Trump admits it’s ‘tough to be overly critical’ after Biden gave vaccine shoutout

Former President Donald Trump and President Joe Biden appeare to have reached an odd detente in their frequent mutual disdain for one another.

The ex-president joined Fox News on Tuesday after Mr Biden gave a national address at the White House on his administration’s efforts to fight Covid-19 and the Omicron variant.

During the speech, Mr Biden praised his predecessor’s efforts to see a vaccine developed by US companies, an effort that took up much of 2020 as millions of Americans waited anxiously for the jabs to be approved.

"Thanks to the prior administration and our scientific community, America is one of the first countries to get the vaccine," said Mr Biden. "Thanks to my administration, the hard work of Americans, we let, our roll-out, made America among the world leaders in getting shots in arms." Mr Biden also nodded to Mr Trump getting a booster shot, adding that it was a rare area of agreement.

That appeared to have been enough to earn a spot in Mr Trump’s good graces; hours later, he would tell Fox News that it would be “tough” to harshly criticise Mr Biden from now on given the president’s gracious acknowledgment of the efforts undertaken by the Trump administration.

"I'm very appreciative of that – I was surprised to hear it," said the former president. "I think it was a terrific thing, and I think it makes a lot of people happy."

He then went on to suggest that Mr Biden was fulfilling a campaign promise to “heal” the nation, which was seen as terribly divided between political camps under the Trump administration (and later under Biden’s administration as well).

"I think he did something very good," Mr Trump continued. "You know, it has to be a process of healing in this country, and that will help a lot."

The Biden administration’s praise did not end there; White House press secretary Jen Psaki echoed the sentiment on Wednesday at her daily press briefing, while cautioning that Mr Biden and his team would still speak out if Mr Trump or others shared misinformation about the pandemic.

Ms Psaki appeared to directly link the remarks to Mr Trump’s willingness to say that he was vaccinated and boosted on a podcast interview with former Fox host Bill O’Reilly; the former president insisted that his supporters’ liberal enemies were rooting for them to stay unvaccinated.

"What we've done is historic. Don't let them take it away. Don't take it away from ourselves," Mr Trump told Mr O’Reilly. "You are playing right into their hands when you sort of like, 'oh, the vaccine.' If you don't want to take it, you shouldn't be forced to take it. No mandates. But take credit, because we saved tens of millions of lives. Take credit.”

Ms Psaki said of her boss’s remarks on Wednesday: “I think it was an acknowledgment that the former president sent an important signal to many Americans about the importance of getting boosted. And we can't assess what that will mean or how people will digest that or if it will change their behaviour, if they were opposed to getting boosted or opposed to getting vaccinated, but we certainly hope so. And I think it's a reflection of the President's belief that the enemy of the American people is the virus and this shouldn't be a political battle.”

“Now, it doesn't mean we are not going to call out misinformation or steps or actions that are being taken by any leader that we feel are detrimental to the health and wellbeing of communities around the country,” the press secretary added.

Mr Trump’s handling of the Covid-19 pandemic was seen as a key issue in the 2020 election, and reentered the focus of voters after a super-spreader event at the White House led to the former president briefly being hospitalised at Walter Reed Medical Center.