White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany, who announced that she had tested positive for coronavirus on Monday, touted President Donald Trump’s ongoing recovery from the virus, saying it showed how “America will overcome.”
“I am pleased to see our commander-in-chief is doing well,” McEnany told Fox News’ Sean Hannity during an interview on Monday. “Watching him on the balcony just showing that we will overcome, America will overcome just as he is overcoming this illness, I think was a really nice moment for our country to see.”
The comments come after President Trump was discharged from Walter Reed National Military Medical Center earlier in the day after receiving treatment for COVID-19.
The President has sought to project an image of strength amid his illness, even suggesting that Americans shouldn’t “be afraid of COVID,” as he received the kind of top quality health care and advanced treatment for coronavirus that remains inaccessible to a majority of Americans.
McEnany sought to defend the President’s leadership on the public health crisis by telling Hannity on Monday that Trump’s efforts to tackle coronavirus in the United States were on track to create history.
“This was a novel virus that came in from China. No one had seen it. There were no tests. There were no therapeutics,” McEnany said. “In short order, President Trump developed them, and this vaccine is on pace to be the fastest vaccine for a novel pathogen in human history.”
But McEnany appeared to leave out a different takeaway message that some of the President’s critics have said is a critical warning to prevent others from getting sick.
Leading up to his own illness, the President had repeatedly mocked prominent lawmakers who donned masks to protect against the spread of coronavirus and worked diligently at undermining the guidance of health experts within his own administration.
Several prominent Republicans including three GOP senators have come forward with positive tests for coronavirus amid Trump’s announcement early Friday.
Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden on Monday suggested that the President had acted irresponsibly by ignoring precautions put in place to reduce the spread of coronavirus.
“Anybody who contracts the virus by essentially saying masks don’t matter, social distancing doesn’t matter I think is responsible for what happens to them,” Biden told NBC News’ Lester Holt during a town hall.
“Every major scientist and doctor and immunologist has said that’s a very dangerous thing to do,” Biden added.
The Democratic presidential candidate said that he wears a mask as “a patriotic responsibility” to protect others.
