Donald Trump’s decision to make the Republican Party an anti-vaccine party is causing immediate problems for Republican members of Congress.
At a White House event on Monday, Trump repeated baseless anti-vaccine talking points and his administration falsely promoted a debunked link between women taking Tylenol during pregnancy and autism.
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Trump’s elevation of anti-vaxxers is causing a split within the Republican Party, and the president’s event with RFK Jr. caused an immediate backlash from constituents with GOP members of Congress.
The Washington Post reported:
Fabrizio/Ward, a prominent conservative polling firm, also cautioned that it would be “folly” to assume that Republican voters are against common childhood vaccines, citing data that about 8 in 10 adults believe it is important to receive the combination measles, mumps and rubella (or MMR) vaccine and the hepatitis B vaccine — two vaccines that Trump targeted in his remarks Monday.
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Several aides to Republican members of Congress, speaking on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to press, also said that their offices were unsettled by Trump’s remarks, having already received constituents’ complaints about the administration’s vaccine policies.
Trump has made another unpopular move that caters to the fringe of the country that will potentially put congressional Republicans who are running for reelection next year in an impossible position, and push voters toward Democratic candidates, because Democrats aren’t going to enable a president who seems determined to make the nation’s kids sick.
The vaccine issue will be a big one in states and districts where measles outbreaks are raging, and other childhood diseases will be on the rise.
A resurgence in COVID, which has never gone away but has become managed as a public health issue by vaccination programs, would push the vaccine issue back to the front and center of the national discussion.
The Executive Branch has broad authority in implementing public health policies, which Congress will likely be urged to examine in the future.
If voters reject Trump’s anti-vaxxer HHS, it won’t be the president who pays the price at the ballot box. Republicans who stand with this president will lose their jobs next November.
What do you think about Republicans getting complaints about Trump’s anti-vaxxer policies? Let’s discuss it in the comments below.
