{"id":2247945,"date":"2024-05-19T11:53:10","date_gmt":"2024-05-19T15:53:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/trump-ramps-up-rhetoric-against-rfk-jr-not-really-an-anti-vaxxer\/"},"modified":"2024-05-19T11:58:02","modified_gmt":"2024-05-19T15:58:02","slug":"trump-ramps-up-rhetoric-against-rfk-jr-not-really-an-anti-vaxxer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/trump-ramps-up-rhetoric-against-rfk-jr-not-really-an-anti-vaxxer\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump escalates criticism of RFK Jr.: &#8216;Not exactly anti-vaccine"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">18<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Ftrump-ramps-up-rhetoric-against-rfk-jr-not-really-an-anti-vaxxer%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2247945&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>In a recent\u200d development, former\u2063 President Donald Trump has intensified his criticism of independent <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/joe-biden-knows-he-messed-up-on-fracking-at-debate-and-is-now-doing-damage-control-the-daily-wire\/\" title=\"Joe Biden Knows He Messed Up On Fracking At Debate And Is Now Doing Damage Control | The Daily Wire\">presidential candidate<\/a> Robert F. \u200dKennedy Jr., focusing on\u200c his views regarding guns, energy, and vaccines. Trump\u2063 clarified that Kennedy&#8217;s vaccine skepticism is \u2062politically motivated and not genuine. This escalation\u2062 comes amid observations of Trump&#8217;s changing rhetoric on the coronavirus vaccine, possibly in response to the perception that Kennedy could\u2063 attract vaccine-skeptical voters. Republican strategist Jason Roe highlighted Trump&#8217;s \u200cstrategic approach\u2062 to mitigate any impact Kennedy may have on the election.\u2062 Kennedy&#8217;s long-standing skepticism\u200d of vaccines, linking them to autism and ethnic targeting, has been a controversial point in his campaign. The clash between Trump and Kennedy underscores the complex \u200ddynamics surrounding vaccine-related \u200dideologies and their influence on\u200b political support.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Former President <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/donald-trump\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>Donald Trump<\/a> ramped up his attacks on independent presidential candidate <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/rfk-jr\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.<\/a>, going after his stances on guns and energy while also saying his skepticism of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/coronavirus\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>vaccines<\/a> is \u201cfake.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou think he\u2019s an anti-vaxxer, he\u2019s not really an anti-vaxxer. That\u2019s only his political moment. He said the other night he\u2019s okay with a vaccine,\u201d Trump <a href=\"https:\/\/truthsocial.com\/@realDonaldTrump\/posts\/112412516883521630\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>said<\/a> in a May 9 Truth Social post. \u201cRFK\u2019s views on vaccines are fake, as is everything else about his candidacy. He is not a Republican, so don\u2019t think you\u2019re going to vote for him and feel good. He is a rabid-left Democrat. Let the Democrats have RFK Jr. They deserve him.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The former <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/president\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>president<\/a>\u2018s comments come as political observers have noticed a change in Trump\u2019s language around the the coronavirus vaccine, which some believe is a sign the campaign views Kennedy as being able to bleed off some more vaccine-skeptical voters.<\/p>\n<p>Republican strategist Jason Roe, former executive director of the Michigan Republican Party, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2024\/05\/19\/trump-vaccine-rfk-jr-00158743\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>told<\/a> <em>Politico<\/em> Trump is \u201cinsulating against it being a problem,\u201d adding, \u201cTrump is in a pretty commanding position in most of the polls in swing states, so why take the chance of RFK Jr. screwing it up for you.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Kennedy has consistently been skeptical of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/vaccine\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>vaccines<\/a> for years, not just the coronavirus vaccine, which was approved under expedited conditions during the Trump administration\u2019s Operation Warp Speed. The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/meet-the-man-trying-to-shake-up-yales-secretive-governing-body\/\" title=\"Meet the Man Trying to Shake Up Yale\u2019s Secretive Governing Body\">independent candidate<\/a> has supported claims that certain vaccines are linked to autism and has also said that the coronavirus was created to attack certain races or ethnic groups.<\/p>\n<p>Kennedy campaign communications director Del Bigtree told <em>Politico<\/em> that they see Trump\u2019s attacks on the independent candidate as \u201ctrying to get back an audience that\u2019s leaving him, that\u2019s inspired by Robert Kennedy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Trump, the presumptive <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/Republican\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>Republican<\/a> nominee for president, has in the past touted Operation Warp Speed as \u201cone of the greatest miracles\u201d of his time in office, but his administration\u2019s response to the pandemic was used by some of his Republican primary challengers as one of few openings to go on the attack.<\/p>\n<p>As a presidential candidate, Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) attacked Trump from the right on the coronavirus response and pushing the vaccine, as well as not taking a harder line against states that maintained their shutdowns and giving Dr. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/Anthony-Fauci\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>Anthony Fauci<\/a>, the former director of the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, too much power.<\/p>\n<p>But the Trump campaign notes that the former president has been consistent since leaving office about his opposition to vaccine mandates and state lockdowns.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe has advocated for ending all unconstitutional Covid mandates and draconian lockdowns, and he fought vigorously against them,\u201d Brian Hughes, Trump campaign senior advisor, told <em>Politico<\/em>. \u201cAfter the initial \u2018Slow the Spread\u2019 period, President Trump was the most significant force for opening the country up, in spite of enormous media and Democrat resistance.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Despite the Republican voter base being critical of the pandemic response from political leadership across the board, the attacks against Trump have not done much to cut into his popularity with the base. Dampening the attacks against Trump is the fact that Joe Biden\u2019s presidency, which has had the vaccine from Day One, had a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/us\/biden-marks-1-million-americans-dead-covid-2022-05-12\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>coronavirus death toll<\/a> just as high as the Trump presidency.<\/p>\n<p>In response to Biden\u2019s State of the Union address in March, where he highlighted the vaccines as part of a national \u201ccomeback,\u201d Trump posted to Truth Social, \u201cYOU\u2019RE WELCOME, JOE, NINE MONTH APPROVAL TIME VS. 12 YEARS THAT IT WOULD HAVE TAKEN YOU.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Some conservative commentators noted that Trump should not be so quick to tout the vaccine, particularly with Kennedy in the race. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cDonald Trump taking credit for the vaccine \u2014 if RFK wasn\u2019t in the race, it wouldn\u2019t be that big of a deal,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/Charlie-Kirk\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>Charlie Kirk<\/a>, a prominent Trump supporter, said on his show in March. \u201cBut you have to understand that there are millions of voters that look at the vaccine issue as a highly personal issue. \u2026 With RFK on the ballot, you cannot dismiss this coalition.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Vaccine skepticism appears to be a winning stance among some Republican voters, and it is possible the Trump team is looking at polling like the recent Monmouth University survey showing a slight increase in Republican interest in Kennedy when being informed of his stance on vaccines, and responding by covering bases.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSupport for Kennedy is not particularly strong even among voters who dislike both Biden and<br \/>Trump. If he can\u2019t score a decisive win with these voters, it\u2019s unclear what role he can play in this<br \/>election other than as a spoiler,\u201d Patrick Murray, director of the independent Monmouth University Polling Institute, said of the survey. \u201cThe <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/polls\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>poll<\/a> results suggest that the Kennedy effect is minimal. If the current situation holds, he would play a spoiler role only in a very close contest. Of course, everything is lining up for this election to be just that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Murray also noted that while the \u201cslight movement\u201d is \u201cnot hugely perceptible \u2026 you can understand why it would be of concern to the Trump campaign\u201d because \u201cit only takes a few voters in key states to flip the Electoral College.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Trump\u2019s offensive against Kennedy did not stop at the vaccine, as he said the independent candidate is a \u201cDemocrat \u2018Plant,\u2019 a Radical Left <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/Liberal\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>Liberal<\/a> who\u2019s been put in place in order to help Crooked Joe Biden \u2026 get Re-Elected.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cJr. is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/trump-slams-rfk-jr-as-democratic-plant-and-attacks-his-energy-record-in-new-york-id-even-take-biden-over-junior\/\" title=\"Trump criticizes RFK Jr. as a Democratic \"plant,\" criticizes his energy record in New York, and prefers Biden over him\">totally anti-gun<\/a>, extreme environmentalist who makes the green new scammers look very conservative by comparison, a big time taxer \u2014 he wants to tax you \u2014 an open border advocate \u2014 he wants those borders to be wide open for more people to come in from prisons and mental institutions \u2014 and he\u2019s anti-military and he\u2019s anti-vet,\u201d Trump said in the Truth Social post. \u201cHe\u2019s an extreme liberal, he\u2019s radical left, and radicalized also are his family.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Former President Donald Trump intensified his criticisms of independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., targeting his views on guns and energy. Trump dismissed Kennedy&#8217;s vaccine skepticism as insincere, clarifying that he is not truly anti-vaccine, attributing it to political expediency. Kennedy himself admitted his stance on vaccines during a recent statement<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":179,"featured_media":2247946,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/AP24139840519993-1024x683.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[538],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2247945","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-washington-examiner"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/AP24139840519993-1024x683.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2247945","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/179"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2247945"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2247945\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2247946"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2247945"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2247945"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2247945"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}