My immediate reaction to President Donald Trump’s Covid-19 diagnosis on Thursday was to urge the administration to practice full disclosure and avoid factual mistakes. The Washington Post’s Karen Tumulty had the same response, writing: “Starting right now, Americans must demand briefings from the medical personnel — presumably military doctors — treating the president. The medical team should make public the specifics of Trump’s symptoms, test results, vital signs and his treatment regimen.”
One very long weekend later, that obviously hasn’t happened. Instead, we’ve learned that Trump’s first instinct was to try to cover up his illness. It seems quite plausible that had Bloomberg’s Jennifer Jacobs not broken the news that senior adviser Hope Hicks had tested positive, and had Trump’s case proved relatively mild, the public might never have learned of it. Since then, we’ve had a series of statements that had to be walked back, reversed or significantly revised. Several basic questions still haven’t been answered.
The consequences were predictable. Instead of press coverage focused on the world’s concern about the president and wishes for his rapid recovery, we have headlines like: “Trump’s Doctor Delivers Confusion” and “confusion continues over his health” and “Trump Recuperates Amid Questions About His Health and Campaign.”
In other words, no one knows if Trump’s condition is as good as the administration says or a great deal worse. Since neither Dr. Sean Conley nor the White House staff nor Trump himself can be trusted to disclose the truth, they’ve lost the ability to frame the story in a sympathetic way. That means that not only will reporters keep pushing on all the unanswered questions, but they’re also not going to take further statements at face value.
It doesn’t help when Trump stages photos of himself “working” by signing blank sheets of paper, or goes on a ride outside the hospital that practically every doctor and other expert thinks was reckless and irresponsible. It also doesn’t help when he records video addresses to the nation that make no mention of the millions of others who have been sick or died, or that he seems far more focused on the election than on governing.
It’s true that a president falling ill is always going to be a tough story for the White House, particularly a month from Election Day. And even if staffers had been entirely honest and open, there were going to be questions about Trump’s obvious failure to follow safety protocols, and about how his case symbolized the various ways that the administration has botched the pandemic. But the White House has managed to turn a story that might’ve elicited some favorable coverage (and did elicit warm words from many who oppose the president, from Joe Biden on down) into a story about the usual Trump administration falsehoods.
Bloomberg
