Trump still seemingly struggling to breathe after hospital return, White House aides say
President Trump isn't the picture of health he's making himself out to be, White House aides tell The New York Times.
After returning from Walter Reed Medical Center on Monday after his COVID-19 diagnosis and three-day stay, Trump removed his face mask defiantly before entering the White House. Aides say it was supposed to be Trump's display of strength after his hospital visit, even though it put everyone around him at risk because he was still contagious with the virus. "But they also wondered if the face covering was making it harder for the president to breathe," the Times reports. The next day, aides said Trump's voice was stronger than it had been the night before, "but at times he still sounded as if he was trying to catch air," the Times writes.
Aides, including White House Communications Director Alyssa Farah, publicly said they were "comfortable working here" as more and more White House workers tested positive for the virus. They brought in masks, gloves, and eye protection for anyone planning to work closely with Trump, including in the Oval Office. "But many saw the situation as spiraling out of control" as the pandemic Trump brushed off "seemed to have locked its grip on the White House," the Times writes. And as polls continued to show Democratic nominee Joe Biden triumphing over Trump, aides were reportedly "worried that they were living through the final days of the Trump administration."
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
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.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Kathryn is a graduate of Syracuse University, with degrees in magazine journalism and information technology, along with hours to earn another degree after working at SU's independent paper The Daily Orange. She's currently recovering from a horse addiction while living in New York City, and likes to share her extremely dry sense of humor on Twitter.
-
World’s oldest rock art discovered in IndonesiaUnder the Radar Ancient handprint on Sulawesi cave wall suggests complexity of thought, challenging long-held belief that human intelligence erupted in Europe
-
Claude Code: the viral AI coding app making a splash in techThe Explainer Engineers and noncoders alike are helping the app go viral
-
‘Human trafficking isn’t something that happens “somewhere else”’Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
China’s Xi targets top general in growing purgeSpeed Read Zhang Youxia is being investigated over ‘grave violations’ of the law
-
Panama and Canada are negotiating over a crucial copper mineIn the Spotlight Panama is set to make a final decision on the mine this summer
-
Why Greenland’s natural resources are nearly impossible to mineThe Explainer The country’s natural landscape makes the task extremely difficult
-
Iran cuts internet as protests escalateSpeed Reada Government buildings across the country have been set on fire
-
US nabs ‘shadow’ tanker claimed by RussiaSpeed Read The ship was one of two vessels seized by the US military
-
Maduro pleads not guilty in first US court hearingSpeed Read Deposed Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores pleaded not guilty to cocaine trafficking and narco-terrorism conspiracy
-
Iran’s government rocked by protestsSpeed Read The death toll from protests sparked by the collapse of Iran’s currency has reached at least 19
-
Israel approves new West Bank settlementsSpeed Read The ‘Israeli onslaught has all but vanquished a free Palestinian existence in the West Bank’
