Covid-19-stricken Donald Trump’s escape from Walter Reed National Military Center for an Oct. 4 “drive-by” of supporters to allow him to bask in their adoration was a publicity stunt gone so very wrong.
It also was reckless.
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Shattering all guidelines from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention calling for Covid-19 patients to isolate themselves for 10 days after the symptoms first appear, Trump showed a callous disregard for the health of the entourage forced to accompany him on the presidential ego trip.
Members of Trump’s Secret Service detail must now go into quarantine for 14 days—all for a five-minute ride in which the president waved feebly to his loyal fans.
Trump looked like a sickly version of England’s Queen Elizabeth.
Dr. James Phillips, an attending physician at Walter Reed, worries that the Secret Service agents might get sick or die all for political theater. “This is insanity,” he tweeted.
He noted that the presidential SUV is not only bulletproof, but hermetically sealed against chemical attack. "The risk of COVID19 transmission inside is as high as it gets outside of medical procedures. The irresponsibility is astounding. My thoughts are with the Secret Service forced to play."
Trump’s thoughts are always on himself.
Before embarking on his “surprise visit” to his supporters, the president took a shot at the scientific community that has warned of the threat from COVID-19 since January.
“I learned a lot about COVID. I learned it by really going to school. This is the real school. This isn’t the ‘let’s read the book’ school. And I get it. And I understand it, he tweeted.
If he truly understood the disease, he wouldn’t have put others at risk. What “real school” is Trump talking about? Trump University?
The president said COVID-19 is "nothing to fear," which may be right if a patient is treated 24/7 at a world-class medical facility like Walter Reed.
The ghosts of the 210K Americans who died from COVID-19 while the president minimized the threat, could tell Trump a thing or two about the virus and their treatment in badly equipped overburdened hospitals during the early stages of the pandemic.
That roster of COVID-19 victims includes Trump's buddy, Herman Cain, who died after attending a Trump pep rally in Oklahoma City.
The president wouldn't dare to seek their input. In his warped mind: those dead Americans are all "losers."
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