MSNBC’s Mehdi Hasan Shreds Biden for Lackluster Messaging on Boosters: ‘A Spectacular and Deadly Failure’

Joe DePaoloApr 26th, 2022, 8:59 am
 

Mehdi Hasan says economy 'booming'

MSNBC host Mehdi Hasan is coming down hard on President Joe Biden and Democrats for what he deems a lackluster campaign to get Americans boosted with an additional dose of the Covid vaccine.

In a series of Tweets posted early Tuesday, Hasan took aim at the White House and Democrats for not promoting boosters more aggressively.

“The lack of a major nationwide wall to wall booster campaign and messaging strategy from Biden and the Dems has been a spectacular and deadly failure, sadly,” Hasan wrote. “Our booster rates are shamefully low compared to other Western countries.”

According to statistics from The New York Times, just 30 percent of the U.S. population has received an additional dose of a Covid vaccine (defined as either a third dose of either the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines or a second dose of Johnson & Johnson). The U.S. ranks 64th among all countries in that metric. Much of Europe is well over 50 percent, with the U.K at 59 and France at 55. As for other North American countries, Canada checks in at 49 percent, and Mexico has 35 percent of its population boosted.

Hasan defended his position against pushback. Tom Nichols, a professor and contributing writer to The Atlantic, blasted Hasan’s take.

“You cannot seriously be blaming Joe Biden for this,” Nichols wrote.

“I’m blaming the White House and the Dems in Congress for specifically and narrowly not launching an aggressive booster campaign and for the mixed messaging on the pandemic from prominent Dem governors and mayors,” Hasan replied. “Can you point me to the aggressive booster campaign I’m missing?”

MSNBC columnist and Substack newsletter author Michael Cohen similarly criticized Hasan’s premise.

“You’re blaming Joe Biden for the failure of Americans to get boosted?” Cohen wrote. “Joe Biden? Not the entire political party that has discouraged its adherents to get vaccinated?”

Hasan accused Biden defenders of moving the goalposts.

“We’re not talking about unvaccinated folks – yeah that’s all on Fox, GOP etc as I have pointed out more than most!” Hasan wrote. “We’re talking about double vaccinated folks who didn’t get a booster. You can’t blame that on the GOP sadly.”

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Joe DePaolo - Executive Editor

Joe DePaolo is the Executive Editor of Mediaite. Email him here: joed@mediaite.com Follow him on Twitter: @joe_depaolo