Donald Trump admitted to the authors of a new tell-all book that he flouted his own government’s guidelines and routinely didn’t wear a mask to protect himself from Covid-19 because he feared it would make him look weak.
The former president told Washington Post journalists Carol Leonnig and Philip Rucker “about the importance in his mind of looking strong, looking healthy, looking impenetrable,” Leonnig told MSNBC’s Ali Velshi on Tuesday.
Trump ended up contracting the coronavirus himself in October 2020 and was hospitalised for three days. At one point his oxygen levels sank to the 80s. Normal levels range from 95% to 100%.
“I will tell you that we learned in our reporting that the chief of staff, Mark Meadows at the time, counselled the medical advisers and political advisers, ‘No way, he can’t wear a mask, he’s already dug in on this, he can’t do it, because his base will basically rebel,’” said Leonnig.
Leonnig and Rucker’s “‘I Alone Can Fix It’: Donald J. Trump’s Catastrophic Final Year” was released Tuesday.