LATimes columnist: “Irked by mask rules? Blame Trump.”

Yes, blame Trump. The same Trump who orchestrated the “warp-speed” development of multiple vaccines years before they were expected. The same Trump who took the vaccine himself. The same Trump who left office at noon, Jan. 20.

Clearly it’s Trump’s fault that many people are hesitant to be vaccinated. True, more Republicans than Democrats distrust vaccination. But is that because of Trump or because of their conservatism? Blacks and Hispanics are least likely to be vaccinated. How is that Trump’s fault, rather than their distrust of unapproved medicines offered with incomplete explanations? The US Public Health Service also sponsored the Tuskegee experiment.

The UK and Israel are among the nations with the highest vaccination rates, but they are experiencing upsurges in Covid-19 cases. How do we explain this discrepancy? Easy, it’s Trump’s fault. Surely most of the world’s problems are his fault. In fact, it would be simpler to list problems that are not Trump’s fault. Oh wait, there aren’t any. My mistake.

In the Middle Ages, people were ignorant of bacteria, or of the relation of rats and fleas to disease. So they blamed the Bubonic Plague on the Jews. This not only led to massacres of Jews, but it also blocked efforts to find the real cause of the plague. Blaming Trump for everything that goes wrong is less homicidal, but equally irrational. Instead of blaming someone out of power for half a year, how about asking actual people why they don’t want the vaccine?

At the very least, let us admit that blocking all vaccine questions from social media is not a confidence builder. People with nothing to hide don’t shut up questioners.

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