Former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel predicted President Trump will not be able to hold as many campaign rallies in the coming weeks due to an outbreak of the COVID-19 virus.
Emanuel, who served as President Barack Obama’s chief of staff from 2009 to 2010, also said this crunch would hurt Trump’s mental state.
“He is not going to be able to have his rallies,” Emanuel said Sunday on ABC’s This Week. “… the office is isolating enough, and his inability to get the admiration, the adulation from that crowds is going to psychologically torment him.”
Hundreds of cases of the coronavirus have been reported in the United States in recent weeks, and 19 patients have died as of Sunday.
Trump has held rallies in various major cities across the country as often as twice a week since the new year began. These events typically draw thousands of attendees, many of whom wait hours outside to get inside the venue.
Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, urged older U.S. citizens or people with compromised immune systems to avoid travel or large gatherings while U.S. health officials seek to control the outbreak.
In Italy, where more than 16 million people have been quarantined, and hundreds have died, Pope Francis delivered his prayers Sunday in St. Peter’s Square via livestream.
Trump has insisted his administration’s effort to curb the spread, led by Vice President Mike Pence, is working, and the threat to the public remains low.
“We have a perfectly coordinated and fine tuned plan at the White House for our attack on CoronaVirus,” Trump tweeted Sunday. “We moved VERY early to close borders to certain areas, which was a Godsend. V.P. is doing a great job. The Fake News Media is doing everything possible to make us look bad. Sad!”
We have a perfectly coordinated and fine tuned plan at the White House for our attack on CoronaVirus. We moved VERY early to close borders to certain areas, which was a Godsend. V.P. is doing a great job. The Fake News Media is doing everything possible to make us look bad. Sad!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 8, 2020
He told reporters in Florida on Saturday that the coronavirus will not force him to scale back his campaign rallies. “We’ll hold tremendous rallies,” he said.
Emanuel said he suspects Trump’s attacks on Democrats and members of the media reporting on the virus will get more intense as the number of infected individuals across the country grows.
“His isolation is going to get more intense,” Emanuel said. “And his tweets are going to get more vicious.”
