Covid-19: Arrogant approach to coronavirus reaches US President Donald Trump

Masks were seldom seen in the west wing. Crowds of people gathered shoulder to shoulder on the South Lawn of the White House. And Air Force One streaked across the sky from one massive campaign rally to another.

With easy access to testing and the best public health minds at his disposal, the President of the United States, Donald Trump, should have been the safest American from Covid-19.

Instead, he circumvented his own government’s guidelines and helped create a false sense of invulnerability in the White House, an approach that has now failed him as it did in a nation where more than 200,000 people have died.

Marine One, the presidential helicopter, took off on Friday (Saturday NZT) to carry Trump to a military hospital from the same White House lawn that less than a week earlier had been the site of his celebration nomination for a new judge of the Supreme Court, as it accused. towards the November elections.

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Several people at the event, including a United States senator, tested positive for the coronavirus, including former close Trump aide and White House counselor Kellyanne Conway.

Trump is now installed at Walter Reed Medical Center after running a fever and feeling fatigued following his morning revelation that he had tested positive for the virus.

“He disappointed the country by ignoring the CDC, ignoring federal guidelines, and acting like he was Superman,” said presidential historian Douglas Brinkley.

“Not only did he downplay the virus, he paced like a peacock, poking fun at those who took it seriously.”

From the early days of the pandemic, Trump, by his own admission, downplayed the severity of the virus. He repeatedly suggested it would “go away” and for a time lobbied for the US economy to reopen completely by Easter, just a month after the pandemic completely engulfed the nation.

And he soon began to resist advice from public health experts on his own coronavirus task force, including Dr. Anthony Fauci and Dr. Deborah Birx.

He publicly clashed with the heads of the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention about everything from the risks associated with opening schools to the timing for a possible Covid-19 vaccine.

The White House staff members did not dare to break with the president, who wanted to embody a nation on the way back, not one obsessed with health guidelines that would remind a nervous public about the virus rather than a resurgence. economic.

Experts urged the widespread use of masks, including CDC Director Robert Redfield, who testified before Congress last month that face coverings could be more effective protection than a vaccine. Trump has avoided its use, telling his aides that he didn’t like the way it looked and that he sent a message to the public that he was concerned about his health.

He has used masks only sporadically and politicized their use, saying he did not need them because he was tested and most of the people he saw stood two meters away.

He mocked Democrat Joe Biden for constantly covering his face, while many of the president’s supporters followed suit and jumped on it, even at crowded events.

And its use, while technically required, was also not enforced in the White House. Most high-level aides rarely wore masks, even in tight spaces in the west wing or on Air Force One. The belief was ingrained that because those who came into contact with the president received a quick test from Covid-19 every day, they were safe in their bubble.

But rapid tests were far from foolproof and were sometimes thwarted by the long incubation period of the virus. Staff members, including the president’s national security adviser and personal valet, contracted the virus, while one of the president’s closest aides, Hope Hicks, tested positive hours before Trump and first lady Melania. Trump.

“He scoffed at medical experts and their advice. She made fun of everything until the presidential debate when she stood on that stage, ”said Michael Steele, former head of the Republican Party.

“He had the best possible information and he didn’t take it.”

The White House, for its part, has ignored criticism of the irregular use of masks by Trump and his staff, citing the frequent testing regime. Trump calls his large campaign rallies “peaceful protests” with no limits on crowd size. And as for Trump’s undermining of public health officials, officials are quick to point to contrary medical opinions.

Journalist Bob Woodward videotaped Trump earlier this year admitting to downplaying the threat of the virus. The president always stepped forward, insisting that the nation was almost out of the pandemic, even as cases soared across the country.

Even in the hours after the president’s diagnosis, senior White House staff, including Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and economic adviser Larry Kudlow, walked the White House compound without wearing masks. The White House, even now, says that covers are a matter of “personal choice” for most employees.

In a belated change, National Security Council staff were asked to start using them from Friday (Saturday NZT). Secret Service agents are required to use them when social distancing is not possible.

And it wasn’t just about masks.

As the summer wore on, and Trump lagged behind Biden in the polls for an election seen as a referendum on the handling of the pandemic in the White House, the president’s campaign aimed to project normalcy in an effort to convince to voters that the president had the virus under control.

After an unsuccessful attempt to restart Trump’s signature Tulsa rallies in June, the campaign slowly began to host smaller gatherings of supporters, usually outdoors at airports. Although the CDC recommended avoiding large crowds and unnecessary travel, the president began to cross the country, even while Biden remained at home, holding virtual events.

The rallies got bigger and bigger as the months wore on, with little social distancing and recommended but not required masks. And the crowds became part of the message at two of the president’s recent landmark events: Hundreds of people packed the South Lawn of the White House for his acceptance speech during the Republican National Convention, and the rose garden was packed for the nomination of your choice to the Supreme Court. Judge Amy Coney Barrett, a week ago.

Six days later, Trump was back on that lawn. This time, he walked slowly to the waiting helicopter, bound for Walter Reed for a stay of several days in the hospital. There were no cheering crowds. And everyone on the lawn, reporters and employees alike, wore a mask. Trump did too.