Trump Reveals a Surprise Weakness in Unhinged New Vaccine Ramblings

On Monday, Donald Trump issued some rambling, tortured claims. He bent over backward to reassure people about Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and vouched for the polio vaccine—while bizarrely clarifying that he sees “problems” with vaccines and even opposes vaccine mandates in schools. We think this reveals a surprising political vulnerability: Trump knows RFK’s extreme views are a serious problem, but also seems aware that being supportive of vaccine mandates might alienate constituencies in his base. We talked to Anne Shoup, a senior adviser for the Democratic-allied group Protect Our Care, which is running ads against RFK, about whether stopping him is really possible and what more Dems should do to oppose Trump’s nominees. Listen to this episode here. A transcript is here.