rhetoric like this will get his supporters killed. He's pretty much evil."
But that is typical Trump and not at all surprising. Regardless of his impact on the millions who follow him and have bought into the concept that the vaccinations are bad (for whatever idiotic reason), this just gives them more reason for doubt, more excuses to resist, and takes them that many more steps closer to their local ICU and perhaps the funeral home.
Said another commenter on Twitter, Luke Zaleski:
"Trump is a clear and present danger."
The impact of Trump's words is evident almost daily, as his followers, like Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, try to enforce bans on mask mandates as their states grapple with spikes of coronavirus cases.
Florida reported 23,335 new COVID-19 cases to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Wednesday, according to Miami Herald calculations of CDC data.
On Wednesday, the state also reported eight new deaths the day before. In all, Florida has recorded at least 2,978,433 confirmed COVID cases statewide and 41,149 deaths.
In Texas, the Delta variant has resulted in a 300 percent increase in COVID-19 hospitalizations, according to The Texas Tribune.
Meanwhile, in Alabama, where hospital capacity is being overrun by COVID-19 cases, Dr. Jason Valentine, a physician at Diagnostic and Medical Clinic Infirmary Health in Mobile, is tired of watching people reject the vaccine and then seek medical care.
Nope, he says, not on my watch.
He's posted a sign that says: “Dr. Valentine will no longer see patients that are not vaccinated against covid-19.” That policy will take effect October 1. “If they asked why, I told them COVID is a miserable way to die and I can’t watch them die like that,” he said.
While many patients have commented online supporting the doctor's position, others have blasted him viciously.
"Refuse service to patients because they don’t want to take a FDA unapproved, so called vaccine? He is setting a prescient of evil for Satan. Hopefully, he knows exactly how he is giving his very soul over to incarnate evil," said one.
Said another:
"He is a very bad doctor but I appreciate that he is going to quarantine the jabbed since they are the cause of the variations. 95% of those in Israeli hospitals are jabbed. 85% of the population is jabbed. So, thanks for keeping you sheep, I mean brainwashed, I mean jabbed together. We don’t want your germs. We appreciate it. More doctors should do this so we have a clear view of whom not to go to in the future. Over 20,000 jabbed individual deaths in 1 of 12 reporting systems. Over 45,000 jabbed elderly dead in CMS reporting system. Over 1 million serious adverse events. 12 year olds dead of a heart attack-jab. Federal suit filed in AL. So Valentine - you are prepared for your own valentine day massacre."
I thought that last one was particularly brilliant, and typical of the thinking of many who refuse to get vaccinated and thus are largely responsible for the COVID-19 surge that we all are now dealing with.
Those comments also could have come straight from Trump's mouth or from the Fox News playbook. For him to claim Biden's booster shot decision is all about money is nothing more than vindictive jealousy. That's bad enough, but his obvious influence on people like those two patients of Dr. Valentine's quoted above makes his comment simply unconscionable.
Trump is a special kind of evil.