Top Trump campaign adviser and fundraiser Kimberly Guilfoyle was recently diagnosed with COVID-19.
Guilfoyle, the media savvy girlfriend of Donald Trump Jr., is apparently asymptomatic and did not get near the president during his trip to South Dakota earlier this month. But a pre-event test revealed her infection, and so in order to avoid infecting others on a plane, she and Trump Jr. drove back to the East Coast.
And there is the problem. There’s a reason the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has been advising Americans to stay at home or near home.
If you test positive in your hometown, you can quickly barricade yourself at home and eliminate almost all risk of infection to anyone outside your immediate family.
But what if you are thousands of miles from home? It was wise and selfless of Guilfoyle to avoid a plane, train, or bus, as the risk to others would be quite high in those environments. Yet the risks in driving cross country while infected with COVID-19 are also substantial. With Trump Jr. in the vehicle with her, after a couple of hours, we have to assume he’s infected as well. So how do they get food? Where do they stop for the night?
What do they do when nature calls? Not to be too graphic, but public health experts have been very concerned about the risk of transmission from toilet plumes after defecation. COVID-19 has been detected in large amounts in the feces of infected patients.
The Trump campaign has been mocking Joe Biden for his mask-wearing and his comparative reluctance to resume campaigning. But it seems like every Trump or Pence event, whether in Oklahoma, Arizona, or South Dakota, at least one person involved tests positive. Many have been Secret Service agents or Trump campaign staffers. Think for a moment how those people get home. How many people do each of them infect in turn?
A presidential campaign event is almost perfectly designed for viral transmission. Strangers, brought together from all over a region, joined by campaign and security staff brought from even farther, together indoors for hours, with shouting, music, and singing. The president’s entourage flies to and from the event, along with the media and security. Add to that the established reluctance of Trump supporters to wear masks or practice social distancing, and every Trump rally is a COVID-19 transfer party.
It’s time for the Trump and Biden campaigns to stop all travel events until it is safer to gather. Campaigns can be done over Zoom, the way millions of Americans have been video conferencing through their workdays. If you want to reach the remaining voters without access to the Internet, buy longer chunks of television time. Be creative — like the rest of us have had to be.
But what you can’t do if you are running for president is infect more people unnecessarily. Every infection comes with a risk of infecting others, and eventually, killing some of the citizens you claim to care about.
Trump feels like he is at his best at his powerful and entertaining rallies. He feels they are a big part of how he won in 2016. But the virus doesn’t care about his feelings. And voters will remember if he chooses his ego and political needs over people’s lives.
Meanwhile, spare a thought for campaign employees and the Secret Service agents who protect the president. Trump’s supporters can choose whether to attend rallies, but staff and security cannot. They travel across the country and risk exposure to themselves and their family.
For their sake, and for the sake of staff at the Midwestern roadside restaurant that served Trump Jr. and Guilfoyle on July 4, Trump must stop campaigning as if we were past the pandemic. Because we’re not.
Jeremy Mayer is an associate professor in the Schar School of Policy and Government at George Mason University.
