The White House is doing a bang-up job of confusing and misleading the media and the public about President Trump’s condition and the status of others in the administration. This conduct is in keeping with the utter lack of candor that we have seen for four years. Moreover, it puts others at risk.
On Sunday, Trump decided to drive by supporters gathered outside Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda. He thereby risked exposing his Secret Service detail (and anyone else required to get him into the SUV) to the virus while he is experiencing symptoms. It is hard to fathom the mind-set of someone who would endanger others’ lives for the sake of his own vanity. The Post reported on the horrified reaction of medical professionals:
“Every single person in the vehicle during that completely unnecessary Presidential ‘drive-by’ just now has to be quarantined for 14 days,” tweeted James P. Phillips, who is also a professor at George Washington University. “They might get sick. They may die. For political theater. Commanded by Trump to put their lives at risk for theater. This is insanity.”Phillips said that the risk of viral transmission inside the car is “as high as it gets outside of medical procedures.” ...Jonathan Reiner, a professor of medicine and surgery at George Washington University, also blasted Trump’s move as “the height of irresponsibility.” Reiner noted that people inside a hospital wear extensive protective gear — gowns, gloves, N95 masks and more — when they will be in close contact with a coronavirus patient such as Trump. “By taking a joy ride outside Walter Reed the president is placing his Secret Service detail at grave risk,” he tweeted.
That was the most eye-popping instance of Trump’s reckless disregard for others’ lives but hardly unprecedented. The Trump administration’s obfuscation is standard operating procedure even when it puts others in danger. Some news reports have said the White House has not assisted staff with contact tracing, perhaps because Trump fears revealing when he first developed symptoms or last tested negative (another fact that, incredibly, still has not been made public). The Wall Street Journal reports that on Thursday, “As the virus spread among the people closest to him, Mr. Trump also asked one adviser not to disclose results of their own positive test. ‘Don’t tell anyone,’ Mr. Trump said, according to a person familiar with the conversation.” That is grotesquely irresponsible.
At a basic level we know very little about Trump’s actual medical status. Earlier on Sunday we heard the worst statement from a presidential physician in modern history: “I didn’t want to give any information that might steer the course of illness in another direction, and in doing so, you know, it came off that we were trying to hide something, which wasn’t necessarily true,” Sean Conley, the president’s doctor, said while briefing the media. He confessed to his own lack of accuracy in his Saturday briefing, thereby destroying what was left of his credibility. What responsible doctor gives an inaccurate description of the commander in chief’s condition? Moreover, whatever Conley says, honestly reporting Trump’s condition would not “steer the course of illness” unless it somehow damaged the president’s psyche. Are we to believe that Trump cannot handle a truthful account of his own health?
At this point, the public does not know really how sick the president has been; whether, say, he has suffered lung damage; or other critical information that would allow Americans — who are already voting — to assess whether Trump is capable of finishing this term, let alone getting through another one. While some virus patients recover after about a week, others, particularly those with respiratory complications, are still at risk. So why did doctors suggest that Trump could go home on Monday?
Among the things the public should know: When did Judge Amy Coney Barrett have the virus, when was she last symptomatic, and what was the extent of her illness? This matters. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention states: “People who are severely ill with COVID-19 might need to stay home longer than 10 days and up to 20 days after symptoms first appeared.” It is important to know when she was sick and the severity of her illness and whether it was possible that she infected others at the White House event for her Supreme Court nomination.
Then there is Vice President Pence. My colleague Aaron Blake reports:
“Under the guidelines of the Centers for Disease Control, the vice president is not considered a close contact with any individuals who have tested positive for the coronavirus, including President Donald Trump,” Pence’s doctor, Jesse T. Schonau, said Friday, noting that Pence had tested negative. “Vice President Pence does not need to quarantine. Vice President Pence remains in good health and is free to go about his normal activities.”
Is that true? At the Rose Garden event for Barrett, Pence was sitting directly in front of Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), who has tested positive. Barrett and Trump spoke for more than 25 minutes. That’s not including time that Pence and Lee may have been seated, waiting for the proceedings to begin. So why is Pence not isolating? Did he have no other contact with anyone who has tested positive since then? Interestingly, a Justice Department spokeswoman said Sunday that Attorney General William P. Barr, who also attended the Rose Garden event, has tested negative but is self-quarantining.
The carelessness extends to Capitol Hill. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) insists on going forward with Barrett’s confirmation hearing on Oct. 12. Already, two senators on the Judiciary Committee, Lee and Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), have tested positive. Have they traced their contacts? We need to know which staff members and senators may have come into contact with them or with Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), who has also tested positive (but is not on the Judiciary Committee). Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) is 87 years old and has refused to be tested though he attended a meeting with Lee on Thursday. He could be asymptomatic but spread the virus to others, who in turn could spread it to more people.
To make matters worse, the wholly reckless Republican caucus, we are told, gathers for lunch three times a week. CNN reported on Saturday, “Senate Republicans meet three times a week for lunch. And while they sit in a large room, they remove their masks to eat and to speak. Johnson, Lee and Tillis all attended Senate GOP lunches this week.” We need to know who was sitting in proximity to the senators who tested positive and whether they have self-isolated. Those senators would need to remain isolated for 14 days after the last time they came in proximity to one of the senators who tested positive.
Has Graham even considered any of this? He may try to evade health concerns by setting up an unprecedented procedure for confirming Barrett. Although Supreme Court nominations have historically been considered during in-person hearings, Graham may attempt to run Barrett’s hearings entirely remotely. If Republicans plan on jamming through confirmation hearings for a lifetime appointment while an election is underway, the least they can do is allow Judiciary Committee members to look Barrett in the eye in person. It is still unclear whether, amid the virus threat, Republicans will be able to muster a quorum to push this nominee through.
All of this underscores the reckless disregard for human life that permeates the White House and the Republican Senate. They still seem not to grasp that one can test negative in the early stages of infection but nevertheless has contracted the virus. This is why testing alone is insufficient to prevent community spread. People also need to wear masks and socially distance — things that Republicans perversely and recklessly refuse to do.
Perhaps the attending physician of Congress will have the nerve to speak up. Maybe Democrats can even implore the head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Robert Redfield, to speak up. (He may well lose his job anyway if Trump is defeated, which appears increasingly likely.) However, it is the voters — some of whom have already cast ballots — who can decide whether the president and senators up for reelection (e.g., Graham, Tillis, Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa) have failed the minimum standard for responsible conduct by an adult, let alone someone entrusted with power.
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