Trump mercilessly mocked for ‘pathetic’ statement where he takes credit for Covid vaccines

Months after being banished from most forms of social media, former president Donald Trump sent out a tweet-style press statement that had most people rolling their eyes.

Trump issued a statement on Wednesday demanding more credit for the success of the coronavirus vaccines.

"I hope everybody remembers when they're getting the Covid-19 (often referred to as the China Virus) Vaccine, that if I wasn't President, you wouldn't be getting that beautiful 'shot' for five years, at best, and probably wouldn't be getting it at all," Trump said in the statement.

"I hope everyone remembers!"

Issued on a presidential letterhead, the bizarre statement read more like one of his old tweets – even though he was banned from Twitter in early January after the riots at the US Capitol.

Trump had long denied the impact of Covid-19 for much of the pandemic, and even claimed that it would “one day disappear” like “a miracle.” He later contracted the disease himself.

The Biden administration later said that when they took office, Trump’s team had left them with no roadmap to distribute the vaccine across the country.

Either way, it was strange to see Trump back in the public eye after a few months of silence; many were not impressed calling the statement ‘pathetic’ and ‘the saddest thing I’ve ever read’.

Others joked that Trump was looking for ways to replace his previously compulsive tweeting: “It makes so much sense that he replaced tweets with what are essentially spam faxes,” one person joked.

Another person noted that the statement fits within the character limit for a tweet: “oh my god it fits in a tweet. the posting mindset can never be shaken,” they wrote.

The statement, however, also showed a much darker side of Trump’s obsessive need for recognition. As one person wrote in response, “One of the sadder points is that he spent so much time telling his supporters that Covid was a hoax, half of them don’t want the vaccine he’s so proud of”.

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