Country music star John Rich recently revealed that a private dinner conversation with President Donald Trump may have influenced Trump’s decision to stop promoting COVID-19 vaccines. The discussion, which Rich described as candid, direct and respectful, sheds new light on the President’s evolving rhetoric surrounding one of the most controversial public health measures in history.
In a clip shared widely on social media from a recent episode of the “Try That in a Small Town Podcast,” Rich recounted being invited to a private dinner with Trump and several U.S. senators. During the meal, Trump turned to Rich and asked a pointed question:
“Why do my people boo me when I bring up the vaccine?”
Rich said he hesitated but ultimately gave Trump the unfiltered truth.
“Okay, I’m going to tell you the answer, but you’re not going to like it,” he told the President. “We, the American people, do not trust the people that you were forced to trust at the time this was happening.”
He elaborated: “By ‘the people we don’t trust,’ here’s who I mean: the CDC, the FDA, the NIH, the WHO, Fauci and all the rest of them. Mr. President, we consider them to be a bunch of murderous, depopulation psychopaths.”
According to Rich, Trump responded with one word: “Unbelievable,” clearly stunned by what he was hearing for the first time.
Rich went on to explain that the boos weren’t political—they were personal.
“Every single person that comes to your rally has either been injured by the vaccine or has a family member or friend who has been directly affected or died from it,” he told the President. “I have members of my own family who were forced to take it against their will to keep their jobs—and now they’ve got all kinds of problems.”
Trump then turned to others in attendance and asked if they had heard similar concerns. According to Rich, every single one of them said “yes.”
It was only after that, Rich said, that Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) chimed in with a warning: “Mr. President, if you listen to conspiracies like John Rich, the Democrats are going to take credit for what you did, and they’re going to beat you in the next election with it.”
Despite the pushback, Trump seemed to reflect on what he had heard.
“So I guess no vaccine talk?” he asked Rich.
Rich replied, “I think that’s a good idea. I think you’re going to learn a lot about it, but yes, I think that’s a good idea—because that’s the only thing that would make us boo you, Mr. President.”
Later, in commentary on his podcast, Rich said Trump had told him he had never heard that perspective before. Rich speculated that it was because the people around the President work for him—and may have something to gain from withholding the truth.
Rich also made a point to differentiate Trump’s handling of the vaccine from that of the Biden administration. While he acknowledged that Trump oversaw the development of the vaccines, he gave him credit for not mandating them. “He never forced it on anybody,” Rich said. “That was the Biden administration.”
Mandating an experimental medical product, Rich argued, was a clear violation of fundamental human rights. “What they did with those mandates is a Crime Against Humanity. It violated the Nuremberg Code,” he said, referring to the ethical guidelines established after World War II to prevent coerced medical experimentation.
The exchange appears to have marked a turning point for Trump, who once touted the speed of vaccine development as a major success of his first term. While he has never publicly condemned the vaccines, he has since turned his focus to medical freedom, vaccine choice, and the harms caused by pandemic mandates. He has vowed to hold federal agencies accountable and support Americans who were discriminated against or lost their livelihoods for refusing to comply.
Supporters say the pivot isn’t just politically prudent—it’s authentic.
“Trump is listening to the people,” said one conservative commentator. “He realizes that many Americans feel betrayed—not just by the Biden administration, but by a public health establishment that was supposed to protect them, not pressure them.”
