Coronavirus: Trump is paranoid journalists will purposely contract virus to infect him, says report
While President Donald Trump has insisted that the coronavirus situation is under control in the country, sources have shared that, privately, he is "terrified" about catching the disease himself.
"Donald is a famous germaphobe," a prominent Republican source told Vanity Fair. "He hates it if someone is eating nachos and dips a chip back in after taking a bite. He calls them 'double-dippers.'"
Former Trump aide Sam Nunberg seemingly agreed with that sentiment and pointed to Trump's response to the Ebola outbreak in 2014. "When I worked for Trump, he was obsessed with Ebola," Nunberg shared.
"He’s just now waking up to the fact that this is bad, and he doesn’t know how to respond," said another official about the current outbreak.
Trump's fears about novel coronavirus are said to now be bordering on the paranoid, with the POTUS convinced journalists will purposefully contract the virus to give it to him on Air Force One, another person close to his administration shared. The same source also revealed that Trump has asked the secret service to set up a screening program and bar anyone with a cough from the White House grounds. "He’s definitely melting down over this," the source said.
Trump has repeatedly taken to the media to insisted that COVID-19 is not as serious as it is being made out to be and that the situation was being blown out of proportion to make him and his administration look incompetent.
"The Fake News Media and their partner, the Democrat Party, is doing everything within its semi-considerable power (it used to be greater!) to inflame the CoronaVirus situation, far beyond what the facts would warrant," he tweeted, before quoting the surgeon general and saying "The risk is low to the average American."
"So last year 37,000 Americans died from the common flu," he said in another tweet on Monday, comparing the outbreak to that of the seasonal flu. "It averages between 27,000 and 70,000 per year. Nothing is shut down, life & the economy go on. At this moment there are 546 confirmed cases of CoronaVirus, with 22 deaths. Think about that!"
In a third tweet, he even suggested that the coronavirus-related stock market crash was helpful to Americans. "Good for the consumer, gasoline prices coming down!"
Also, 756 cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed in the US across 34 states and Republicans close to Trump are reportedly afraid that his refusal to confront the epidemic in a bid to maintain his image could have disastrous consequences.
"He is trying to control the narrative and he can’t," a former West Wing official said. "He is going to resist until the very last minute. He may take suggestions to stop shaking hands, but in terms of shutting stuff down, his position is: 'No, I’m not going to do it.'"