Chris Hayes Mocks ‘Coward’ Trump’s Reaction to Getting Booed for Touting Vaccines: ‘Don’t Beat Up on Me, I’m Still Your Guy!’

 

Chris Hayes took Donald Trump to task on Monday for his timid reaction to his rally-goers’ response after he urged them to get vaccinated against Covid-19.

At a rally in Alabama on Saturday, Trump told the crowd, “I believe totally in your freedoms, I do, you got to do what you have to do, but I recommend take the vaccines,” Trump said. “I did it, it’s good. Take the vaccines.”

The audience reaction was a mixed bag. Some clapped, others booed. Trump reacted by saying, “That’s okay, that’s alright. You got your freedoms, but I happened to take the vaccine.”

Hayes said Trump did something “somewhat unexpected” by endorsing the vaccines. “But the way that he does it, and what happens after, is the real story.”

Hayes ran the clip and then went off on the former president:

You can see the panic in his eyes as he makes a hasty retreat. “You’ve got your freedoms!” And you can hear him screwing up what tiny bit of courage he has before he enters the riff, knowing this is probably going to happen, looking as terrified as a nine-year-old on a high diving board trying to get himself to jump. This, Mr. Braggadocios, Mr. Donald Trump, everything is great, and bold, and beautiful, and I’m the best. And he’s terrified of what he’s going to say because Donald Trump fears that crowd. He knows some of them hate vaccines, and he fears they will reject even him, their Dear Leader, if he says the simple obvious truth, which is they should get vaccinated. And then, his worst fears are proven in that moment, and so he retreats like a coward.

Hayes replayed the part where Trump was booed.

“‘But, but, but, but don’t beat up on me, I’m still your guy!'” mocked Hayes. “‘You know, whatever, you got your freedoms. Maybe it will work, I don’t know.'”

The MSNBC host said the episode was indicative of a broader, troubling trend whereby the Republican Party is beholden to anti-vaccine sentiment among its base.

Watch above via MSNBC.

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Mike is a Mediaite senior editor who covers the news in primetime. Follow him on Bluesky.