Democrats would be wise to blast the former president for it.
Follow this authorRamesh Ponnuru's opinions
FollowThe Supreme Court explained this rationale with respect to smallpox in 1905: “Upon the principle of self-defense, of paramount necessity, a community has the right to protect itself against an epidemic of disease which threatens the safety of its members.” That’s why, when Trump was president, he ditched his earlier crackpottery about the supposed link between vaccination and autism and, instead, urged Americans to get inoculated against measles.
The saving grace of Trump’s proposal is that it probably would not happen. Executive branch attorneys, in administrations of both parties, are creative in finding new powers hidden in old statutes for their bosses. But even top-notch lawyers are not going to find a way for presidents to make unilateral decisions about the vaccination policies of states and private institutions. While his campaign has talked about strengthening the president’s power to ignore Congress on spending questions, the courts seem unlikely to go along.
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Trump is not shy about making unkeepable promises at his rallies, such as his pledge to grant police “immunity from prosecution” for allegations of misconduct. His vaccine policy might be another of these.
But Democrats are under no obligation to minimize the threat of Trump’s stated policy. They would be within their rights to say that it’s what he wants to do and blast him for it. If they decide to do so, they would have several lines of attack at hand.
One would be to highlight the impact on public health. Many suburban parents who are unhappy with President Biden because of inflation also make sure their kids are up to date on their shots and would rather not have an outbreak of meningitis on their schools’ campuses.
The prospect of funding cuts for education might also repel some swing voters. Even before he made his vaccine comments, Trump was promising to abolish the Education Department, as he did in the 2016 campaign. That would not be as consequential as it sounds, since ending the department — as........