National Public Radio’s (NPR) weekend news programs questioned whether Trump has recovered from the coronavirus and whether his mental state might cause him to act recklessly.
On Weekend Edition Saturday, host Scott Simon spoke with left-wing Ron Elving, senior editor and correspondent at NPR who provided glowing reports on Barack Obama for eight years.
“Ron, there is a growing list of people concerned about the president’s health right now in all ways, isn’t there?” Simon said.
“Concerned – yes,” Elving said. “And it should be a concern for all of us.”
“But among those expressing worry this week was Speaker Nancy Pelosi,” Elving said. “She’s proposing a commission of health professionals and others to assess future presidents’ fitness.” Elving replied”
Also, Rick Bright, the former director of government work on a coronavirus vaccine, he told CNN this week that someone who’s undergone these therapies – the steroid, the cocktail of experimental drugs that the president has had – would normally still be in the hospital, Scott. He said if the president is, quote, ‘not in the right sound mind to make decisions rationally, then he could be very reckless for the country and the world.’
“And, you know, we shouldn’t let amazing events fatigue our outlook too much because it’s remarkable to hear a president set off an F-bomb on a broadcast show, talking about a volatile international situation,” Simon said, referring to Trump’s remarks on the Rush Limbaugh radio show on Friday where he warned Iran not to threaten the United States.
“And it raises questions about his health,” Simon said.
Elving said Trump’s planned rally in Florida on Monday night is also cause for concern.
“That’ll mean he’ll have to travel with other people, and we don’t know what kind of risk that poses for those other people,” Elving said.
The narrative about Trump’s health continued on Weekend Edition Sunday, when host LuLu Garcia-Navarro asked NPR national correspondent Mara Liasson about Trump’s Florida rally. Liasson said:
This will be the president’s first rally outside the White House since he contracted coronavirus. And the president’s health status is still unclear. His doctor issued a statement that said he is, quote, ‘no longer considered a transmission risk to others,’ but he did not say whether or not the president has tested negative.
“You’d think if he had, they would say that,” Liasson said. “He also said that the president’s, quote, ‘all symptoms’ have improved.”
“He didn’t say the president has no symptoms,” Liasson said. “So once again, raising more questions than it answers.”
Navarro described a rally of blacks, Latinos, Asians, and other minorities who support the president as an event that could mean more virus infections.
“And meanwhile, Trump did have that event at the White House yesterday,” Liasson said. “It was his first public appearance since returning there from Walter Reed National Military Medical Center,” Navarro said.
“He spoke from the Blue Room balcony to a few hundred guests, maskless,” Navarro said.
“And earlier – let’s remind our listeners – [Trump] returned to the Oval Office, even though it was all but certain he was still contagious,” Navarro said.
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