Friday, 29 Mar 2024

Opinion | Lessons From Trump’s Own Case of Covid-19

To the Editor:

Re “Troubling Facts From Physicians Undercut Trump” (front page, Oct. 5):

Perhaps no event better demonstrates and exemplifies President Trump’s personality and character than his drive-by outside Walter Reed hospital on Sunday.

This was a brazen, wanton act of disregard for the health or even life of others for an action that was completely unnecessary. Traveling in his hermetically sealed presidential vehicle, Mr. Trump callously disregarded the welfare of the Secret Service agents forced to accompany him.

To what end? This drive-by had only two goals, both reflecting the president’s narcissism and insecurities. First, he wanted to demonstrate that even with Covid-19 he was not weak, not debilitated, as he views any sign of weakness as anathema. Second, he needs to receive the constant reassurance of a crowd’s adulation and love.

The president is seemingly unaware or indifferent to the tremendously mixed messages he is giving out. While his physicians are administering to the president a drug regimen that experts say is appropriate for a severe case of Covid, the president and his attending doctors are blithely engaging in “happy talk” about how well he is faring.

The man who has so badly managed the government’s response to the virus is now abysmally mismanaging the messaging for his own treatment. Is it any wonder that so many people distrust what the president says about everything?

Ken Derow
Swarthmore, Pa.

To the Editor:

President Trump acquired the coronavirus partly because he has tried to carry out his duties in the spirit of Britain’s World War II slogan “Keep calm and carry on.” He was trying to set an example for the nation of the American can-do attitude in the midst of a pandemic, and he became infected because of this calculated risk.

Dennis L. Breo
New Smyrna Beach, Fla.

To the Editor:

Re “‘Spin Doctor’ Obliged to Carry Out Boss’s Bidding Has Lost Credibility” (news article, Oct. 5):

Memo to Dr. Sean P. Conley: Putting an “upbeat” spin on the harsh realities of Covid-19 is how we have lost about 210,000 lives in the United States while a maskless Donald Trump pretended it was all fine. We have gotten used to Mr. Trump’s lies when it comes to practically everything, but from a doctor tasked with informing the American public as the president lies ill in a hospital?

Alison Daley Stevenson
Waldoboro, Me.

To the Editor:

Judge Amy Coney Barrett has demonstrated that she is lacking the quality most needed for a Supreme Court justice: sound judgment. Her participation in the Sept. 26 reception at the White House, a gathering that flouted C.D.C. guidelines for social distancing and mask wearing and that is now being referred to as a superspreader event, reveals a frightening lack of common sense.

How can we expect that she would, if sitting on the Supreme Court, make sound decisions that would affect the health care of American families when she demonstrated her willingness to put her own family in the midst of an unsafe environment for a political photo op?

Liz Kerr
Jenkintown, Pa.
The writer is a registered nurse.

To the Editor:

Re “Get Well, Mr. President” (editorial, Oct. 3):

Sorry, but it is hard to feel sympathy for a president who, after four chaotic, disruptive and divisive years, has brought the chaos to his doorstep.

Tens of thousands of Americans are dead because this president was careless, cavalier and dismissive of a deadly pandemic. Not once did he express true remorse for those suffering and dying. He mocked masks and offered false and ridiculous cures, ignoring science and the advice of pandemic experts. And now we are supposed to wish him well?

Ellen Shire
New York

To the Editor:

Yes, get well. And tell us you have learned something. At long last, be presidential.

Stephen F. Bauer
New York

To the Editor:

Re “For Allies and Adversaries, News of Illness Is Shocking” (news article, Oct. 3):

In headlines and several articles the news of the president testing positive for the virus is described as “shocking.” I cannot understand this reaction. To me, this was always a question of when, not if.

Ettagale Blauer
New York

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