‘Feeling great’, Trump seeks COVID-19 campaign comeback

WASHINGTON, DC – OCTOBER 10: United States President Donald Trump addresses a rally in support of law and order on the South Lawn of the White House on October 10, 2020 in Washington, DC. President Trump invited more than 2,000 guests to hear him speak just a week after he was hospitalized for COVID-19. Samuel Corum / Getty Images / AFP

WASHINGTON, DC – President Donald Trump rallied hundreds of supporters for a campaign-style comeback event at the White House on Saturday, returning to the race nine days after being stopped short by COVID-19.

“I’m fine!” Trump declared as he stepped out onto a White House balcony, removing his mask to address the crowd below, most masked under their red “MAGA” hats, but with little social distancing.

“Get out there and vote, and I love you,” Trump said at the meeting, chanting “USA.” and “Four more years” during the speech that lasted just under 20 minutes.

Far behind his 77-year-old Democratic rival, Joe Biden, in polls less than four weeks before Election Day, Trump has been counting the days until he can hit the ground again.

Saturday’s event set the stage for a full campaign rally Monday in Florida, immediately followed by two more on the battlefield of Pennsylvania on Tuesday and Iowa on Wednesday.

Biden has criticized Trump’s “reckless” determination to rally large crowds during a pandemic, but Trump has brushed aside concerns, insisting that the United States has the upper hand against the virus despite a death toll of 213,000 and in increase.

“I want you to know that our nation is going to defeat this terrible virus from China,” Trump said.

“It is going away. It’s disappearing “.

“We are producing powerful drugs and therapies, we are curing the sick and we are going to recover, and the vaccine is coming out very quickly, in record time, as you know.”

213,000 have died

As the 74-year-old Trump has come out on his feet, and appeared smiling and energetic in the White House, questions about his health persist, with the president’s doctor accused of lack of transparency with the public.

And Trump’s greatest 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, with cases rising again across the country.

The seven-day average of new daily cases recorded between October 3-9 (47,184) was the highest since the week of August 13-19 with an average of 47,530 new cases, according to an AFP analysis of data from Johns Hopkins University.

“More than 213,000 Americans have died from this virus, and the harsh truth is it didn’t have to happen this way,” Biden tweeted on Saturday.

For months, following the lead of a president who mostly avoided and sometimes scoffed at the wearing of masks, masked White House advisers were rarely seen inside the west wing.

Since Trump and his wife Melania tested positive, the mood has changed and wearing a mask was mandatory at Saturday’s event.

A similar meeting two weeks ago to announce the nomination of conservative Justice Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court has been singled out as a likely source for many of the dozens of positive cases linked to the White House since.

Anthony Fauci, the respected director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, has referred to it as a “super-spreading event.”

Many questions remain unanswered about the White House outbreak, with more than a dozen cases registered in the president’s inner circle, including his spokesperson Kayleigh McEnany.

“When was the president’s last negative Covid test?” asked Pete Buttigieg, a former contender for the Democratic presidential nomination, now targeted for a prominent role in a Biden administration if he defeats Trump on November 3.

Former Vice President Barack Obama is currently about 10 points ahead in national polls with a solid lead on key battlefields.

And in the Republican field, there is an increasingly palpable concern about the state of the race.

“If on Election Day people are angry and hopeless and depressed … I think it could be a terrible choice,” Senator Ted Cruz warned this week.

“I think we could lose the White House and both houses of Congress, that it could be a bloodbath of the proportions of Watergate.”

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