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Just hours after telling attendees of the Alfred E Smith Memorial Foundation’s annual dinner that the end of the pandemic was looming, the name of Donald Trump was added to the long list of those affected by it.
Like many of the momentous announcements he has made during his presidency, Trump broke the news that he, along with his wife Melania, had tested positive for Covid-19 with a post on his Twitter account shortly before 1 a.m. on Friday. . An official announcement came about 10 minutes later, under the signature of Commander Sean Conley, the Navy Medical Corps officer who serves as the president’s physician.
According to Trumpworld sources, political strategists and other insiders in Washington, the president’s disclosure of his positive Covid-19 test may well have served another purpose: to announce the de facto end of his re-election hopes.
The more open-minded members of the Trump White House staff have largely tried to give the impression that business is business as usual. Addressing reporters outside the West Wing on Friday, White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows described the president’s symptoms as “mild” and his mood as “in good spirits” as the day passed. in quarantine, working out of the White House residence. even when he warned that other White House staff would almost certainly test positive for the virus.
In fact, when Meadows started talking to reporters outside the White House (without a mask), the first thing he mentioned was not related to Covid, but to unemployment figures released recently last month.
Other White House officials, including National Economic Council director Larry Kudlow and Trump’s top trade adviser Peter Navarro, continued the administration’s attempt to focus attention on the economy with appearances to the press both in person. as on the phone. During an attempt to hold a conference call with reporters about the president’s “buy American” policies, Navarro angrily ended the question-and-answer session when a reporter appeared to start asking a question about the testing program for House staff. White
But some of those in Trump’s orbit whose jobs don’t include getting his message to the press were more circumspect about what testing positive for Covid-19 means for the president’s immediate future.
“He’s screwed, we are screwed,” said a White House aide who is not authorized to speak publicly. “No matter what we do, the next two weeks or more will be about him not being able to protect himself or us from Covid.”
When informed of Biden’s campaign announcement that the former vice president and his wife, Dr. Jill Biden, had tested negative, the aide responded, “Double screwed.”
Michael Starr Hopkins, a Democratic strategist, also opined that Trump’s positive diagnosis marks the end of his campaign attempt to get Americans to focus on something other than the pandemic.
“Any hope I had of being able to turn the conversation to things like protesters or the economy is lost. And getting infected with Covid after standing on stage in a presidential debate, mocking Joe Biden for wearing a mask, and then going to Bedminster knowing he was potentially infected is: I think that will be the end for voters. ” he said.-
Former White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci, who has become a vocal critic of Trump since his term on Trump’s staff ended, said the president contracting the virus “is almost the way Mother Nature it sends a signal that there is something seriously wrong in our society and it is happening right now.
“He has lied about science, he has lied about brands, and it is a result of his leadership that there are hundreds of thousands of people who have died as a result… and hopefully this will be symbolic to people when they go to the voting booth. , ”He continued, adding that Trump’s rejection of basic public health measures has been“ almost criminally negligent ”because it“ created a culture of unscientific dishonesty within the White House ”. That could be especially damaging for the president, considering poll after poll showing Americans trust Biden far more when it comes to handling the coronavirus pandemic.
But Howard Dean, the physician and former Vermont governor who chaired the Democratic National Committee from 2005 to 2009, said the Trump campaign may get a boost from the sympathy he is being given as a victim of the pandemic.
“We have our very strong political differences, but it’s hard not to sympathize with a Covid victim,” said Dean, who dismissed the possibility that Trump contracting the coronavirus would have any effect on his main supporter base. However, he agreed that a presidential Covid diagnosis will exclude any further attempts by the Trump campaign or the White House to bring the pandemic to the fore.
Dean added that the full impact of Trump’s illness on the race will not be known until we know more about the course the illness is taking with the president because “the medical lens really informs the political lens,” but opined that the president does not. will do. you will no longer be able to act as if the virus just disappeared.
“We just can’t predict what’s going to happen here,” he said. “But the happy talk is over.”
