Greg Sargent: “Trump’s original scheme was a clever one: He would keep claiming a vaccine is right around the corner, and might even arrive before the election — both to pressure the public health bureaucracy into approving it quickly and to persuade the public that widespread vaccine availability is imminent, due to his leadership. When Joe Biden objected, insisting that if a vaccine is announced we should trust the scientists and not Trump on whether it has been adequately vetted, Trump offered the deviously clever rejoinder that his Democratic opponent was the one sowing doubts about science and vaccines for political reasons.”

“Presto! Biden is now the anti-vaxxer, and Trump is the one aligned with the scientists! Trump’s magical manipulation of the public narrative worked once again! But Trump has now destroyed that story line. By publicly breaking with Redfield over the timing of the vaccine, Trump defined the debate as one in which the public must choose: Either believe Trump, or believe the scientists. This has made it far less likely that Trump will profit off media coverage that, either through incompetence or willful both-sidesism, has confused Biden’s insistence that we can’t trust Trump with a claim that we can’t trust vaccines and science, and equated that with Trump’s pressure for a vaccine by Election Day: Both sides are politicizing the vaccine process! But Trump has clarified the choice: Biden is on the side of science, against Trump.”