CNN President Donald Trump’s increasing political desperation is raising concerns about his judgment following his aggressive Covid-19 treatment and as suspicion mounts that the White House is not telling the truth about his health.
He is pressing his aides to clear him to return to the campaign trail as soon as this weekend though White House aides refuse to say when he received his last negative test for coronavirus. In a day of chaos Thursday,
Trump repeatedly shifted his position on a new plan for a virtual second presidential debate and suddenly decided to back negotiations over a coronavirus economic rescue package he had killed off earlier in the week. His actions suggested a campaign in disarray as he trails Democratic nominee Joe Biden by double digits only 26 days from Election Day.
The President’s erratic conduct only emphasized an alarming leadership vacuum in a White House hollowed out by sickness as the pandemic takes an ominous turn amid fresh signs that a fragile economic rebound is slowing.Trump’s official physician, Navy Cmdr. Dr. Sean Conley, declared that the President would be fit to return to public engagements on Saturday after completing his treatment.
But questions remain over when Trump got sick, who he might have infected and if he is still contagious. And twice in an interview with Sean Hannity on Fox News on Thursday night, the President declined to say whether he has tested negative even as he said he might try to hold a rally in Florida as soon as Saturday night. While he spoke with Hannity,
Trump had to pause his sentences, audibly clear his throat and cough at least twice.During an appearance on the Rush Limbaugh radio show Friday, Trump claimed that the monoclonal antibody treatment he received from Regeneron is “more than a therapeutic, a cure.
“Trump plans to do another interview with Fox News — this time on camera with Dr. Marc Siegel, a medical analyst for the channel — that will air Friday night. It will be his first on-camera interview since contracting coronavirus.A day of dizzying events had some of Trump’s critics suggesting that his health may be influencing his political choices.
“He is not well. We would not want any other person on the planet to do the things he’s doing this soon after knowing they’re infected,” Rick Bright, the ousted director of the government office involved in developing a coronavirus vaccine, told CNN’s Jake Tapper Thursday on “The Lead.”Bright, the former director of the Biomedical Advanced Research & Development Authority, said that normally, someone who had undergone Covid-19 experimental therapies would be still be in a hospital bed.”It’s very dangerous.
He’s in charge of a lot of things, makes a lot of important decisions for our country and the world, actually,” said Bright, who spoke out publicly after resigning from the National Institutes of Health this week. “If he’s not in the right sound mind to make decisions rationally, then he could be very reckless for the country and the world.
“View Trump and Biden head-to-head pollingHouse Speaker Nancy Pelosi, meanwhile, questioned Thursday whether the President is in an “altered state” during an interview with Bloomberg TV, alluding to his sudden decision to halt stimulus negotiations.
She noted that doctors have said that the steroid medication Trump was taking can affect a patient’s judgment.”When the President did his strange tweet that said, ‘We’re walking away from the negotiations,’ it was, like, ‘What?'” Pelosi said during her weekly news conference.
“We’ve all been working very hard to find our common ground.”She’s pushing a new bill, which stands little chance of becoming law, to give Congress a clearer role in determining whether the President must be forced out of office because he’s incapable of doing his job.
During a news conference about the legislation on Friday, Pelosi refused to say whether the 25th Amendment of the Constitution should be invoked in Trump’s case.”That’s not for us to decide,” Pelosi said Friday. “This is not about President Trump. He will face the judgment of the voters, but he shows the need for us to create a process for future presidents.”
