Thread by @Dreamweasel

As reluctant as I am to give Candace Owens credit for insight of any kind, I do wonder if she may have been onto something when she suggested that Trump’s recent isolation from social media left him unprepared for how his base would react to his pro-vaccine stance

Let’s review: During his Presidency, Trump unquestionably sowed mistrust against the CDC and Dr. Fauci for contradicting his glib dismissals of the seriousness of COVID-19.

But it was always Trump’s plan to take credit for any cures or life-saving treatments, vaccines included.

Trump’s base took the anti-Fauci sentiment and rolled with it, but were already too far down the “Vaccines Are Deep State Poison” rabbit hole by the time Trump attempted to redirect the narrative back to Dr. Trump’s Miracle Elixir of Life.

So yes, I suspect they’d all have been on the same page if Trump had been permitted to drive the narrative over the past 12 months.

But it’s worth considering the question: if not Trump, then who has been driving the anti-vaccine narrative in his absence?

One can likely point to multiple Trump-friendly sources that all kinda bent in the same direction without Trump guiding them.

I’m not totally sure I have a definitive answer here. But examining the question might lend us some valuable insight as to the GOP’s post-Trump future.