October 4, 2020

Trump, Infected With COVID-19, Goes on a Surprise Drive-By to Greet Supporters Outside Walter Reed

Gripas Yuri/ZUMA

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Two days after entering Walter Reed Medical Center for COVID-19 treatment, President Trump on Sunday took a motorcade ride outside the hospital during which he waved at supporters from the back of an SUV. The surprise plan, which Trump announced in a Twitter video shortly before he departed Walter Reed, immediately invited questions about the safety of Secret Service agents, who were seen riding along with the coronavirus-infected president inside a black Suburban SUV with the windows rolled up.

In the same video that announced his car ride, Trump said that he had met with soldiers and first-responders during his hospital stay. “What a group,” he said before revealing that he intended to “pay a little surprise” to the “patriots” stationed outside. The shocking episode came amid overwhelming uncertainty over the president’s condition—hours earlier, Trump’s physician admitted to trying to conceal that the president had been on oxygen the day before in order to “reflect an upbeat attitude”—as well as intense criticism over the White House’s reckless dismissal of social-distancing measures and other key health recommendations aimed at curbing the spread of the virus.

“This administration doesn’t care about the Secret Service,” a current agent told the Wahington Post after Trump tested positive for COVID-19 last week. The same report detailed a staggeringly lackadaisical approach to protective measures within the White House, with Secret Service officials denied requests for more secure N95 masks. 

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In "News Never Pays," our fearless CEO, Monika Bauerlein, connects the dots on several concerning media trends that, taken together, expose the fallacy behind the tragic state of journalism right now: That the marketplace will take care of providing the free and independent press citizens in a democracy need, and the Next New Thing to invest millions in will fix the problem. Bottom line: Journalism that serves the people needs the support of the people. That's the Next New Thing.

And it's what MoJo and our community of readers have been doing for 47 years now.

But staying afloat is harder than ever.

In "This Is Not a Crisis. It's The New Normal," we explain, as matter-of-factly as we can, what exactly our finances look like, why this moment is particularly urgent, and how we can best communicate that without screaming OMG PLEASE HELP over and over. We also touch on our history and how our nonprofit model makes Mother Jones different than most of the news out there: Letting us go deep, focus on underreported beats, and bring unique perspectives to the day's news.

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