Would Trump fudge the truth? Of course.

      "I trust vaccines. I trust scientists. But I don't trust Donald Trump. And at this moment, the American people can't either."

         Joe Biden

Donald Trump was furious. Me, not trustworthy???

Trump's brand is win at all costs.

Republican voters understand and appreciate Trump for who he is. 

Trump plays to win. He doesn't pretend to be fair, or a good sport, or to see and respect the other person's point of view. He is a fighter. A salesman with a product to sell who will say what he needs to say to get the sale. 

Republicans understand that when he wins, his team wins. They get the judges they think they want, the affirmation that they are OK, and the assurance snobby elitist Democrats who call them racist are losing. So what, if a player with that winner-mentality throws spitballs, or deflates a football?  This is politics and government. Everyone cheats, don't they? Obama was maybe a Kenyan, Hillary had her emails, and Hunter Biden. Since the game is crooked and distasteful, and government is the problem, then only a sap would play it straight, and Trump is no sap.

So Trump played down the virus, and said so on tape, although now he says he played it up. And he played up the hydroxychloroquine--which might have worked, even though Democrats hoped it wouldn't so more people would die and they could blame Trump. He said cool weather would take care of it. And a miracle. And that it was just the flu, then worse than the flu, then not. And he said Republican governors were doing it right and Democratic governors doing it wrong. And not to wear a mask, then to wear a mask, then not to wear a mask, then go out and protest Democratic governors who promoted masks. And say that Biden was a wimp for wearing a mask, then that he himself didn't need a mask because he was away from others and it was the audience, not him, at risk, no problem. And say that Dr. Fauci was right, then not right, now right again, but let's hear from others who contradict Fauci and who might be more right. 

This week he is saying maybe people are going to get the virus anyway, so take your chances, you'll probably be OK and the country will build "herd mentality," meaning "herd immunity."  And meanwhile, that a vaccine is in the works and will be here "warp speed" thanks to his unrelenting pressure and focus, just in time for the election, what a coincidence.

Donald Trump sounds like a salesman, desperate for a sale, willing to say or do anything. He has amped up the accusations against Biden, and now he can become "really vicious," he said, to the cheers of the crowd.

There is a lot of trust and credibility built into a vaccination. We are accustomed to putting new, strange things in our mouths, but a vaccination involves a needle and putting a disease inside oneself. Needles hurt a little, and getting a shot is a noteworthy event. We know we are doing something and taking a chance. That sense of risk is doubly powerful if we are vaccinating our child, someone putting trust in us. Not only do we need to trust, we need to trust enough to share the trust with someone who trusts us.

Trust

Americans are wary of the vaccine. Trump is clearly, openly, rushing it for political reasons. The question is whether the drug companies were influenced by profit and reputation to rush it; whether the FDA is influenced by political pressure, amid Attorney General Bill Barr saying that "deep state" opponents are actively trying to impede the president, shame on them; whether the scientists were influenced by professional pride: whether the whole system of checks, balances, care, protocol, and procedure to protect us is working, even in the face of a president who is talking warp speed and making promises.

The Kaiser Family Foundation released a poll this week.  Click: KFF poll Sixty-two percent of Americans are very worried or somewhat worried that the FDA will rush things, bowing to political pressure. Democrats and Independents poll similarly. Republican voters are the outliers. 

Trust in institutions has declined across the board, the CDC in particular. Sixteen percent fewer people trust it now compared with April. Ten percent fewer people trust Dr. Andrew Fauci. Trust in the institutions involved with vaccinations have become partisan. Eighty-six percent of Republicans trust Trump; a similar eighty-six percent of Democrats trust Dr. Fauci. Independents are going along with Democrats, trusting Dr. Fauci, not Trump, and, again, Republicans the outliers.

Trump dug a hole for himself. He is the salesman, not the scientist. He is the partisan warrior, not the president of all the people. The vaccination question makes this about trust.  Do you trust--really trust--Donald Trump to play fair.

Kamala Harris raised the point a few days ago, and luckily for her caught flack. The criticism meant that her comments got noticed and that Republican critics planted their flag. She said she was dubious about the vaccine, that maybe Trump was rushing things. Republicans asked, how dare she?

Now Biden said the same thing. Trust scientists, not Trump. 

This is perfect battlefield for Democrats. Not race. Not the culture war. Not the economy. Not even whether Trump handled the virus response correctly. The issue before Americans is do you trust with your own life, with your children's lives, that Donald Trump did not put his thumb on the scales for political purposes to rush the vaccine?