Despite the cheeriness that Donald Trump and his wife Melania’s announcements that they are infected with COVID-19 seemed to be laced with Thursday night, it’s become increasingly clear in the hours since that things are not as smooth-sailing as the first couple attempted to make it seem.
Not only was Trump unexpectedly whisked away to Walter Reed yesterday after claiming to only have “mild” symptoms, leaving us all to wonder and speculate about what the true state of his health and well-being actually is, but multiple sources are reporting a state of panic and overall turmoil behind the walls of the White House — with insiders apparently expressing specific concerns with the effect this diagnosis will have on Donald’s waning campaign.
From the outside looking in, it doesn’t appear that this sudden turn of events has had much effect on the operations of the Coronavirus Task Force or the administration’s approach to combating the deadly virus in the states. We reported yesterday that despite the virus finally hitting home for the Trump White House, the administration still has not made masks mandatory.
One White House official declared, “It’s business as usual,” even as the potentially fatal illness sinks its claws into Donald Trump himself.
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However, not everyone is buying this “all is well” facade, according to a report from The Daily Beast.
GOP mega-donor, businessman, and chair of the Republican Hindu Coalition, Shalabh “Shalli” Kumar, said yesterday, “I support [the president’s] re-election, I think he’s done an amazing job, I think he’s Ronald Reagan on steroids. But one thing I personally don’t understand is why people don’t wear masks. I don’t understand it. Why don’t they wear masks? The president should tell people to wear them! I hope [the infection] is very minor, and I hope that there’s no negative impact on him or the first lady at all, or anybody else associated with them. I’m very concerned about this.”
Officials are reportedly furious that Trump was allowed to carry on with his Bedminster, New Jersey, fundraiser after known exposure and exasperated at the way the administration has trickled out information over the last couple of days.
A senior administration official that works with the task force said, “It’s just fuck-up after fuck-up. I don’t have much more to add [beyond] that.”
Even Dr. Anothony Fauci recently admitted that the task force is no longer what it was during an interview with AIDS & LGBT rights activist Peter Staley:
We used to meet seven days a week. Then five days a week. We’re now meeting one day a week and at most two times a week. The way things have evolved at the White House is that there has been a pivot away from the reliance on a daily type of a task force discussion… on policy making and policy implementation… more towards how are we going to get this country open again economically. There is another science person— Dr. Atlas— who is much more with the president than any of the other task force members particularly Debbie Birx who used to be in that position. This is a unique situation.”
It’s pretty clear at this point that, while Trump is tucked away inside Walter Reed, his administration is crumbling.
You can read the full report here.
Featured image via screen capture
