June 27, 2020

Eight Trump Campaign Staffers Test Positive for Coronavirus After Tulsa Rally

The fuckwit-in-chief at his rally in Tulsa last week.Tyler Tomasello/ZUMA

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President Trump campaign staffers who attended a recent rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma are being required to get tested for the coronavirus after eight people connected with the re-election bid tested positive, according to a memo obtained by ABC News on Friday.

The memo said explicitly that staffers “are required to obtain a negative COVID-19 test this weekend,” ominously leaving out the fate of staffers who test positive. The staffers who have already tested positive are still working while self-quarantining, according to a report.

Trump defiantly chose to proceed with the campaign rally despite surges in confirmed coronavirus cases across the country. As my colleague Jacob Rosenberg reported, Trump’s campaign didn’t even bother reaching out to local health officials to discuss the health implications of his rally. Oklahoma reported nearly 400 new cases in 24 hours, local news noted on June 26.

In addition to concerns over Trump rallies potentially being hotspots for spreading the virus, the rally had initially been scheduled for Juneteenth, the day celebrating the emancipation of enslaved Black people after the Civil War, in a city in which white mobs massacred a thriving community known as Black Wall Street in 1921. After public outcry, the Trump campaign decided to bump it back by one day. 

Talk about failing to read the room.

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