Donald Trump gives something away after reporters hammer him about having coronavirus

| 5:00 pm EDT March 13, 2020
Dear Palmer Report readers, we all understand the difficult era we're heading into. Major media outlets are caving to Trump already. Even the internet itself and publishing platforms may be at risk. But Palmer Report is nonetheless going to lead the fight. We're funding our 2025 operating expenses now, so we can keep publishing no matter what happens. I'm asking you to contribute if you can, because the stakes are just so high. You can donate here.

“I have no idea who he is.” That’s the full extent of Donald Trump’s explanation for why he’s not worried that he might have caught the coronavirus from a Brazilian official. Apparently, in Trump’s mind, if he comes into contact with an infected person but he doesn’t know the person’s name, he can’t catch it. Also, Trump appears to be admitting he didn’t know the guy he was interacting with was the Brazilian government’s Director of Communications.

To their credit, White House reporters wouldn’t let it go. Another of them asked Donald Trump, “Are you being selfish?” All Trump could do was to keep babbling about how many people he gets his photograph taken with each day, as if this was somehow an argument for why he can’t possible have coronavirus.

Then a reporter asked Trump why he’s refusing to get tested. He said “I didn’t say I wasn’t going to be tested.” Then he added that he will “most likely” be tested, and “we’re working on a schedule.” Trump appears to have actually given something away here.

The CDC’s website says that if you take a coronavirus test before you’re sufficiently sick, it can come back negative even if you’re positive. Based on his performance today, Donald Trump is clearly ill – but he may not be ill enough to test positive yet. When he says his people are “working on a schedule” for his test, it suggests that they’re trying to figure out the right time to test him and get an accurate result. In any case, there’s more reason than ever to suspect that Trump may indeed have the virus.