Lawmakers in both parties struggled to digest the news Friday that President Trump has contracted coronavirus, a disease Democrats said he did not take seriously, but which may now threaten his life.
For Democrats, the news forced many to confront their own disdain for the president, and it raised new concerns about the lack of a formal coronavirus testing program within Capitol Campus. Sen. Mike Lee, a Utah Republican, announced Friday that he, too, had tested positive for the virus, adding his name to dozens of staff and more than one dozen lawmakers who have contracted the disease.
Lawmakers in both parties in the House and Senate stepped up calls for leaders to implement testing in the Capitol. Staff and lawmakers who have come into contact with the president could now spread it around Congress, said Democrats, who have long been critical of Trump’s attitude about the disease.
“This episode demonstrates that the Senate needs a testing and contact tracing program for Senators, staff, and all who work in the Capitol complex,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat, said. “We simply cannot allow the administration’s cavalier attitude to adversely affect this branch of government. It is imperative that all results be made public in order to contain a possible outbreak, and so we can determine the need for Senators and staff to quarantine or self-isolate.”
Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, a Missouri Democrat, said lawmakers in his caucus approached him for advice about how they should respond to the news when so many of them hoped to eject Trump from office through the impeachment process and are now working to defeat him in November.
“Some of my colleagues are asking me about prayer,” Cleaver, a United Methodist pastor, told the Washington Examiner. “Some of them are saying, how should I feel? I don’t like him. And I said, ‘You know, Nancy Pelosi probably prays for him every night.’ And I said, ‘We should do it, too.’”
Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat, did not issue a formal statement reacting to the president’s diagnosis, but told MSNBC on Friday, “We all received that news with great sadness.”
Pelosi pledged to engage in “intensified” prayer for his health.
Lawmakers filing in and out of the House chamber Friday said they were stunned by the news, although a few said the president’s travel, contact with people, and inconsistent use of a face mask make it more likely he would contract coronavirus.
[LIST: People in Trump’s orbit tested for COVID-19]
“It’s definitely a big deal,” Rep. Adam Kinzinger, an Illinois Republican, told the Washington Examiner. “It’s not a huge surprise. It’s going to take a day or two to see how it changes.”
The president’s chief of staff, Mark Meadows, said Trump is experiencing mild symptoms so far. But the president failed to appear at a scheduled teleconference event with seniors Friday afternoon.
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, a California Republican who is close to the president, said Trump can use his own diagnosis to better communicate his plan to help the nation recover from the virus.
“I think there’s a lot of good perspective here,” McCarthy told the Washington Examiner. “We might be able to be talking about a vaccine and more therapeutics soon, and that would show how the president’s focus for so long is to really help the communities and really make a safe and effective vaccine.”
Rep. Debbie Lesko said Trump should keep campaigning on his accomplishments as president and deficiencies the Republican Party sees in the agenda of Joe Biden, and he should keep communicating, even if it’s virtually rather than in person.
The president will be quarantined for at least 10 days, depending on the severity of his symptoms.
“And of course, now he can say he empathizes with people that have had coronavirus, and that he’s taken precautions, but it could happen to anyone,” said Lesko, an Arizona Republican.
Republicans were generally upbeat about Trump’s health prognosis, with many pointing out most people recover from coronavirus despite ominous media coverage.
“The bottom line is we will have an absolutely spectacular opportunity now to see protocols and success rates,” Rep. Jack Bergman, a Michigan Republican, told the Washington Examiner. “Because we are looking at 97%-plus success rates. It forces the media to look at someone’s, to look at someone’s care beginning to end.”
Rep. Al Green, a Texas Democrat who has been trying to impeach Trump since he took office, said that he is nonetheless praying for his health.
“We have to put politics aside,” Green told the Washington Examiner. “This is about a human being, right? It’s about humanity. All life is precious, and we have to put politics aside.”
