Coronavirus threat reportedly 'hit home' for Trump after a close friend was hospitalized

(Image credit: Win McNamee/Getty Images)

President Trump reportedly disengaged from his plan to re-open the United States economy by April 12 in part because he was shaken by a personal connection to the novel COVID-19 coronavirus, Vanity Fair reports.

In March, Trump learned that his friend, 78-year-old real estate mogul Stan Chera, was in a coma at a New York hospital after falling ill with COVID-19. "Boy, did that hit home," prominent New York Trump donor Bill White told Vanity Fair. "Stan is like one of his best friends."

That wasn't the only reason for the change of heart, however. Trump's re-election campaign was also concerned by their polling numbers in red states, which reportedly "sucked." A former White House official said the campaign "panicked" after realizing they couldn't win states "getting blown to pieces" by the virus. The president himself reportedly said the campaign "doesn't matter anymore" because "what I do now will determine if I get re-elected." Read more at Vanity Fair.

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Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.