Many of the left's pom-poming stories about Trump's recent vaccination crusade strike me as hyperbolic, such as Salon's, which opens: "Devoted far-right followers of former President Donald Trump are finally turning on him." That's a broad statement — an assertion enveloping millions of Americans, effectively stripping the former president of his base.
All this speculative hoo-ha began, as you know, when Trump appeared on stage with Bill O'Reilly a few days ago, whereupon the woebegone despot proudly announced that he had gotten a covid booster shot. To this, the audience responded with boos, which, retorted Trump, erupted from only "a very tiny group" among the assembled. Shortly after that embarrassment, Trump then told far-right activist Candace Owens in an interview that "some people aren't taking [the vaccine]. The ones that get very sick and go to the hospital are the ones that don't take their vaccine.... People aren't dying when they take their vaccine."
Trump's remarks, at long last, contained something shockingly responsible — and that, of course, inflicted immense agony on some or much of his base. But there's a huge difference between some and much, which renders Salon's stirring lede — that his "devoted far-right followers ... are finally turning on him" — in doubt.
Salon notes that Trump's comments sent "alternative social media networks like Telegram and Gab into a frenzy," which, doubtless, is true. But what does that mean, in terms of numbers of users? Social media is ignored by most Americans, hence "alternative" social media is surely but a gnat on the butt of the Trumpian booboisie.
Numberswise, Salon offers up only Infowar's Alex Jones and "Stop the Steal" agitator Ali Alexander as once-devoted far-right followers of Trump. Jones said "everybody I know that used to support Trump is really mad at him." How many voters does Jones know? I've no idea, nor does Salon. Said Mr. Alexander: "Trump, stop. Just stop." That's an entreaty, not a full-scale condemnation. Last week I also posted a short video of "MAGA activist" Alison Steinberg denouncing Trump. Yet Alison's MAGA influence is as unknown as she is.
Here, though, is where we come to the interesting part. Notes Salon: "The simmering TrumpWorld civil war [another bit of hyperbole] has also had a similar effect on the community of people who subscribe to the QAnon conspiracy theory — leaving them unsure whether Trump has abandoned the anti-vaccine movement, or is simply following a plan so complicated and secret that they cannot comprehend its inner workings." We might add that Trump's committed "QAnon community" could be even smaller than the number of "alternative social media" users.
Still, there is more, and it is fascinating. Former Trump lawyer Lin Wood, who's every bit as crazy as the most devoted QAnon disciple, has benevolently signed on to the "secret," "inner workings" theory. Observed Wood on the social-media site Telegram: "I believe We The People should wait until ALL the facts are known before passing judgment on the President's wartime strategy and the tactics designed to achieve victory." Since Mr. Wood is nuts — he additionally reveals Trump as the current "Commander in Chief" — we need not linger over the inner workings of his forgiving speculation.
We also need not "wait until ALL the facts are known" about Trump's "wartime strategy." Because it's staring us in the face: It's a general election strategy.
Sure, in the primaries he'll lose some votes from the Infowars baptized, devout anti-vaxxers, and the yet-institutionalized. Trump, however, is at least smart enough to appreciate that he simply cannot credibly vie for a general-election victory on a pro-covid platform. He must begin now to abandon the craziest of the freedom-loving vaccine loathers; it's that, or no chance of ending his woebegone despotic days. Even some of the genuinely pissed off will still vote for him in both primary and general, since so many of that crowd love Trumpian authoritarianism even more than they hate Moderna.
So Trump finally said a few things that were shockingly responsible. His words, though, were typically only for his own good.