From NBC News (Aug. 22, 2021):
Former President Donald Trump was booed at a rally Saturday in Alabama after he told supporters they should get vaccinated.
“And you know what? I believe totally in your freedoms. I do. You’ve got to do what you have to do,” Trump said. “But I recommend take the vaccines. I did it. It’s good. Take the vaccines.”
Some boos rang out from the crowd, who were largely maskless.
“No, that’s OK. That’s all right. You got your freedoms,” Trump said, echoing rhetoric from opponents of mask and vaccination mandates. “But I happened to take the vaccine. If it doesn’t work, you’ll be the first to know. OK? I’ll call up Alabama, I’ll say, hey, you know what? But [the vaccine] is working. But you do have your freedoms you have to keep. You have to maintain that.”
Such is Trump’s alleged power to control and determine the views of his supporters.
Trump is viewed as a cause (as opposed to an amplifier, or effect) of the rise of populism and nationalism, when he, like most politicians who seek power, is simply responding to concerns of the electorate — legitimate (vaccine mandates) or not (anti-vaccination on principle) — that are out there. Trump being booed is an illustration of this principle of the horse being driven by the alleged cart.