He put their lives at risk for political theater

My church bell choir resumed tonight. We haven’t met since March 9. We usually stand together at tables with about three feet per person. Tonight we had six tables, one for each person, well spaced in the sanctuary’s chancel area. Differences in seeing and hearing will take some getting used to, though I think it will work out. My semi-professional bell choir resumes tomorrow for three rehearsals and a video session. All of our concerts are canceled. The nasty guy is known for doing stupid, bizarre, and cruel things. This is one of them. Walter Einenkel of Daily Kos reported that yesterday afternoon the nasty guy left the hospital, got into the presidential SUV, and was driven around the block so he could wave to his supporters who had gathered outside the hospital. Then he went back inside to his suite. Dr. James Phillips, an attending physician, tweeted:

That Presidential SUV is not only bulletproof, but hermetically sealed against chemical attack. The risk of COVID19 transmission inside is as high as it gets outside of medical procedures. The irresponsibility is astounding. My thoughts are with the Secret Service forced to play. … Every single person in the vehicle during that completely unnecessary Presidential “drive-by” just now has to be quarantined for 14 days. They might get sick. They may die. For political theater. Commanded by Trump to put their lives at risk for theater. This is insanity.

The Secret Service agents are mighty annoyed with him right now. They see he is not even pretending to care. Justin Wolfers (I don’t know if he is an agent) tweeted:

I get that the secret service are meant to be willing to take a bullet for the President, but what if the President's the one spraying those bullets around?

Laura Clawson of Kos reported that ride prompted doctors (though not his doctors) to wonder if the strong medications he’s been given to fight the virus have caused mental health side effects. Some are known to do so. Clawson observered the nasty guy is capable of such a stunt even when he’s not on medications. However, what else might he do under the influence of medications? Kos of Kos reviewed the ride around the block and the photos of the nasty guy sitting at a desk in his hospital suite signing a document about … nothing. It’s blank.

All of this stagecraft has one purpose: to maintain the appearance of strength, health, and vigor necessary to maintain his hold on his deplorable base. Everyone else looks on with abject horror at the whole embarrassing spectacle. ... It is a gamble, however. Imagine if Trump does talk his doctors into releasing him today. He is the president, after all—it’ll be hard to lock him up against his will. What happens if he degenerates over the next week or two? What happens if he has to be taken back to the hospital, except this time on a gurney? We only have four weeks left. But we still have four weeks left.

A lot of people are focusing on the Amy Coney Barrett nomination party in the Rose Garden as a virus superspreader event, the place the nasty guy picked up the virus. Several other attendees have also tested positive. So, it’s time for the contact tracing teams to get to work. Except … Hunter of Kos reported:

The Trump White House is going to dodge the question of how many people were infected by the Rose Garden event in the most obvious and criminal way: They've "decided" not to find out. They've also refused to give the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention authority to do that contact tracing themselves, despite the agency having scrambled a team to do just that. There's little doubt as to what's going on here. The White House flagrantly ignored pandemic safety measures for their grave-dancing event, and it resulted in a new coronavirus outbreak that has now touched the House, Senate, White House, and allied conservative luminaries. Now they don't want federal officials to look too closely—or at all—at how the infections took place or what the ongoing spread might look like, because it would highlight their near-criminal irresponsibility, their incompetence, and the nontrivial possibility that Trump himself spread the virus at the event. ... They're going to try to hide it all. And that likely means some of the White House's most fervent supporters won't be told that they, too, were exposed to the virus. They don't care. They literally don't care.

Kerry Eleveld of Kos reported the nasty guy checked himself out of the hospital. He tweeted that he felt great (some medications will do that to you). Even though he’s back in the White House, that doesn’t mean he’s well – severe symptoms may not appear for 7-12 days. And it doesn’t mean he’s not contagious. So the West Wing staff looked to Chief of Staff Mark Meadows for guidance. He didn’t provide any. There are those who have tested positive and need to quarantine for two weeks. And it seems the rest are ticked off and scared, and have fled. emaycee commented:

Does anyone know if you can O.D. on schadenfreude? Because if Trump ends up back in the hospital after discharging himself from Walter Reed I’m going to be in deep trouble….