Discussions about Trump’s involvement in the scene never gained momentum, given his departure from the Presidents Club at the end of his term and the bitter way he left Washington on the day of his inauguration, people familiar with the matter said.
It was a conversation on that January day between ex-presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama that served as the basis for the vaccination campaign, which opened Thursday. As Trump made the decision not to join his predecessors at that historic moment, a person close to the project said he was not invited to become involved in the public service announcement.
Trump expressed little interest in joining his predecessors to promote the vaccine, and the team that organized the PSA did not consider it likely that the 45th president would participate, leaving little scope for inclusion.
“He showed no signs of wanting to be included in those kinds of moments,” an aide to an ex-president told CNN.
A number of reasons
There doesn’t seem to be a single reason for Trump’s exclusion, said a person involved in the production, but rather the feeling that his participation was never a real possibility.
A spokesman for the Advertising Council, which produced the commercial, said that “it was something that started with former presidents while President Trump was still in office” when asked why Trump was not included.
Trump spokesmen did not answer questions about why he was not involved.
When he was in office, Trump administration officials discussed how and when he could get a coronavirus vaccine, including the prospect of getting it on camera. However, Trump himself did not seem particularly anxious to be seen receiving the vaccine, said a person familiar with the situation, although he was publicizing his development and wanted to take credit for it.
A former Trump administration official said the former president was also highly sensitive to his image after being hospitalized with Covid and did not appear receptive to any photo opportunities that could show his health and fitness again.
There was also discussion at the time of Ivanka Trump receiving the injection publicly, an idea that also failed. Instead, Vice President Mike Pence and his wife Karen Pence were the highest profile Trump administration officials who were seen receiving the photo.
In the spots, former presidents describe what they missed during the pandemic and why they want to be vaccinated. Clinton says he wants to “get back to work” and “get around.” Obama says he misses visiting his mother-in-law and wants to “hug her and see her on her birthday”. And Bush says he is “really looking forward to going to the Opening Day at Texas Rangers Stadium with the stadium full”.
Former President Jimmy Carter does not speak on camera, but the 96-year-old Democrat says during the announcement that he is being vaccinated “because we want this pandemic to end as soon as possible”.
The announcement ends with the four former presidents asking Americans to get the vaccine, while images of Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter, Barack and Michelle Obama, George and Laura Bush and Bill and Hillary Clinton, all receiving their vaccines, are shown.
‘Incredible work’
Trump was asked almost a year ago whether he would consult with ex-presidents on how to deal with the pandemic, a common practice for presidents facing large-scale crises.
“I think we are doing an incredible job. So I don’t want to bother you, bother you,” he said at a meeting of the coronavirus task force at the White House. “I don’t think I will learn much and, you know, I think you could say that there is probably a natural inclination not to care.”
These portraits were moved back to the original location under Biden, who demonstrated a desire to cultivate a more functional relationship with his predecessors. He said during a meeting at CNN’s city hall earlier this year that he had spoken to all the ex-presidents alive except one – presumably Trump, although he did not mention it.
“All of them, with one exception, picked up the phone and called me,” he told Anderson Cooper.
These kinds of consultations were absent during Trump’s term, who rarely spoke – if ever – to the men who held positions before him. The only time the group met, for the funeral of former President George HW Bush at Washington National Cathedral, was a rather cold reception.
Trump broke the precedent further by boycotting Biden’s inauguration, choosing to leave Washington on the morning of January 20 with a ceremony at Andrews Joint Base.
He left a note for Biden, who the president described as “very generous”, but on the other hand he was harshly critical of his successor in burst statements from his Florida headquarters.
CNN’s Dan Merica contributed to this report.