Donald G. McNeil Jr. on Trump Backing Vaccine Boosters: ‘Clearly, Someone Did the Math for Him’

Donald G. McNeil Jr.:

Genius or no, he is suddenly doing something very smart: in interview after interview, he endorses vaccines and boosters. He’s even called political rivals who refuse to admit they’ve been boosted “gutless.”

Why?

My guess is that somebody has done the math for him.

The math that says: “Uh, sir? Your voters are dying in droves.” […]

As of this week, about 1,800 Americans a day are dying of Covid; the C.D.C. expects that number to rise above 2,600. Virtually all are adults. If 95 percent were unvaccinated and we assume that 75 percent of those were Trump supporters, that’s 1,300 to 1,900 of his voters being subtracted from the rolls every single day.

If there’s a hole in McNeil’s back-of-the-envelope math it’s that he’s not accounting for the one-third of American adults who didn’t vote in 2020. It is undeniable though that COVID is now killing far more Republicans than Democrats. But whatever Trump’s motives, I’m genuinely glad to see him encourage his supporters to get vaccinated.

★ Saturday, 15 January 2022