Former President Barack Obama cast his political and personal differences with President Trump aside to wish him a speedy recovery after he and first lady Melania Trump tested positive for COVID-19.
Obama opened up his joint fundraiser for 2020 Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden with Biden’s running mate, California Sen. Kamala Harris, by sending his well-wishes on behalf of himself and his wife, former first lady Michelle Obama.
“Although we’re in the midst of a big political fight, and we take that very seriously, we also want to extend our best wishes to the president of the United States,” he told grassroots donors Friday.
Obama added that he hoped the current first couple, like others dealing with the coronavirus, had access to the healthcare they needed.
“We’re all Americans, and we’re all human beings, and we want to make sure that everybody is healthy,” he said.
Obama’s sentiments were echoed by his former No. 2, with Biden tweeting during the event that Trump’s diagnosis shouldn’t be a partisan moment.
“It must be an American moment. We have to come together as a nation,” Delaware’s 36-year senator wrote after sharing a similar message Friday afternoon on the campaign trail in Michigan.
This cannot be a partisan moment.
It must be an American moment.
We have to come together as a nation.
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) October 2, 2020
Trump was flown to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on Marine One Friday evening after testing positive for COVID-19 overnight. The White House said Friday afternoon he felt fatigued, but sources told reporters he has complained about having a fever, chills, congestion, and a cough.
Obama and Trump have had an acrimonious relationship in the past. Tensions mostly emanate from Trump’s lies Obama wasn’t born in the United States before the real estate mogul and reality TV star ran for the Oval Office. Michelle Obama wrote in her memoir that she will never forgive Trump for his birther claims about her husband and how it endangered their family.
