Donald Trump tries to play down severity of coronavirus as Pentagon leaders go into quarantine
- The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Army chief of staff and several other military leaders are quarantining after being exposed to the virus
- Top White House aide Stephen Miller also positive for Covid-19 after testing negative previously
US President Donald Trump appeared to be using his bout with Covid-19 to try to gain an advantage over his Democratic challenger, Joe Biden, even as the number of infections around him continued to rise and some of America’s top military leaders went into quarantine.
General Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; General James McConville, the Army chief of staff; and several other Pentagon leaders are quarantining after being exposed to the coronavirus, Defence Department spokesman Jonathan Hoffman announced on Tuesday, after a statement from the US Coast Guard that Admiral Charles Ray, the division’s second in command, tested positive for Covid-19.
Senior adviser Stephen Miller was the latest member of the president’s inner circle to test positive on Tuesday, despite previously testing negative.
Two more White House staffers were also infected, including a military aide and one of Trump’s valets, an active member of the US military who travelled with the president last week, according to Bloomberg News. The latest cases bring the number of cases among individuals who either work at the White House or have recently attended events there, including the president and first lady Melania Trump, to 19.
Trump, who received an aggressive course of experimental treatments while hospitalised and will get round-the-clock care at the White House, has consistently played down the disease even though the US has the world’s highest coronavirus death toll.
Political analysts said that with only four weeks left until the November 3 election, the positive diagnosis and the personality of the candidate left the Trump campaign with little choice but to double down on denying the gravity of the virus as the president faced a backlash for telling Americans not to fear a contagion that has killed more than 1 million people worldwide.
Even if Trump’s position on the health crisis runs counter to the approach many Americans want to see, he still has several points of strength.