COVID-19 vaccines: "Trump's Achilles' heel"
The article referenced below from "The Epoch Times" is an interesting one. I have, for a long time now, said that the vaccines were Trump's Achilles' heel. They are. This is an issue that he has tried to run from, but it is going to catch up with him eventually. Trump was able to avoid the debate stage in the primary, but if he is the Republican nominee, it will be harder for him to avoid a debate with Kennedy in the general election. Trump is either going to have to address this issue, as it is suggested in this article that he should do, or search frantically for an excuse to avoid debate with Kennedy in the general election.
I think that Ms. Perry (from Mississippi Parents for Vaccine Rights) who is extensively referenced in this article is wrong, though, to assume that voters would be so quick to forgive Trump's continued silence on the vaccines for as long as he has. She compares it to Kennedy's admission of a change of heart on views that he previously held about our nation's southern border. There is a key difference here, though, and it points to the reason that Kennedy is the candidate that more voters can trust. The difference is this: Kennedy expressed no hesitation in sharing that new information and a new perspective which was brought to his attention had led him to change his mind--and to admit that he was wrong. In contrast to that, it would be impossible not to note that Trump most certainly has been well aware for quite some time now of the daily reports of harms and deaths being caused by the shots that he has claimed to have been responsible for the mass production and distribution of (via Operation Warp Speed).
Trump should have spoken up long before now, and it appears that if he is EVER to speak to the reported possible risks and dangers of the shots, it is only going to come--not because he knew it was the right thing to do (for he should have done it long ago and hasn't)--but because he cannot run forever from the truth of his role in ensuring that the COVID-19 shots received the necessary funding which was required to produce them for mass distribution at "warp speed."
As someone who voted for Trump in 2016 and in 2020, I do believe that Trump needs to speak to people honestly about the botched response that was given--on his watch in 2020--to a virus with a fatality rate of less than half of one percent for those who were at or below the average age of life expectancy. We deserve to have that conversation, especially since Trump is asking once more to preside over our nation. A man who cannot admit to his mistakes is a man who cannot be trusted not to make them again. And, sadly, from where I sit (as a former supporter of Trump), while these discussions DO need to be had--not just by presidential candidates, but by our entire nation--I find Trump's attempts to try to sweep the history of all of this under the rug to be disqualifying in my evaluation of which presidential candidate it is that I trust. Trump SHOULD address this, but contrary to what Ms. Perry suggests in this article from The Epoch Times, I think that for many people, it will be deemed as "too little, too late," for the delay in addressing this is no small thing and it is human life which has been at stake.
And with regard to the sanctity of human life, which Ms. Perry also suggests could be a deciding factor in how people vote, my own position is that we prove ourselves to be hypocrites if we proclaim Trump to be the candidate who is most "pro-life." If all life matters, then ALL life matters--including the many lives reportedly lost to COVID vaccines, for which Trump has shown a complete disregard. We are disingenuous if our pro-life arguments only extend to life in the womb. The truth is that Mr. Kennedy's view of what "pro-choice" should look like is actually in alignment with what many elected Republicans have signed onto as well. In Nebraska, Republican groups cheered legislation passed by Republicans which matches the views of Mr. Kennedy on abortion--which is a ban on abortion after the first trimester. There is hypocrisy at play when Mr. Kennedy is criticized for holding the same views on abortion as many elected Republicans hold. If we are sincere about saving our country, then we need to get more honest and to drop the double standards that are employed only for the sake of political gamesmanship.
Now is the time for Americans to decide if they have the courage to prioritize the future of their children and grandchildren over the demands of allegiance and loyalty that the two dominant parties have conditioned us to believe is the only way forward. Such a mindset is one of slavery to and dependence upon the two dominant parties which, for so long, have proven that they do NOT have the solutions to the problems we face. What Mr. Kennedy is offering Americans is a chance that I suspect will never be presented to us ever again. Not in my lifetime, anyway. And perhaps not even in the lifetime of my children. Now is the time to right the ship. Now is the time for a break from the enslavement of the two-party system. Now is the time to DECLARE OUR INDEPENDENCE.