Addressing hundreds of supporters from a White House balcony on Saturday, President Donald Trump’s first public event since being hospitalized for the coronavirus was shorter in duration and smaller in size than expected. The event, dubbed a “peaceful protest for law and order,” and for which an administration official said some 2,000 invitations had gone out, featured just 18 minutes of remarks from the president. As the New York Times reported, the uncharacteristically brief address was even shorter than the mere 30 minutes planned, which was already unusual for a president whose rallies typically run for at least 90 minutes. Still, that window gave Trump enough time to, among other favorite talking points, attack Democratic nominee Joe Biden, minimize the coronavirus crisis, and make unsubstantiated claims about securing a vaccine “very, very quickly.” The gathering was supposedly not a campaign event, despite Trump urging supporters to “vote these people into oblivion” and the fact that most attendees sported red MAGA hats. Many in the crowd were part of a group called “Blexit,” a campaign founded by conservative activist Candace Owens to encourage Black Americans and other minorities to leave the Democratic Party.
As he has throughout the pandemic, the president downplayed the threat of the virus, reiterating his false claims not only that “it’s going to disappear” but also that this magical solution is already in effect. “It is disappearing,” Trump said, an assertion contradicted by his personal bout with COVID-19, a disease he was hospitalized for just one week earlier, as well as the rising rate of new infections in the U.S., with 50,000 new coronavirus cases reported over three consecutive days. The president himself may still be infected, given the lack of evidence that the White House has provided to suggest otherwise. White House physician Sean Conley released a memo on Saturday night saying the president is “no longer considered a transmission risk to others,” had been “fever-free for well over 24 hours” and thus met “CDC criteria” for ending isolation. Also, Conley said that “the assortment of advanced diagnostic tests obtained reveal there is no longer evidence of actively replicating virus” in his body. Yet as the Washington Post notes, the White House did not say whether the president has tested negative for the coronavirus, nor did Trump disclose the results of multiple tests he has taken since testing positive.
Notwithstanding the number of unanswered questions about Trump’s condition, it looks like he’ll soon be on the road. In addition to the previously announced rally Trump will hold in Florida on Monday, the Trump campaign announced two more events: in Pennsylvania on Tuesday and Iowa on Wednesday. Trump signaled his return to the campaign trail during his remarks Saturday, telling the crowd: “We’re starting very, very big with the rallies, and with our everything, because we cannot allow our country to become a socialist nation.” Even as Trump and the White House haven’t been upfront with the public about his condition, the president can use this week’s campaign stops to convince voters he’s healthy. Trump was reportedly concerned about the optics of his hospital stay. According to the Times, he pitched an idea from his suite at Walter Reed last weekend about an exit stunt: “When he left the hospital, he wanted to appear frail at first when people saw him, according to people with knowledge of the conversations. But underneath his button-down dress shirt, he would wear a Superman T-shirt, which he would reveal as a symbol of strength when he ripped open the top layer.”
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