If President Donald Trump has realized something from getting sick with Covid-19, he’s not exhibiting it. In his newest tweets and feedback, Tru
If President Donald Trump has realized something from getting sick with Covid-19, he’s not exhibiting it. In his newest tweets and feedback, Trump has continued to downplay the virus — even after it put him within the hospital.
Since Trump’s analysis final Thursday, he and his administration have seemingly tried to cowl up the president’s illness. They’ve downplayed his signs. They’ve steered he wanted to be hospitalized not due to his apparently excessive fever and low oxygen ranges however “out of an abundance of warning.” They’ve posted movies and pictures of Trump within the presidential suite at Walter Reed Nationwide Navy Medical Middle. Even the president’s personal docs have taken to politicized spin, arguing that they have been making an attempt to be “upbeat” as they refused to totally and in truth reply questions on Trump’s well being.
On Sunday, that culminated with a photo-op as Trump was pushed exterior Walter Reed hospital so he may wave at supporters — exposing not less than the motive force and a passenger within the automotive to an infection. As James Phillips, attending doctor at Walter Reed, tweeted, “That Presidential SUV just isn’t solely bulletproof, however hermetically sealed towards chemical assault. The danger of COVID19 transmission inside is as excessive because it will get exterior of medical procedures. The irresponsibility is astounding. My ideas are with the Secret Service pressured to play.”
Then, on Monday, Trump tweeted that he’ll be leaving Walter Reed hospital later within the day. He wrote, “Don’t be afraid of Covid. Don’t let it dominate your life.” It was a warning consultants instantly admonished, arguing that People ought to proceed to observe really useful precautions for the coronavirus.
That is all out of the identical playbook Trump has used for Covid-19 from day one. It’s an try to make all the pieces appear regular, as if the coronavirus isn’t wrecking thousands and thousands of lives, in a determined try to return to a world that would assist guarantee Trump’s reelection. As Trump informed journalist Bob Woodward, “I wished to at all times play [the coronavirus] down.”
Trump has caught to this even because it’s put folks at risk repeatedly. He’s referred to as for states to reopen — to “LIBERATE” them — at the same time as consultants warned that opening too quickly would result in new circumstances (and, positive sufficient, circumstances spiked over the summer time as states opened prematurely). He’s pushed for much less testing, arguing extra checks decide up extra circumstances and subsequently make the US look dangerous, at the same time as consultants mentioned extra testing, together with contact tracing, remains to be wanted to sluggish the outbreak. He’s mocked masks and often refused to put on one himself, at the same time as consultants and a rising physique of analysis present masks are key to stopping Covid-19.
This obsession with making a false sense of normalcy seemingly prolonged to the second that Trump acquired a constructive coronavirus check. Because the Washington Put up initially reported, and White Home employees confirmed, Trump attended marketing campaign occasions on Thursday even after he and his employees realized that certainly one of Trump’s closest aides, Hope Hicks, was exhibiting signs. That continued, based mostly on current reviews, as some employees observed Trump appeared fatigued. In doing this, Trump possible uncovered his personal employees and supporters to Covid-19.
A possible silver lining to Trump getting sick was that possibly this could present him how critical this virus is — that it’s actual, that it might probably make folks very sick and kill them. Trump alluded to that in a video on Sunday, claiming, “I realized loads about Covid. I realized it by actually going to high school. That is the actual faculty.” Regardless of that, Trump was again out Sunday for the drive-by photo-op, after which posted a tweet on Monday downplaying the chance of Covid-19.
That is all ridiculous, in fact. We already know Trump is sick and hospitalized, requiring a number of experimental medication, together with steroids, and supplemental oxygen. That is clearly not regular.
And we all know the results of this motion. It’s how the US ended with almost 210,000 Covid-19 deaths to this point — greater than some other nation on the planet. It’s how the US ended up, after accounting for inhabitants, on the high 20 p.c amongst developed nations for Covid-19 deaths. (If the US had the identical Covid-19 demise fee as Canada, greater than 125,000 extra People would possible be alive right now.) It’s why America can’t return to regular, at the same time as nations like Germany, New Zealand, and South Korea open up extra, because it faces far too many coronavirus circumstances — greater than 130,000 since Trump introduced he examined constructive.
It’s why Trump himself bought sick. As he lived his denial, going to ill-advised marketing campaign rallies and occasions, often refusing to put on a masks, Trump uncovered himself to the coronavirus repeatedly.
And it’s all set to proceed — as Trump and his employees’s barrage of mistruths and political spin since his analysis on Thursday have proved.
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