Fauci says Trump could "make all the difference." But will he?

View in browser   March 15, 2021 Recovery is within reach, but as public health experts have repeatedly warned, infection rates from the coronavirus remain disturbingly high.  To make matters worse, there's increasing evidence that the partisan divide has successfully convinced GOP voters, as much as 50 percent of men who identified as Republicans, to decline getting vaccinated. Dr. Anthony Fauci addressed this trend, found in three recent polls, on Sunday and expressed hope that Donald Trump would step out of his Mar-a-Lago bubble to urge his supporters to get vaccinated. After all, Trump and Melania themselves quietly got vaccinated before leaving the White House.  "It would make all the difference in the world," Dr. Fauci told Fox News' Chris Wallace. Trump, Fauci said, "is a such a strongly popular person" among supporters. Of course, judging by Trump's extremely petty rationale for being the only living former president not to participate in a recent national ad campaign to promote vaccinations, I'm going to put my money on Trump refusing Fauci's recommendation. On that note, I'll leave you with four more responses from our callout asking readers how they plan to spend their COVID checks. Thank you to everyone who contributed! Cancer treatments and a lovely brandy I'll be putting 90% on bills due to cancer treatments and purchasing a home. The rest goes into savings, except for a bottle of Armagnac to celebrate! —Frances Supporting local businesses and food banks Spread the money from stimulus checks to local businesses struggling during COVID like restaurants, and other small businesses. Take out or eat in after our second vaccine shot. We don't need the money nearly as much as the 20,000,000 folks who lost work temporarily or long term. —Bob My wife and I plan on giving our stimulus checks to the local food bank, a garden of hope for people in need. —Kelly Two of us married, getting the full amount of checks, gave away the last two, and giving it all away for good causes. Same for the next two checks. —John and Sally —Inae Oh Advertisement   Democrats Are Pushing to Make the Stimulus Package’s Historic Anti-Poverty Measures Permanent "We can change America." BY JULIA LURIE   Mississippi's governor will forfeit millions in federal money for the pleasure of not expanding Medicaid BY NOAH LANARD Tragic police raids have continued after Breonna Taylor BY SAMANTHA MICHAELS The elusive dream of the driverless car BY M.R. O'CONNOR Schumer and Gillibrand join calls for Cuomo to resign BY ABIGAIL WEINBERG Advertisement   Oil and Gas Firms Are Saddling States With Billions in Cleanup Costs "It's like a game of hot potato." BY NICK BOWLIN   Support from readers allows Mother Jones to do journalism that doesn't just follow the pack. Donate SOME GOOD NEWS, FOR ONCE Watch Cellist Yo-Yo Ma Treat Vaccine Recipients to a Surprise Concert Renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma gave a surprise concert to a gym full of coronavirus vaccine recipients on Saturday. After getting his vaccine, Ma played during the 15-minute observation period at the Berkshire Community College in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. Click the arrows to see several videos of his playing. And if you missed our 96th birthday tribute to Roy Haynes from 22 jazz giants in the drummer's honor, check it out. Did you enjoy this newsletter? Help us out by forwarding it to a friend or sharing it on Facebook and Twitter. Donate Subscribe This message was sent to franchmaverickk.secretwords123@blogger.com. To change the messages you receive from us, you can edit your email preferences or unsubscribe from all mailings. For advertising opportunities see our online media kit. Were you forwarded this email? Sign up for Mother Jones' newsletters today. www.MotherJones.com PO Box 8539, Big Sandy, TX 75755