Trump Has Covid-19. Hysteria Ensues.
The purveyors of panic were not happy. You could hear it in their voices.
On Sunday afternoon the press corps outside Walter Reed National Medical Center was peppering Donald Trump’s doctor with questions, indignantly demanding to know why they hadn’t been told that the president received oxygen on Friday.
They missed big, hysterical headlines because of this glaring omission.
Well, Trump hadn’t been at Walter Reed when the oxygen was administered, for one thing. Oxygen, for someone diagnosed with Covid-19 is not necessarily a signal for alarm or a sign that the patient is near death.
And, Dr. Sean Conley admitted, he and the medical team wanted to maintain the same “upbeat attitude” as the president while evaluating the Trump’s condition. That, of course, infuriated the members of the media even more. They wanted all mildly alarming news in a timely manner. They didn’t appreciate having to wait to get the facts.
Not that reporters had needed actual details before reporting multiple dire rumors about the president’s condition from unnamed sources and running through wacky scenarios involving the 25th Amendment and Vice President Pence becoming the acting president.
By the weekend, the vitriol the news triggered on social media was so bad I signed off and only got on for a few minutes at a time. Mostly to check football scores. Yet the cheering from ghouls on the left was deafening. The fat shaming was tiresome. The schadenfreude was repulsive.
You want to know how bad it was? Twitter finally announced that it was suspending accounts that wished death on the President of the United States.
Imagine even needing to do that.
Those vile posts weren’t just from random nuts or moronic Hollywood libs, either. Hillary Clinton’s former 2016 campaign spokeswoman weighed in with a nasty Tweet that either she - or Twitter - deleted.
Luckily, screenshots are forever.
What is wrong with people?
Shortly after Sunday’s medical update, a doctor - handpicked by George Stephanopolis, who himself tested positive for Covid-19 in April but was asymptomatic - told the ABC anchor that a cannula of oxygen is standard treatment for respiratory ailments, and that most of the oxygen administered that way escapes into the room.
She seemed puzzled about the issue being made of it by reporters. She also downplayed the fact that doctors were administering a steroid to the president. It made sense to her.
Let’s be honest, America’s mask zealots are desperate to blame Donald Trump’s infection on the president himself. The president doesn’t always wear a mask and has tried not to panic the public about a virus that is not deadly to the overwhelming majority of people and has a survival rate - according to the CDC - of 94.6% for people in Trump’ age group.
If nothing else, we learned this week that wearing a mask everywhere may not protect you from the virus, but it inoculates you from negative press coverage when you are infected with Covid-19. Case in point: Ralph Northam.
I don’t know if it was a good idea for Trump to get into an armored car and take a quick drive around the medical center late Sunday to wave to his supporters and let the world see that he was recovering. I understand the impulse, however, when the rumor mill is digging your grave and scribes are writing your obituary.
Trump’s medical team reportedly signed off on the excursion and members of his detail were outfitted in PPE. So there’s that.
On Friday one member of the media asked Conley why Trump was being taken to Walter Reed if he wasn’t critically ill.
”Because he’s the President of the United States,” Conley sighed.
It’s not surprising that medical professionals are aggressively treating the 74-year-old leader of the Free World for the coronavirus. Fortunately, the therapies they’re using seem to be working.
NBC news accused the president of “toxic masculinity” for his motorcade trip on Sunday.
In their seething hatred of the president, the press has overlooked one very important fact: The President of the United States occupies a unique place in the world. By showing that he is strong and recovering Trump not only sent a message to his supporters, but to America’s enemies.
That’s a good thing, by the way.
If you think the press hates the president now, wait till he recovers.
