The eldest Trump spawn, Donald Trump Jr., has reportedly contracted the coronavirus. Honestly, given the rate at which the virus has spread among the president’s staff and associates in recent weeks, is anyone really surprised?
“Don tested positive at the start of the week and has been quarantining out at his cabin since the result,” a spokesperson for Trump Jr. said in a statement to CNN. “He’s been completely asymptomatic so far and is following all medically recommended COVID-19 guidelines.”
Bloomberg was the first to report his positive diagnosis on Friday after confirming the news with three sources familiar with the matter. Trump Jr. is the latest among more than four dozen people associated with the White House who have been infected by the virus, including President Donald Trump himself. Among others on that ever-growing list are first lady Melania Trump, the president’s youngest son Barron, his chief of staff Mark Meadows, longtime campaign adviser Corey Lewandowski, former White House counselor Kellyanne Conway, and several White House aides and reporters.
On Friday, Andrew Giuliani, a White House aide and the son of the Trump’s campaign ooziest lawyer Rudy Giuliani, announced that he also contracted the virus. He said in a tweet that he was in quarantine and had been “experiencing mild symptoms.” One of Pence’s aides, Hannah McInnis, tested positive for the virus earlier this month, according to two people familiar with the matter who spoke with Bloomberg.
Trump Jr. was one of the hundreds of maskless guests at a packed election night party at the White House, which is starting to look more and more like the administration’s second superspreader event in as many months. In October, Trump and several others tested positive for the virus following a Rose Garden ceremony to announce Amy Coney Barrett’s Supreme Court nomination. The nation’s leading infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci later dubbed the gathering a superspreader event, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he makes the same prognosis about Trump’s election night rally in the coming days.
News of another Trump family diagnosis comes as the coronavirus pandemic continues to surge across the country. The U.S. set several grim new records on Thursday, recording more than 182,000 new covid-19 cases as well as 1,971 deaths, the highest death toll since May. With the holiday season approaching fast, the Centres For Disease Control and Prevention is begging people not to travel to avoid potentially spreading the virus even further. As the Trumps have demonstrated in their shining display of ignorance, covid-19 is not something you want to keep in the family.