I don't like Trump. I don't think he handled our response well. But he's not responsible for the worldwide spread of COVID variants or their spread in the U.S.
First, the variants didn't originate in the United States. Unless we were going to forever shut our borders to all outside people, U.S. policy was not going to prevent us from getting the variants. Again, this was a worldwide pandemic.
Second, many of the variants were discovered
before the vaccine even became available. So, no, those weren't "driven in part by slow acceptance of vaccination."
All viruses, including SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, change over time. Most changes have little to no impact on the virus’ properties. However, some changes may affect the virus’s properties, such as how easily it spreads, the associated disease severity, or the performance of...
www.who.int
New variants are an expected part of the evolution of viruses, and that includes SARS CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. Yale Medicine provides some background on key variants that have surfaced during the course of the pandemic.
www.yalemedicine.org
Third, as for Trump being the reason for U.S. vaccine hesitancy (which again, wouldn't even matter regarding the variants), Trump's policies led to the quick development of the very vaccine we are discussing; he received the vaccine; and he said it worked. Indeed, he bragged about being responsible for the vaccine.
Fourth, it doesn't appear Trump stumping for the vaccine's effectiveness more would have mattered with people who were against it from the beginning:
"Back in March, as coronavirus vaccines were first made available,
a CBS News poll conducted with YouGov tried an experiment to gauge how much influence Trump or President Joe Biden might have on the vaccine-hesitant.
First, they asked Americans about their likelihood of getting vaccinated. Several days later, they followed up again, but first informed some respondents that either Biden or Trump had endorsed the vaccine. Hearing about Trump, they found, did increase some Republicans' willingness to get vaccinated. But the effect came among those who had previously been on the fence;
those who were outright resistant didn't budge."
Former President Donald Trump has recently been vocal about the benefits of vaccination against Covid-19 -- a position that's in line with the overwhelming majority of Americans who've chosen to get vaccinated, including the bulk of his own party.
www.cnn.com