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reOnald Trump has returned to a changed White House after his hospital stay. Much of the west wing is empty – nine employees have reported testing positive for the corona virus. You are in quarantine. The most recent case: Presidential aide and speechwriter Stephen Miller. Other employees were told that they should currently work from their home office.
At the residence, the staff wears protective clothing: mask, visor, protective gown, gloves. The White House is a hotspot for the crown, and the president, demonstratively removing his face mask upon his return from Walter Reed Military Hospital, is a potential super spreader.
White House spokeswoman Kayleigh McEnany, who tested positive and is in quarantine, said: “It is obvious that there was an outbreak at the White House.” The fact that the pandemic is reaching the presidential office in this way harbors a bitter one. Irony: In February, shortly before taking office in the White House, McEnany said: Trump would always protect Americans. Therefore, diseases like Covid will not exist in the United States. 21 people around Trump are now infected.
The CDC’s offer to help with contact tracing was rejected by the White House. The president’s personal physician also continues to refuse to provide information on when the president last tested negative. There are suspicions in the room that Trump may have been infected in late September, during the first television debate with Joe Biden. Finally, he was late for the appointment, so, contrary to the agreement, the test was not done.
“Too many people got infected”
Biden, his 77-year-old challenger, has since tested negative several times. The Democrat has now said that the second television debate scheduled for Thursday of next week should be canceled if Trump has not overcome his Covid 19 disease by then. In any case, very strict guidelines must be followed. “Too many people have been infected.” Listen to what the doctors say. Although he expects a debate, he hopes “that all the rules are followed.”
Tim Murtaugh, spokesman for Trump’s campaign team, responded: The president will be healthy and will be able to participate in the Miami debate. Biden can’t get out of the way. Trump and his people accuse Biden of fear of direct confrontation and seek reasons to cancel the television debate.
Several factors contradict this reading: Francis Suárez, the Republican mayor of Miami, has also said that the debate should not take place if the president continues to test positive.
Trump’s claim that he won the first match can also be questioned. It is not even necessary to refer to polls showing that Biden’s leadership in both national and individual polls in the disputed states has risen significantly since the television debate.
Suffice it to refer to Trump himself: while he initially bragged and rejected criticism from his own people for his aggressive appearance in Cleveland, now he sounds lousy: Chris Wallace, the moderator of the debate, is an “absolute joke.” He defended Biden all night.
New rules for debates?
The “Presidential Debates Commission”, host of the debates, had announced even before the president fell ill with Covid that he would change the rules for the second and third scheduled meetings. Since Trump had interrupted Biden the entire time, it is considered giving the moderator the option to mute the microphones. However, the election campaign teams must agree. And Trump’s team has already announced that it will not allow the rules of the game to be changed after kick-off.
Adaptations to protect health are also difficult. Mike Pence is said to have initially resisted the fact that on Wednesday night in Salt Lake City during the televised debate with Kamala Harris, Plexiglas panels were placed between the vice presidential candidates. Pence is the head of the White House pandemic crisis team.
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