The economic impact of the Trump contagion 4:03
(CNN) -
President Donald Trump's fight with COVID-19 so far has not convinced him to prioritize a responsible approach, over his own political needs, in the face of a pandemic that has killed 209,000 Americans.
Trump hosted an extraordinary photo shoot Sunday in front of supporters gathered with flags and banners outside the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.
The move, which risked exposing Secret Service agents in their armored van, amounted to a well-known mockery of the government's recommendations to stop the spread of the virus that has infected 7 million Americans.
It was the latest blatant sign that politics supersedes Trump's duties as administrator of the national welfare.
This, with Election Day just 29 days away and voting in many states already underway.
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: ANALYSIS: Trump's photo shoot raises new questions about how seriously he takes the virus
It came amid persistent confusion about the president's true state of health.
After a weekend in which the White House made strenuous efforts to minimize the seriousness of his case.
But the details about the cocktail of therapies she's taking suggest she's experiencing complications from the disease.
Even when his doctors said it was possible that he could return to the White House on Monday.
Photoshoot
The photoshoot of the president's 'showman' caravan followed a deceptive and politicized performance by the White House that showed all the failures that have made America's anticovid effort one of the worst in the world.
White House physician and Navy commander Dr. Sean Conley admitted Sunday that he did not tell the whole truth about Trump's condition the day before.
Including two drops in his oxygen levels, to avoid overshadowing the official "optimistic" line on the president's health.
Trump and his aides worked hard to show he was strong and on the mend before taking on Democratic candidate Joe Biden, whose campaign he said tested negative again on Sunday.
But the contradictions and misrepresentations of its medical team mean that Americans cannot trust the White House to give a complete picture of what is happening.
Mixed messages
Conflicting messages and half-truths underscored the inability to properly manage the state machinery.
And understand the importance of sending clear information about the president's health and continuity of power to Americans and potential adversaries abroad.
The extraordinary care that accompanies a presidential illness - in this case multiplied because the commander-in-chief is sick with an illness that he has ignored, downplayed and said will soon disappear - has obscured the alarming trajectory of the pandemic in recent days.
Including on Friday, when Trump was dramatically rushed to the hospital on Marine One, the US had recorded another 121,000 covid-19 cases and another 1,800 deaths.
None of those new patients will receive the dedicated 24-hour medical care, experimental treatments, hospital suites, and light-hearted walks that are available to the president.
In the midst of a national emergency in which many have died alone and patients are isolated from their loved ones in crowded hospitals.
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Trump says he 'gets it'
In a video on Sunday, the president said that he had learned many interesting things about COVID-19 that he planned to share with the country.
It was unclear if he was finally appreciating the danger of the virus after his own infection.
For months, the president has been briefed by some of the best epidemiology experts in the world, but he did not treat the pandemic seriously enough.
His video, posted on Twitter, did not include any warning to Americans to take the disease more seriously.
After months of flouting the government's health warnings and mocking those who follow them, including Biden.
“I really learned it by going to school.
This is the royal school.
This is not the school of let's read the book and understand it.
And I get it, "Trump said.
The president's subsequent excursion out of the hospital in Bethesda, Maryland, clearly showed that his covid-19 education does not include a new respect for social distancing.
These precautions were also ignored at a mostly unmasked White House event nine days ago in which Trump nominated Justice Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court.
At least eight people who attended the event, including the president, have been infected with covid-19.
Trump also ignored the precautions at a fundraising event in New Jersey on Thursday, where he went despite learning that his close assistant, Hope Hicks, had been diagnosed with covid-19.
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His conduct raises the question of whether he endangered others knowing that he had been in close contact with someone who had tested positive for the virus.
What the White House says
White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said Sunday that the president learned of his positive test when he returned from the trip.
She did not say when the test was taken.
And given the confusion in the White House over the weekend, the veracity of any official statement at this point is in serious doubt.
Several Secret Service officers in the vehicle with Trump on Sunday, wearing surgical masks and face shields, presumably must now self-quarantine after being in close contact with a COVID-19 patient, and risking becoming the latter. victims of Trump's political ambitions.
Why leave?
What is the purpose of this? ”Asked Dr. James Phillips, director of disaster medicine at George Washington University and treating physician at Walter Reed.
"Certainly, looking at the transmission risks of COVID-19, what we know is that being indoors is dangerous," Phillips said on CNN's "The Situation Room."
With masks or without masks.
Being inside a vehicle that is hermetically sealed circulates the virus inside and potentially puts people at risk.
The White House insisted that the president's medical team authorized the trip by car.
But there is no medical protocol to suggest that it is advisable for a patient with a serious and contagious illness to leave a hospital until they have recovered or are no longer contagious.
Trump, on steroids and oxygen assistance 8:04
Trump's illness robs him of campaign momentum
Trump's desire to prove himself in shape, the compulsion to enjoy the adoration of his followers, and the desire to dictate the news coverage are typical.
But his most recent behavior may also hint at how he feels about the political impact of his confinement a month before an election in which he is behind Biden and threatens to show his mismanagement of the pandemic.
Trump, who has spent the last two presidential campaigns attacking the health of his rivals, Hillary Clinton and Biden, cannot afford to appear weak at this critical time.
With time rushing to turn things around, the president was surprised by the new poll data over the weekend.
Polls
An NBC / Wall Street Journal poll conducted after Trump's rude performance in last week's first presidential debate showed Biden leading between 53% and 39% among registered voters nationally.
An ABC News / Ipsos poll, conducted after news of the president's coronavirus diagnosis, found that 72% of voters believe the president did not take the threat of contracting the coronavirus seriously enough.
Meanwhile, a CBS News poll found Biden with a 7-point lead among likely voters in the key state of Pennsylvania and equal to Trump in Ohio, another Midwest battleground that went to the president in 2016.
These surveys were largely completed once the president's coronavirus diagnosis was known.
It's unclear how the president's illness changes the final weeks of the campaign.
It cannot fly across the country and ignite its loyal grassroots voters.
The fate of the last two presidential debates, following Wednesday's upcoming vice-presidential showdown between Mike Pence and California Sen. Kamala Harris, remains in doubt.
And Trump's infection with covid now makes it nearly impossible for the president to deviate from the one issue that reflects the presidency at its worst: the pandemic.
Concerns about oxygen
Earlier Sunday, Trump's doctors revealed that the president had suffered several alarming drops in oxygen levels.
Conley again gave a briefing that raised more questions than answers about Trump's condition.
He said he did not mention the drops in Trump's oxygen levels on Saturday because he did not want to "give any information that could direct the course of the disease in another direction."
He acknowledged that his evasive responses "resulted in us trying to hide something," but said "it was not necessarily true."
And he added that the president "is doing very well" and is responding to treatment.
The episodes prompted doctors to begin treating Trump with the steroid dexamethasone, which has been shown to help Covid-19 patients.
It is usually given to patients receiving supplemental oxygen or ventilation.
Conley also hinted at more undisclosed details when he declined to say what X-rays or CT scans of Trump's lungs revealed.
"There are some expected findings, but nothing of great clinical concern," he said.
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Privacy
All patients have expectations of privacy.
But Trump maintains the public's trust given his position.
It is not only crucial that voters understand a little about their condition.
The president's health is a crucial national security issue, and commanders-in-chief have a higher duty of outreach than ordinary citizens.
The approach taken by the president's doctors suggests to many experts that the White House has downplayed the severity of his condition while battling a disease in which a patient can rapidly deteriorate during the course of infection over a period of days.
“His doctors are treating him very aggressively.
And based on what we know so far, the president is sick, ”Dr. Patrice Harris, former president of the American Medical Association, told CNN's Wolf Blitzer.
“We know that during the course of illness, a patient can feel good and suddenly get worse.
So actually, for the president's own health and safety, this out-of-hospital visit was pretty risky today.
Trump covid