At around 1:00 am this morning, news broke that Donald Trump and the first lady tested positive for COVID-19, the very disease the president has been downplaying for months. And after the president knew that Hope Hicks contracted the coronavirus, Trump went to a fundraiser in Bedminster and mingled with donors and took photos with his supporters. He reportedly did not inform the Biden campaign that the Democratic presidential nominee may have been exposed to COVID-19.
Instead of taking the pandemic that has taken over two hundred and eight thousand American lives seriously, Trump held super-spreader rallies and mocked Biden for practicing social distancing and wearing a protective face mask. News has been breaking of Republicans catching the disease, such as U.S. Senator Mike Lee and RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel. And now, the shit is hitting the fan as reality sets in for this administration as others have contracted the disease, too.
CNN’s Brian Stelter obtained a memo saying that there are two other cases:
News: I have obtained a memo from the @WHCA board to WH reporters with word of “two additional cases of COVID-19 at the White House.” A journalist received a preliminary positive result. And a WH staffer who sits in the “lower press” area received a confirmed positive result.
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) October 2, 2020
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“All other journalists tested today” at the White House “tested negative,” according to the @WHCA memo.
The board said “we can’t stress enough the importance of mask-wearing, social distancing and common sense, especially on the White House complex.”
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) October 2, 2020
A followup memo, just a few minutes ago, says “another member of our press corps tested positive today.” This person was last at the WH on Saturday (the day of the SCOTUS event) and traveled on Air Force One for the PA rally that night. The journalist showed symptoms yesterday.
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) October 2, 2020
Team Trump has exposed many people to the disease by not practicing reasonable guidelines amid the pandemic. Trump might be thrilled that journalists contracted the disease since he has repeatedly hammered the media, but this isn’t funny, you guys. With Trump being COVID-positive, innocent people are now at risk, including groundskeepers, housekeepers, chefs, etc. And Trump usually maintains a distance from his mostly maskless supporters at his rallies, but that doesn’t include Hope Hicks, Kayleigh McEnany, and others.
As for the White House staffer that sits in the lower press area that tested positive, it’s not clear if he or she wore a mask to protect others or not. This didn’t have to be so hard. If Americans abided by the experts’ advice, we would already have our economy open and could enjoy our lives again. But, that would take have a leader that takes a deadly pandemic seriously, and we don’t have that.
I’m just going to leave this here:
“I don’t wear masks like him.”
This aged well. #PrayForTrump pic.twitter.com/m3tPqL5el7
— Josy Jablons ⚡️ (@josytheriveter) October 2, 2020
Featured image via Gage Skidmore/Flickr, under Creative Commons license 2.0
