Trump is reportedly upset Biden will steal his coronavirus vaccine thunder

Kathryn Krawczyk
·1 min read

Recent COVID-19 vaccine developments are undoubtedly good news for Americans and the world. But to President Trump, they're "nothing but a heap of frustration," The Daily Beast reports.

For the past few months, Trump had reportedly been dreaming up ways he could promote a COVID-19 vaccine once it was released. He "envisioned large, public, mask-free events," and "rallies to celebrate the successes of Operation Warp Speed," two individuals with direct knowledge of his private comments tell The Daily Beast. Trump also reportedly wanted to hold a news conference where he'd "read from a list of headlines, articles, and TV coverage that had either underestimated him or raised doubts about Operation Warp Speed's timeline," per The Daily Beast. Essentially, Trump was "looking forward to showing that he was right and the media was wrong," one of the sources said.

But with President-elect Joe Biden's win, Trump's boastful hopes have gone down the drain. As vaccine developments quickly poured in after Trump's loss, he has "grown preemptively annoyed that Biden will try to 'steal' credit from him for life-saving vaccine developments," The Daily Beast reports via two people who've spoken to the president. Olivia Troye, a former senior adviser on the coronavirus task force, echoed Trump's attempts to "politicize" vaccine development, recounting a time when Trump insisted the vaccine be ready before November.

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