Donald Trump greeted and waved to supporters outside Walter Reed Medical Center from his motorcade, leaving his hospital suite to make a “surprise” visit despite undergoing treatment for coronavirus.
The president Sunday evening tweeted a video in which he said he planned to go say hello to the dozens of supporters who had gathered across the street from the hospital, waving flags.
Moments later, a video emerged of the president’s motorcade passing by, with a masked Trump visible waving from the backseat. The decision triggered immediate safety concerns – and outrage – as the president is infected with a highly contagious virus that has killed more than 205,000 Americans.
The pool of reporters that travels with the president whenever he moves from one location to another was not notified of Trump’s drive-by.
“President Trump took a short, last-minute motorcade ride to wave to his supporters outside and has now returned to the Presidential Suite inside Walter Reed,” deputy White House press secretary Judd Deere said in a statement.
Explanation from the White House: “President Trump took a short, last-minute motorcade ride to wave to his supporters outside and has now returned to the Presidential Suite inside Walter Reed.” (@realDonaldTrump [1] has COVID-19.)
— Jeff Mason (@jeffmason1) October 4, 2020 [2]
Patients who test positive for COVID-19 are typically required to quarantine for 14 days, which is the incubation period for the virus, to avoid infecting others. Trump first publicized his positive test early Friday morning, and he has been symptomatic since then, meaning he is likely still contagious.
That’s Trump driving by his supporters outside Walter Reed military hospital. pic.twitter.com/eqA0RGkr6A [3]
— Philip Crowther (@PhCrowther) October 4, 2020 [4]
Trump tweeted out a video earlier hinting that he was going to do something for this supporters:
pic.twitter.com/0Bm9W2u1x7 [5]
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 4, 2020 [6]
Obviously people are infuriated about this.
James Phillips, an attending physician at Walter Reed, tweeted that the drive-by photo op was “insanity.”
“Every single person in the vehicle during that completely unnecessary Presidential “drive-by” just now has to be quarantined for 14 days,” he tweeted. They might get sick. They may die. For political theater.”
https://twitter.com/DrPhillipsMD/status/1312867868028141568
https://twitter.com/DrPhillipsMD/status/1312869454385229827
It’s a cult people, it’s a CULT:
https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1312878866541797376
People are furious:
https://twitter.com/CaslerNoel/status/1312880161507942402
https://twitter.com/waltshaub/status/1312880154306326528
BREAKING: Donald Trump, who has COVID-19, forces secret service to take him on a joy ride so he can waive to his supporters. He is a sociopath who will kill us all to stay in power.
— A Worried Citizen (@ThePubliusUSA) October 4, 2020 [7]
https://twitter.com/Zac_Petkanas/status/1312879560933994497
Secret Service agents would give their lives for the president—for any president.
But the president isn't supposed to TAKE their lives by exposing them to a deadly virus for a photo-op!
— LeGate (@williamlegate) October 4, 2020 [8]
Trump put Secret Service members’ lives at risk today for a photo op. And just like his teargas photo op at the church, he did it at taxpayer expense. https://t.co/vOgsf2ukHS [9]
— Keith Boykin (@keithboykin) October 4, 2020 [10]