Earlier today, Donald Trump addressed the nation from the White House and declared a national emergency for the United States of America as a result of the rapidly spreading new strain of coronavirus that’s sweeping the globe and taking lives with it.
The declaration came across to many Americans as a last-ditch attempt to get a handle on this thing before the nation ends up crumbling past the point of no return.
While it’s true that today’s address was certainly a lot more put together than most of his public speaking events, it’s kind of impossible to ignore at this point that Trump himself has actually been one of the most heavily exposed individuals around.
MSNBC’s Deadline: White House panel certainly wasn’t able to ignore that fact when they speculated as to whether Trump may have just put his entire COVID-19 response unit at risk this afternoon when he was seen not only shaking hands but touching the microphone that several other people then themselves touched and spoke into.
Analysis: Trump shook hands, patted backs and touched the microphone 31 times while declaring the coronavirus national emergency https://t.co/wewnMG0I6n
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) March 13, 2020
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Speaking to anchor Nicole Wallace, NBC News national affairs analyst John Heilemann began, “He’s still out there shaking hands with people.”
“I know these are small things, but we are trying to correct and model good behavior for tens of millions of Americans who are not supposed to be doing certain things. Some of the most basic things are we’re not supposed to be shaking hands with people,” he went on. “The president shook hands with multiple people who were standing out there.”
Heilemann ultimately described the entire press conference as a “Petri dish.”
“It’s just stunning,” Wallace added.
“He was in contact with the same official or someone from the same delegation who tested positive,” the MSNBC host continued. “Donald Trump says he doesn’t have any symptoms, but he could be positive. He just shook hands with the CEOs of four major companies and stood within spitting distance of every member of this country’s Coronavirus Task Force.”
Dr. Irwin Redlener chimed in described Trump’s behavior as “irrational” before noting, “They are doing exactly what we’re telling people not to do.”
Honestly, this dude’s level of irresponsibility is mind-boggling at this point.
You can watch the MSNBC panel discussion here:
Featured image via Political Tribune gallery
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