(New York) What is the nature of the epiphany that prompted Donald Trump to boast about the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines and lift the veil on his decision to receive a booster dose?
What will the former president say on January 6, a date which not only coincides with the Christian feast of Epiphany, but also with the first anniversary of the assault on the Capitol by hundreds, if not thousands of his supporters?
The answer to these questions could provide clues as to what Joe Biden’s predecessor has in store for Americans in 2022 and 2024.
Let’s start with the question that Donald Trump will answer on Thursday at a press conference to take place at Mar-a-Lago, his Florida residence.
In a statement released on December 21, the 45e president gave a taste of his speech to mark this dark day in which four of his supporters lost their lives, more than 150 police officers were injured (one of them died the next day) and a democracy once admired has been shaken.
He repeated his false allegations about a “rigged” election in 2020, attacked the congressional commission charged with investigating the assault and denounced the “RINOs”, those Republicans who would not be worthy of being regarded as such.
Waiting for [la conférence de presse], remember that the uprising took place on November 3.
Donald Trump, alluding to the date of his electoral defeat
Donald Trump will obviously not be the only one to mark the first attack on the seat of Congress since the War of 1812 against the British. Joe Biden and Kamala Harris will also address Americans, as historians and elected officials reflect on the day in Congress.
According to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, the mission of historians Doris Kearns Goodwin and Jon Meacham will be to “establish and [de] preserve the story of January 6 ”.
“A decisive moment”
Two days earlier, Graham Brookie will also be participating in this effort. The organization he heads will publish a major study on the state of affairs of American extremists a year after the attack on Capitol Hill.
But there is no illusion about the message that will reach the largest number of Americans this week.
“Donald Trump’s press conference will set the tone, period,” said the director of a research laboratory attached to the think tank Atlantic Council. Graham Brookie is especially not minimizing the effect that this press conference could have on extremist groups in 2022.
“And that’s the thing that pains me the most to say, as someone who has just spent five years begging everyone not to amplify everything the former President of the United States says or say. ignore it: the speech of January 6 is potentially a watershed moment for whether these communities are able to continue to come together around each other, around a coherent vision, or if they are going their separate ways. ”
One way or another, nothing that crosses Donald Trump’s lips on Thursday will help improve the political climate in the United States, according to the former member of the National Security Council in the administration. Obama.
There is no version of the world where [Donald Trump] goes out and says responsible things on January 6th.
Graham Brookie, director of a research laboratory attached to the Atlantic Council think tank
In other words, no one should expect Donald Trump to take his most radical supporters against the grain on the Capitol storm as he has been doing for the past few days about the COVID-19 vaccination.
“The vaccine worked”
Last September, it should be remembered, Donald Trump told the Wall Street Journal that he would “probably not” have a booster dose against COVID-19. However, on December 19, interviewed by former Fox News host Bill O’Reilly, he revealed to thousands of supporters gathered in an amphitheater in Dallas that he had received such a dose.
Hearing a few boos from the crowd, Donald Trump immediately said: “No! No ! No ! No ! ”
And to add: “It’s a very small group, there, behind. ”
In an interview aired two days later, Conservative commentator Candace Owens was also rebuffed after claiming that more Americans died from COVID-19 in 2021 than the year before, so that vaccines against this disease were not yet widely available.
“The vaccine worked, but some do not take it,” Donald Trump replied, cutting him off.
Those who get very sick and go to the hospital are the ones who don’t take the vaccine. It is always their choice. But if you take the vaccine, you are protected. […] People don’t die when they get vaccinated.
Donald Trump, in an interview with conservative commentator Candace Owens
You would have thought you heard Anthony Fauci or Joe Biden.
Moreover, the conspirator and ally of former president Alex Jones did not fail to accuse him of being part of “their team”, in which he also included Bill Gates, the New World Order and the “Davos group”.
Donald Trump certainly continues to oppose vaccine obligations, like most Republican elected officials. But his desire to appropriate the “historic” success of the vaccines developed during his administration is probably nothing innocent, nor his invitation to his supporters to take “the credit” for it.
Is this vaccine epiphany an indication of Donald Trump’s intentions to run for president again in 2024? We may know more about this on Epiphany Day.