Remember when we learned Donald Trump was infected with the coronavirus, as he was being airlifted from the White House to Walter Reed on October 2, 2020? And in the days afterward, when we learned that guest after guest after guest who attended the September 26th Rose Garden event to introduce Amy Coney Barrett as the new Supreme Court justice?
Everyone assumed that the Rose Garden event was a fabled “superspreader” event, where one of the guests in the largely-unmasked crowd infected those around him. We were wrong. It wasn’t a guest; it was the host.
The virus was coming from inside the White House. Trump was Patient Zero in that outbreak.
As Aaron Rupar lays out, Trump spent days after he initially tested positive on September 26th–the day of the Rose Garden event–“pressing flesh” in a tight campaign. He invited Gold Star Families to the White House for a photo op on September 27th. On the 28th, he promoted new coronavirus tests at the White House. And of course, on September 29th, he participated in a debate with Joe Biden.
Trump’s disregard for prevention tactics–like wearing a mask or social distancing–during the pandemic was widely reported. The White House didn’t enforce CDC recommendations because Trump did not want to appear “weak” in a mask.
In this case, it’s much worse. The legendary vanity that stopped Trump from wearing a facemask in public now caused him to disregard the safety of hundreds of others because he thought he and his super-physique could ward off any measly virus.
Turns out he was wrong. Again. And our nation is still struggling as a result of his narcissism.