Secret Service is trained to take a bullet for the president, not from him

The US president is behaving like a madman.

Mad, as in reckless, unhinged, oblivious to the impact of his behaviour on others.

A US secret service contact, speaking to CNN overnight, put it best: “The Secret Service are trained to take a bullet for the President. Not from a President.”

Donald Trump has COVID-19.

He is highly infectious.

He has left the hospital, for what comedians are calling The Covid Day Parade, waving to supporters from his motorcade, in a manner that brings to mind Kim Jong Il.

He has now returned to the White House, to pose on the balcony. Without a mask.

Medically speaking that may not be reckless. Not every Covid patient is in hospital. Most battle the illness at home. That’s true in Australia and it’s true in the US.

But can you even imagine the number of staff needed to take care of Trump right now?

Continuing to hold the Presidential Protection Division and Uniformed Division Secret Service in my heart and prayers along with the White House butlers, housekeepers, ushers, chefs, electricians, florists, curators and everyone Trump and his staff blithely exposed to #covid19.

— Chelsea Clinton (@ChelseaClinton) October 5, 2020

He’s the US president, and he’s also in campaign mode.

And every one of those people – hundreds and hundreds of them – are in the infection zone.

So are their families, when they go home.

So are the people with whom they interact: the girl who hands the meal over at McDonald’s, for example. The attendant at the petrol station.

Some are scoffing about the risk, because surely he’s taking precautions.

There aren’t enough precautions in the world.

We saw that in Victoria yesterday: a Melburnian went to Kilmore, with a travel exemption in her pocket.

You’re only supposed to get takeaway, but she sat down for a meal.

The waitress is now infected.

So is the person she ate with.

So are others, who surround those people.

It’s one thing to object to the ridiculous Victorian lockdown – a person in Melbourne has sneezed so you can’t go out in Sorrento – and quite another to insist that people who actually have the virus limit their contact with others.

Trump has been described as brave, and somehow awesome, even as he stands, gasping for breath, having “defeated the virus.”

It’s not so. He’s in the danger zone, and anything could happen, but also, where is his concern for other people?

What if somebody dies?

And all so he can get back on the election campaign? You don’t put the lives of those who work for you, and those around them, at risk, to get yourself elected, surely?

There are a few doctors around, saying it could be that Trump is feeling invincible, because of the high dose of steroids he was given.

It can make you feel bulletproof.

It gives you a huge blast of energy.

“Don’t be afraid of Covid. Don’t let it dominate your life,” Trump cried, in one of the more than 30 manic, all-cap tweets he’s sent out since he was diagnosed.

pic.twitter.com/OxmRcZ5nUZ

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 5, 2020

This is crazy talk. COVID-19 has taken the lives of more than 200,000 Americans, most of whom went out while on ventilators, unable to see or speak to those they love.

Again, the fact of him leaving hospital is not outlandish.

It is quite true that doctors don’t necessarily want to keep a Covid patient in hospital for a lengthy period.

Often, a patient only needs to be monitored for a few days, and they can then go home.

But Trump does not go home to a house in the suburbs, where he can rest and recuperate.

He is necessarily surrounded by people, all the time.

He wants to portray himself as the strongman, not in the face of an existential crisis for the United States – like, say, when George W. Bush went to Ground Zero – but for the purpose of getting re-elected.

He swore, when he took office, to protect and defend the Constitution. Surely that extends to the protection of all around him, from the disease he currently carries.