Anti-Vaccination sentiment.
Why would people in the Trump-Fox mindset oppose getting vaccinated?
Narrative inertia.
Vaccinations got shoe-horned into a narrative and mindset.
Trump capitalized on a mental narrative that motivates a significant body of Americans, particularly ones that populate the Trump base. Newt Gingrich understood it and shared the insight with fellow Republicans. Rush Limbaugh revolutionized talk radio by giving it voice. It has appeal to a significant market segment, and Roger Ailes and Rupert Murdoch made this narrative Fox's own.
The narrative: Anger, outrage, and resentment over Democrats and liberals and their various constituencies imposing themselves and their way of life onto regular, normal, White, Christian, native-born, heterosexual people like themselves.
Those people--others--are taking advantage. They are inserting themselves. Worse, they are getting affirmative-action-style benefits that "regular, normal" people don't get. These outside interposers include people of supposed disadvantage, including women, immigrants, Blacks, Hispanics, Asians, Native Americans, LGBTQ--all the people who support Democrats and their talk of "equity" and re-distribution. The bad guys also include elites: Hollywood, the highly educated, billionaire liberals, wealthy Jewish liberals, privileged woke zealots in social media, and university academics with their theories on race and gender.
The narrative has political traction. A majority of Republicans in America tell pollsters that they believe that Whites, not Blacks, are the primary target of racial prejudice and disadvantage. Pew Research
Because the narrative says the central conflict in American politics is one of Democrats who disrespect "regular" people and impose their will on them, they cannot be trusted. If Democrats are pushing something, it must be something unwelcome. Vaccinations got understood as another iteration of this narrative. Vaccinations are a parallel story to eggheads at universities pushing Critical Race Theory; both are dangerous things created by error-riddled experts. Vaccinations were an iteration of do-gooder, nanny-state overkill.
Resist Democrats. Don't tread on me.
Vaccinations fit the narrative, but awkwardly. Trump said he deserved credit for creating them, but not their distribution. Vaccinations seemed effective and safe, yet they were created by experts and endorsed by the CDC and Biden. What to do? GOP messaging needed some a fictional drama. Outreach to poorly vaccinated neighborhoods transformed into a door-to-door plan of confiscation of guns and Bibles, something unquestionably bad that fits the narrative. Private businesses who brought tourist jobs to Florida--something good--needed to be transformed into agents of state tyranny and stopped from requiring proof of vaccination. The vaccine was an American victory--good--but also one that Democrats liked, so something must be wrong.
And yet reality intervenes to ruin a good story. The delta-variant-fueled epidemic of the unvaccinated meant the good guys are getting sick and the vaccinated Democrats are not. This is a bad look for Republicans. There is workaround to preserve the central narrative. GOP politicians and Fox hosts can nominally support vaccinations. Give a grudging acknowledgement that vaccines are good, but then pivot to criticizing the CDC for their confusing and shifting guidance on masks. Praise individual citizens who refuse to submit to vaccination tyranny for their own good reasons. Blame Biden for the stalled effort to get mass vaccination. Point out problems with breakthrough infections. Point out examples of Obama or Pelosi or Schumer taking off a mask. Hypocrites!
Amid the message focus on Democratic outrages, cover yourself in case things get much worse with the new variants. Tell people to get vaccinated.
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