Donald Trump Just Enraged Republicans With One Post

Former President Donald Trump ruffled some Republican feathers on Friday when he rebuked claims made by President Joe Biden about the COVID-19 vaccine, taking credit for accelerating their introduction in the throes of the pandemic.

Trump, the GOP frontrunner in the 2024 presidential election, took to Truth Social, his social media platform, on Thursday to conduct his own real-time commentary during Biden's State of the Union address, criticizing the president as they prepare to likely face off against each other in November in a 2020 election rematch. During his speech, Biden touched on issues ranging from the economy, reproductive rights, foreign policy and aid to Ukraine in its ongoing war with Russia, as well as touting how his administration helped the United States mostly leave coronavirus in the rearview.

"The pandemic no longer controls our lives," Biden said. "The vaccines that saved us from COVID are now being used to help beat cancer, turning setback into comeback. That's what America does."

Trump labeled Biden's entire speech as "the Angriest, Least Compassionate, and Worst State of the Union Speech ever made," calling it "an Embarrassment to our Country!"

He also took umbrage with Biden taking credit for ending the pandemic, while using the president's exact words.

"'The Pandemic no longer controls our lives. The Vaccines that saved us from COVID are now being used to help beat Cancer – Turning setback into comeback!' YOU'RE WELCOME, JOE, NINE MONTH APPROVAL TIME VS. 12 YEARS THAT IT WOULD HAVE TAKEN YOU!" he wrote in his Truth Social post on Thursday that has been liked more than 22,000 times.

Newsweek reached out to the White House via email for comment.

However, Trump received some blowback from some within the GOP on X, formerly Twitter, who referred to the ex-president's continuation of vaccine-related talking points as inducing immense "anger."

"The amount of anger I have over this can't be quantified in words," Tracy Beanz, editor-in-chief of UncoverDC, wrote on Friday.

"Almost everything that makes you angry about the authoritarian government response to the pandemic started with the Trump administration," wrote commentator Matt Kibbe. "Reminder: Biden simply doubled down on the same policies."

Rumble personality Ryan Matta wrote that it was a valid reason not to purchase any more "MAGA gear," adding: "@realDonaldTrump will be wearing @pfizer hat at his next rally! WTF is wrong with this man? Who the F*** would say this s***! We all have friends family and children we know who we're murders by these vaccines! Y'all need to have a come to Jesus moment with this man REAL QUICK! GOSH DAMN THIS MAKE MY BLOOD BOIL and I'd take a bullet for Trump!

It wasn't just conservatives who slammed Trump for touting vaccines.

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., an independent candidate running for president who has also been described by some as anti-vaccine due to his skepticism of the efficacy of such drugs, criticized Trump's post.

"Donald Trump clearly hasn't learned from his Covid era mistakes," he wrote on X. "He fails to recognize how ineffective his warp speed vaccine is as the ninth shot is being recommended to seniors. Even more troubling is the documented harm being caused by the shot to so many innocent children and adults who are suffering myocarditis, pericarditis and brain inflammation."

Trump, who contracted COVID during his presidency, repeatedly encouraged Americans to look into the so-called benefits of the anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine as a potential alternative to vaccines manufactured by big pharmacological companies.

However, he has also somewhat changed his tune when it comes to the efficacy of vaccines offered by companies like Pfizer.

In June 2023, the former president told conservative podcast host David Brody that his administration's "Operation Warp Speed," which helped swiftly develop COVID-19 vaccines and therapeutics, may have saved 100 million lives worldwide.

"I was able to get something approved that has proven to have saved a lot of lives," Trump said, dodging anti-vaccine rhetoric.

In another interview that same month with Fox News' Bret Baier, Trump admitted that discussing the COVID vaccine as a Republican is "not a great thing to talk about."

Meanwhile, Biden's connection of the COVID vaccines to cancer has also been disputed, though a Newsweek fact-check found that mRNA technology used to develop the COVID vaccines is being used in new trials to treat a potentially wide range of cancers.

Last August, the White House announced $24 million in funding that would, in part, explore the use of mRNA vaccination technology in the treatment of cancer.