Trump says Democrats don’t want a vaccine before the election because it will give him credit

Donald Trump has accused Democrats of not wanting a vaccine against COVID-19 before the election, because they fear that it will boost the president’s chances of winning a second term.

Speaking to Fox News in an interview aired Sunday night, Trump discussed the fight against coronavirus, concerns over mail-in voting, and accused his opponent Joe Biden once again of being barely coherent.

The interview was recorded before Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s death on Friday, and so host Mark Levin did not ask the president about the Supreme Court decision. 

He opened his hour-long discussion with questions about coronavirus, as the United State edged towards the grim milestone of 200,000 dead.

Trump said he was confident the virus was going away, and was asked about Democrat attitudes towards a possible vaccine. 

‘They want to denigrate it, because they started hearing rumors about a vaccine in record time,’ said Trump.

‘The reason they are doing this is because they think I’ll get credit if we get a vaccine before the election.’

Trump said that his government had taken unprecedented steps to work for the speedy development of a vaccine. 

‘If this was a typical administration we wouldn’t have a vaccine for two to three years,’ he said. ‘But I have changed it, safely. We have many companies doing it, in phase three trial.

‘Instead of saying wow, this is great news, they are saying oh, it’s coming out too soon, it won’t be safe. These are big companies – they won’t do that, they’ll have tremendous liability.’

Trump said that seniors will be vaccinated first, prioritizing those with heart and respiratory conditions.   

Trump also used his interview to once again mock Joe Biden.

He said the Democrat candidate ‘barely knows he’s alive’, and was incapable of responding to events. 

‘He’s losing the left now because he never mentions the words law and order,’ said Trump.

‘What we did in Minneapolis was incredible. National Guard – we sent them in – it was over in half an hour. Every one of these cities that has these problems is run by Democrats.’ 

Trump accused Biden of wanting to turn the United States into Venezuela, and said it would become ‘Venezuela on steroids’ if the Democrats win. 

‘And I used to say we’ll be another Venezuela, but I never really…I don’t know that I believed it fully,’ he said. 

‘That wasn’t too long ago. But I do. 

‘If that kind of stuff gets put in, we will be another Venezuela, except on major steroids, OK?’

The president was asked about his frequently-voiced concerns over mail-in voting.

He warned once again that there will be a ‘tremendous disruption’ on Election Day, because voters were confused by the options for casting their ballots, and because of the risks of fraud.

‘Look, they know it doesn’t work because there have been many races using this over the last 14, 15 months – and I heard there was one yesterday or the day before yesterday, the ballots are so mixed up,’ he said.

Trump said he was concerned of reports of ‘missing’ or fraudulent ballots.

‘Now they have a new thing where they don’t want to verify signatures because that makes it easier, so you don’t have to verify a signature,’ he said. 

The president also accused some Democratic governors of being ‘partisan’ and ‘political hacks’ who are trying to sway the election toward his opponent.   

‘It’s a very tough situation,’ he said.

‘You look at these governors and you look at – I mean, I don’t want to insult anybody, but take a look at some of these governors that are in charge of the ballots – beyond partisan – in many cases political hacks.’

Trump added that he has no issue with traditional absentee balloting, in that it is ‘solicited,’ but that many states like New Jersey and Nevada are mailing ballots out unsolicited.

‘When they just dump millions of ballots all over the country, it’s not going to work. It’s going to be a disaster. And they know it,’ he said. 

‘And we’re talking about many millions of ballots. It’s going to be mayhem. It’s going to be bedlam, and this is what they want.’

The president used the interview to vent against John Bolton, describing him as ‘a very stupid person’ who wanted to take America into a new war.

His remarks came days after Bill Barr’s Justice Department opened a grand jury probe into whether former National Security Advisor Bolton broke the law by disclosing classified national security information in his tell-all book. 

Bolton’s book, ‘The Room Where it Happened,’ offered his take on the president’s interactions with Ukraine, which led to Trump’s impeachment in Congress. Bolton wrote that Democrats in Congress should have probed Trump’s interference in DOJ probes to ‘give personal favors to dictators he liked.’ 

Trump also said late Republican senator John McCain, who died two years ago, was a warmonger.  

‘If we listened to John McCain it would be World War Five now,’ he said.

The president boasted about having ‘rebuilt our military’, adding that he was confident that Russian president Vladimir Putin had a new-found respect for the U.S.  

‘Nobody has been tougher on Russia than I have,’ he said. ‘I guarantee you Putin says that behind closed doors too.’