Team DeSantis Goes Full Anti-Vaxx to Attack Trump After He Spars With Angry Voter
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The Ron DeSantis camp went full anti-vaxx on Thursday with tweets accusing former president Donald Trump of “praising” the Covid vaccine developed during Operation Warp Speed, and defending Dr. Anthony Fauci for recommending mandates and lock downs.
The tweets were posted by The DeSantis War Room, which touts its “Rapid Response for @RonDeSantis.”
The first tweet included a video recorded at a Trump campaign stop in Grimes, Iowa.
“JUST NOW: Iowa voter tells Trump ‘we have lost people because you supported the jab.'” The tweet said.
“Trump responds by praising the COVID mRNA shots, doesn’t acknowledge any of the adverse effects.
“‘I was able to do something that nobody else could have done…There’s a big portion of the country that thinks [the jab] was a great thing.'”
The second tweet featured a Fox News clip where Trump was asked, “Should you have fired Fauci?”
“NEVER FORGET,” The tweet read. “Donald Trump repeatedly said he didn’t fire Fauci because he didn’t want to take “heat” from the media and the Left.”
The tweets appear to be part of DeSantis’ strategy to reach voters to the far-right of his chief 2024 rival.
DeSantis was a vaccine supporter when one was first developed in late 2020, even attending a vaccine summit at Trump’s White House in December of that year. The governor discussed plans for the vaccine rollout and lamented how the subject had become “politicized.”
“This was the first vaccine that’s really been politicized, unfortunately,” DeSantis said during a panel discussion. “And that’s going to be something that people are going to have to deal with.”
DeSantis appeared to pick up the political mantle and sour on vaccine mandates once Joe Biden took office; he appointed an anti-vaxx, anti-mandate doctor to be Florida’s surgeon general, who was ultimately accused of altering “key findings in study on Covid-19 vaccine safety.”
Politico reported that “DeSantis waged war against President Joe Biden’s Covid-related restrictions and ordered the state to ban mask-wearing requirements in schools and employer-issued vaccine mandates.”
Trump has called DeSantis “disloyal” for announcing his own bid for the 2024 Republican nomination, and the two have been trading barbs in what a former GOP staffer called an ” immature and petulant” display.
