Rachel Maddow: Trump's COVID-Spreading Rally Circuit Is 'Worst Road Show' Ever
Rachel Maddow slammed President Donald Trump on Thursday as a kind of modern-day Typhoid Larry, helping to spread COVID-19 wherever he chooses for his campaign rallies.
The Trump reelection campaign rally season kicked off last month with a lackluster crowd in Tulsa, Oklahoma. But there were still plenty of jam-packed, yelling, maskless Trump fans to contract coronavirus in the arena — particularly after campaign workers removed seat stickers encouraging social distancing, noted the host of MSNBC’s “Rachel Maddow Show.”
The rally “likely” contributed to a dramatic surge in Tulsa coronavirus cases, according to the local health director.
Trump campaign staff working on the rally tested positive for the virus. And former Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain is still in the hospital after being diagnosed with COVID-19 soon after attending the event — without a mask.
Trump then stumped at a megachurch in Phoenix packed with 3,000 young people, almost all without masks. At least eight Secret Service agents preparing shortly afterward for a visit to the city by Vice President Mike Pence holed up in a Phoenix hotel battling symptoms of COVID-19.
Donald Trump Jr.’s girlfriend Kimberly Guilfoyle tested positive for COVID-19 last week, shortly she was scheduled to appear with the president at another mega event at Mount Rushmore.
She skipped the appearance, but spent the days leading up to the rally tirelessly campaigning for Trump — without a mask — in Montana and South Dakota. Montana GOP gubernatorial candidate Rep. Greg Gianforte suspended in-person campaigning last week to self-quarantine after his wife, Susan, was exposed to Guilfoyle.
“This is the national roadshow that the president is doing right now. There aren’t any other big congregant events indoors for thousands of people of any kind ... anywhere in the country. It’s just events for the president,” said Maddow. “And so far it’s not going great.”
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