Covid-19: Donald Trump appears at the first public event since coronavirus diagnosis at the White House

The president of the United States, Donald Trump, has affirmed that the coronavirus is “disappearing”, since he appeared without a mask before hundreds of supporters in his first public event since contracting COVID-19.

Appearing from the balcony of the White House at Saturday’s event, billed as a “peaceful protest,” Trump declared, “I feel great.”

Trump sported a bandage on his right hand, raising further questions about the nature of his recovery from the coronavirus and whether he is still taking medication.

“I want you to know that our nation is going to defeat this terrible virus from China,” Trump told the crowd of hundreds of people downstairs, most in masks but with very little social distancing at the outdoor event.

“It’s going away, it’s going away,” Trump said of the virus, which has killed more than 210,000 Americans and seriously undermined his chances of winning a second term on November 3.

It is not the first time that Trump has made these claims, telling Fox Business in July that the virus would disappear “like a miracle” and that there would be a vaccine “very soon.”

“Get out there and vote, and I love you,” Trump told the crowd, a sea of ​​red “MAGA” hats, who chanted “four more years” throughout his 18-minute speech on law and order.

“We support it, we honor it, it is a dangerous profession,” he said of law enforcement, who have been harshly criticized by the Black Lives Matter movement.

“You’ve been doing an amazing job and I just want to thank you on behalf of everyone here today because that’s why we are safe.”

TRUMP’S NEXT MOVE ‘IMPECCABLE’

Retired from the election campaign after testing positive for COVID-19 nine days ago, Trump has been counting the days until he can get out again.

Saturday’s campaign-style event at the White House set the stage for his first rally Monday in the critical state of Florida, an event called “reckless” by Joe Biden, in light of concerns that the president could still be contagious.

Undeterred, the Trump campaign announced two more demonstrations next week, on the Pennsylvania battlefield on Tuesday and in Iowa on Wednesday.

Trump’s greater responsibility, overwhelming public dissatisfaction with his handling of the pandemic, has once again become the main theme of the campaign thanks to his own infection, and cases are on the rise again across the country.

Trump, who follows his Democratic rival by about 10 points in national polls, insists the pollsters are wrong and seeks to restart his campaign less than four weeks before Election Day.