The Pew Research Center reported in September 2021 that Americans who relied the most on Trump for vaccine-related news at the beginning of coronavirus pandemic were the least likely to become vaccinated than those who heeded the words of medical authorities.
To put it bluntly, those who listened to Trump were less likely to get vaccinated and more likely to contract the COVID-19 virus, and, therefore, die than if you didn’t listen to him.
Conservative media leaders, influenced by Trump’s rhetoric, “raged against the dying of the light,” in the words of Dylan Thomas, telling their listeners that they were fools if they wore face masks or got any of the vaccine shots, and some of those influencers and many of those who listened to them, “caught COVID-19 and eventually died from the virus after refusing to take a vaccine and flouted anti-vaccine rhetoric,” The Hill reported in December 2021.
https://www.bostonglobe.com/2021/10/21/metro/dying-an-audience/
Hours after the United States reported that a hundred thousand Americans had died of the coronavirus, Trump retweeted a link to an article on the website of The Federalist, a conservative organization, that claimed that wearing face masks had nothing to do with public health but was instead a form of social control.
“Mandatory-masking policies provide a valuable foundation to weaponize the virus against American liberty — now and in the future,” Molly McCann, an attorney active in conservative policy, wrote.
There is no way of knowing how many people died because they listened to idiots.
Trump moved toward the efficacy of vaccines relatively earlier in his presidency but continued to criticize the value of wearing face masks. The New York Times chronicled that Trump had long been skeptical or downright hostile toward vaccines. He once blamed vaccines for autism and, even as president, denigrated the advice of Dr. Anthony Fauci and other medical experts.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/09/health/trump-vaccines.html
Conservative media influencers, inspired by the president, raged against vaccines and face masks, and played Russian roulette with their listeners, viewers, and themselves.
The Hill and other media outlets reported that several right-wing commentators died of the coronavirus.
For instance, Marcus Lamb, 64, co-founder of the Christian TV network Daystar, died in November 2020 after contracting COVID-19. The conservative broadcast network questioned the safety of vaccines, claiming that the COVID-19 vaccines were “killing your immune system,” the New York Times reported.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/01/us/marcus-lamb-dead.html
Phil Valentine, a conservative radio host from Tennessee, died of COVID-19 in August 2021. Valentine once released a parody song that ridiculed vaccines. Shortly before his death, his radio station issued a statement that said he regretted that he wasn’t more “pro-vaccine.”
Florida talk-radio host Dick Farrel, who also served as an anchor on the right-wing Newsmax television network, called the vaccine bogus and called Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, a “power tripping lying freak.” He died of COVID-19 in August 2021.
Marc Bernier, another Florida-based talk radio host who called himself “Mr. Anti-Vax,” also died of the virus in August 2021.
Bernier told listeners in June he was unvaccinated. “I’m one of them. Judge me if you want.”
A month later, he repeated a bogus claim that “45 thousand people have died from taking the vaccine.” Bernier also accused the government of “acting like Nazis” for encouraging COVID-19 vaccines.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/12/business/media/coronavirus-misinformation-radio-podcasts.html
Jimmy DeYoung, of Tennessee, whose Christian radio program was heard on more than 1500 stations worldwide, also died of COVID-19 in August 2021. DeYoung agreed with one of his guests who called the government’s vaccine program “another form of government control of the people.”
https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/coronavirus/article253569969.html
Bob Enyart, a Denver-based pastor, anti-abortion activist, and host of a radio talk show, told listeners that they should boycott the coronavirus vaccine because the vaccines were made from cells harvested from aborted fetuses. Enyart said people should boycott the shots “because … they tested these three products on the cells of aborted babies.”
This wasn’t true, but it didn’t stop him from peddling misinformation and endangering thousands.
He died in September 2021.
