As of lately, President Donald Trump has been pretty committed to thoughtfully driving the nation’s response to the coronavirus pandemic, except when he’s tweeting, golfing, or breathing, of course. And this Memorial Day weekend, he’s balancing all three exceptions seemingly effortlessly.
"Trump arrives at his Virginia golf club for the second time this weekend. Per CNN’s count, this is his 358th visit to one of his properties and his 266th trip to one of his golf clubs since he took office in January 2017.” CNN congressional correspondent Manu Raju tweeted Sunday. “He’s golfed this weekend for the first time since March 8.”
That doesn’t exactly deserve acknowledgment, considering the number of people dying from coronavirus complications has been increasing since the country began expanding testing for the virus in March, according to data from Johns Hopkins University and Medicine. The medical research center reported about 92,300 COVID-19 deaths Saturday.
Trump may be doing little to spark a decline in the virus’ deadly toll on this country, but if anyone’s worried about his personal health, please don’t be. He certainly doesn’t appear to be. The president was spotted at the Trump National Golf Club in Sterling, Virginia Sunday without a mask, CNN reported. And such a sighting is hardly a rarity.
Trump is so frequently spotted without a mask that White House coronavirus task force coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx has had to make defending his model example a part of her media rounds. She said on "Fox News Sunday" there is "clear scientific evidence" that masks work and she assumes Trump is wearing one most of the time when recommended.
"I'm not with him every day in every moment, so I don't know if he can maintain social distance," she said. "I've asked everybody independently to really make sure that you’re wearing a mask if you can’t maintain the 6 feet. I’m assuming that in a majority of cases he’s able to maintain that 6 feet distance.”
One thing’s for sure. The massive crowds already pictured outdoors at viral Memorial Day weekend festivities were not. When asked if Birx still thinks reopening beaches and parks was the right call, she pretty much told ABC News public health officials have done their job and now it’s up to the public. “We’ve learned a lot about this virus, but we now need to translate that learning into real changed behavior that stays with us so we can continue to drive down the number of cases,” Birx said.
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She left out her exemptions for the president. He hasn’t been particularly secretive about his commitment to get back to normal operations, public health be damned. He whined last week about just how much he misses golf particularly.
"I haven't played really since this problem that we have started,” Trump said, apparently believing the COVID-19 spread started in March. “I haven't been able to play golf for a while, I've been very busy and I think it's just one of those things.”
The president also said during a call into NBC during a pro golf event last week: ”We want to be back to normal where you have the big crowds where they’re practically standing on top of each other, not where they’re worried."
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