Editorial | US uncertainty looms as Donald Trump’s coronavirus infection shocks the world
- China also at risk of further verbal attacks after news American president and his wife have tested positive for Covid-19 just weeks before elections
Fictional plots involving the White House abound. But nothing has prepared the world for the live drama that has engulfed the most powerful office on the planet.
The news that President Donald Trump and his wife have tested positive for Covid-19 a month before his bid for re-election has plunged the country’s leadership into uncertainty, upended the election campaign and rattled financial markets.
It raises concerns Trump will escalate tension with China by ramping up blame for spreading the virus, or the “China plague” as he referred to it in the first campaign debate. He can no longer shift the focus from his mismanagement of a pandemic that has killed more than 200,000 Americans.
He will have to contend with continuing attacks for having persistently played down the severity of the virus and publicly spurning face masks and social distancing as he held campaign rallies that attracted thousands.
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US President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump test positive for Covid-19
The diagnosis followed news that one of his closest aides had tested positive. It is unclear if Trump has infected other aides or Vice-President Mike Pence. If the president can catch Covid-19 anyone can. Other world leaders already have, including Britain’s Boris Johnson who became critically ill.