Doctor slams Trump for leaving hospital to drive by supporters: 'The irresponsibility is astounding'

Donald Trump drives by supporters.
(Image credit: AP Photo/Anthony Peltier)

Dr. James Phillips, chief of disaster and operational medicine in the Department of Emergency Medicine at George Washington University Hospital and an attending physician at Walter Reed, tweeted on Sunday night he was shocked by President Trump's decision to leave the hospital where he is receiving treatment for COVID-19 in order to wave at supporters.

Trump was accompanied on his jaunt by at least two Secret Service agents, and Phillips said that "every single person in the vehicle during that completely unnecessary presidential 'drive-by' just now has to be quarantined for 14 days. They might get sick. They may die. For political theater. Commanded by Trump to put their lives at risk for theater. This is insanity."

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
Explore More
Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.