In response to Is the President Safe?

I concur with Michael.

In today’s Jolt, I wrote, “At 1:27 and 3:30 [in the video of Trump’s Oval Office remarks], he pauses to catch his breath. Considering the presence of Representative Matt Gaetz on Air Force One after his exposure to a coronavirus patient at CPAC, I hope the president has been tested, out of an abundance of caution.”


The good news is that Gaetz tested negative. The bad news is that “Fabio Wajngarten, the press secretary for Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro, has tested positive for coronavirus, two sources tell CNN. He was at dinner with Trump at Mar-a-Lago Saturday night, took a photo with [the president] and later attended Kimberly Guilfoyle’s birthday party.”

If the president seems fatigued, this could well just be stress or routine spring colds or allergies. I’m not a doctor, nor do I play one on TV. But the president interacts with lots of people all day long, and we’re learning that Hollywood actors and NBA stars and congressional staffers can catch coronavirus through routine interactions. Testing the president is a sensible precaution.