Donald Trump was so desperate for attention and so determined to convince the world he was not only famous but well-respected prior to becoming president that he hung fake Time magazine covers at golf resorts to fool guests. This week, he’s getting a real cover, but it’s not exactly the one he hoped for.
New cover of @TIME pic.twitter.com/ckys1JaAny
— Rajat Pandit (@rajatpTOI) October 8, 2020
Last Thursday, one week before the preview of the cover was released, Donald Trump and his wife, Melania, said publicly that they had tested positive for the coronavirus. At the time, it was believed that they had contracted it by being in close contact with Hope Hicks, a former White House advisor to the president who had fallen ill with the virus while on the campaign trail with the Trumps. Just seven days later, 24 people in total in the White House have tested positive, all of whom attended an event, mostly sans masks and without social distancing, to announce the nomination of Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court.
New COVID-19 cases in past week:
Vietnam – 5
Taiwan – 9
Yemen – 10
New Zealand – 25White House – 34
— Mark D. Levine (@MarkLevineNYC) October 8, 2020
Trump, according to Trump himself, voluntarily checked himself into Walter Reed Medical Center to recover from the virus. At the time, he was reported to be experiencing both mild symptoms and a high fever with difficulty breathing that required supplemental oxygen, depending on who at the White House one spoke to. On the third day of his four-day stay, Trump risked the lives of members of the Secret Service and others in the vehicle with him by taking a joyride around the hospital to wave at supporters who had gathered, mostly sans masks and without social distancing, to wish him well.
NEW— White House quietly told vets groups it may have exposed Gold Star family members with COVIDhttps://t.co/7XZUpgoAKJ
With @attackerman @swin24 and @ErinBanco
— Sam Stein (@samstein) October 7, 2020
With more than 210,000 Americans dead from COVID-19, the Trump administration’s response to the virus has been sharply criticized by the media, politicians, and voters. His blatant disregard for the health and safety of others, others who he put at risk by attending a fundraiser after knowing he’d been exposed, going on joyrides enclosed in a hermeneutically sealed vehicle, and returning to the White House after less than four full days in quarantine have sickened Americans, and the Time magazine cover it earned him is a perfect representation of that.
Donald Trump and other White House insiders infected with COVID-19 carried the virus across the country in a matter of days, potentially exposing hundreds, perhaps thousands, of people as they went about their business, a USA TODAY investigation found.
— Michiko Kakutani (@michikokakutani) October 8, 2020
