Donald Trump recently declared at a Virginia rally that if reelected as president he would not “give one penny to any school that has a vaccine mandate.” Trump did not acknowledge, or does not know, that all 50 states require public school students to be vaccinated for several diseases — including hepatitis A and B, diphtheria, tetanus, polio, chickenpox, varicella, measles, mumps and rubella (with exemptions often allowed for medical reasons and “reasons of conscience”).

Vaccination requirements have been extraordinarily effective in protecting the health of children, reaching “herd immunity” and saving millions of lives. 88 percent of Americans believe the benefits of these vaccines outweigh the risks.

Nevertheless, in an apparent attempt to appeal to anti-vaxxers and have it both ways, the former president repeated his promise several times, while a campaign spokesman (but not Trump) indicated he was referring only to Covid-19 mandates. Not surprisingly, then, Dr. Peter Hotez, an expert in infectious diseases, expressed the hope that Trump “doesn’t really mean it, since it would create a public health catastrophe for the nation.”

But what if Trump does mean it? What if Trump returns to the White House and does what he’s saying he’ll do about a host of vital issues?

Here are the real-world implications for a few of Trump’s tough-guy campaign promises.

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