In any human war ( but especially when the war is psychological / irregular/ asymmetric where victory hinges on gaining the support of the population), there is deception required to accomplish victory. In this particular psychological war for the population, one significant objective required for victory is the Overton Window.
In our covid specific psychological battlefield, Trump was required to concede the vaccine support so that he would reside inside the populations original position on the Overton window scale. From inside, Trump is able to engaged in discourse regarding the vaccine and other issues that slowly encourages or pushes the Overton window into the direction of the target outcome. Had Trump instead taken the final position on vaccines ( ie these things are ineffective and causing harm to the population), he would have been well outside and beyond the farthest acceptable position that the population would listen and consider based on the initial position of the Overton Window at the beginning of covid. This is why Trump has lieutenants in his operation whom are tasked with speaking in a range of positions on the continuum of the direction he wants the Overton window to shift towards. The positions range from complete truth to various gradients of moving closer to the compete truth. As Trump pushes from inside to help shift the populations current Overton Window position in the target direction, these other voices near the outside edge of that window are shifted inside the window as the population perspective changes. Only when the shift happens does the outlier voice become recognized as having legitimate points to consider. Along that continuum as the shift progresses over time, the population becomes more familiar with the direction the window is shifting toward. Eventually the range has shifted enough that Trump can safely alter his official discussed position and in that way, he stays firmly inside the Overton window of ideas which means he won't be dismissed or rejected immediately without consideration because he is perceived as learning from the journey just as the population is learning ( ie one of us (population) vs outsider).
In any human war ( but especially when the war is psychological / irregular/ asymmetric where victory hinges on gaining the support of the population), there is deception required to accomplish victory. In this particular psychological war for the population, one significant objective required for victory is the Overton Window.
In our covid specific psychological battlefield, Trump was required to concede the vaccine support so that he would reside inside the populations original position on the Overton window scale. From inside, Trump is able to engaged in discourse regarding the vaccine and other issues that slowly encourages or pushes the Overton window into the direction of the target outcome. Had Trump instead taken the final position on vaccines ( ie these things are ineffective and causing harm to the population), he would have been well outside and beyond the farthest acceptable position that the population would listen and consider based on the initial position of the Overton Window at the beginning of covid. This is why Trump has lieutenants in his operation whom are tasked with speaking in a range of positions on the continuum of the direction he wants the Overton window to shift towards. The positions range from complete truth to various gradients of moving closer to the compete truth. As Trump pushes from inside to help shift the populations current Overton Window position in the target direction, these other voices near the outside edge of that window are shifted inside the window as the population perspective changes. Only when the shift happens does the outlier voice become recognized as having legitimate points to consider. Along that continuum as the shift progresses over time, the population becomes more familiar with the direction the window is shifting toward. Eventually the range has shifted enough that Trump can safely alter his official discussed position and in that way, he stays firmly inside the Overton window of ideas which means he won't be dismissed or rejected immediately without consideration because he is perceived as learning from the journey just as the population is learning ( ie one of us (population) vs outsider).