Witnessing President Donald Trump’s return to the White House from the Walter Reed Medical Center challenged the rational mind to draw a distinction between a President of the United States and the dictator of a third-world nation. Trump’s staged return to the White House looked less like a President of the United States returning to sympathetic accolades following a hospital stay and more like a dictator’s return to power.
Any Trump supporter who claims to be a patriotic American should have struggled to reconcile the behavior - and the words that shined a threatening light on a president’s release from the hospital.
The flight of President Trump to the Walter Reed Medical Center and his return aboard Marine One were a big part of a highly choreographed event designed to generate support and sympathy for the President. Presidents can easily and safely travel to and from Walter Reed in a motorcade. The helicopter was a prop in the reality show.
The sight of President Trump reaching the top of the outside staircase overlooking the South Lawn of the White House - ripping off his mask - stuffing in his pocket and then standing and saluting for an extended period during a grand photo op targeting his subjects was as embarrassing. And it was threatening to a growing group of American voters disenchanted with the theater of Trump.
President Trump - the same man who repeatedly dodged the draft during the Vietnam War - stood before his subjects as a warrior awaiting a purple heart medal. Trump presented himself as a tough warrior who wore the battle scars of COVID-19. The President’s words created a perfect Hollywood script for the backdrop of the setting. “I stood out front. I led. Nobody that’s a leader would not do what I did. I know there’s risk, there’s danger,” were the words Trump used as commentary for his victorious return.
According to his doctors, President Trump is still infected with the coronavirus, but he presented the image of a battle-tested man who beat the disease. Trump said catching the virus gave him a chance to learn about the disease and implied that since he has been infected - he is more experienced in leading America through the pandemic than his Democratic opponent Joe Biden.
If getting the coronavirus was so beneficial to leading America - one can only wonder why President Trump did not go out of his way to get infected months ago.
It is impossible to ignore the connection between the White House becoming a virtual petri dish for COVID-19 and Trump’s dismissal of wearing masks and social distancing. Many have called the President’s predicament “poetic justice” for Trump.
President Trump’s behavior and attitude during the pandemic has been motivated only by a desire to get reelected and not out of concern for the American people who put him in office. Now, some of Trump’s closest aides, staffers and political allies have COVID-19 - and yet - the President continues to mislead the American people by comparing the disease to the flu. Facts do not support that sophomoric comparison.
Less than a month away from Election Day - this question remains:
“Are there enough American voters in key states to see through the dictator mentality of President Trump and his selfish mission to win by any means necessary?”
