President Biden testing positive for COVID-19 offers grim counterprogramming to an energetic Republican National Convention, during which former President Trump is set to give his first speech Thursday since surviving an assassination attempt.
While Biden is isolating at his home in Delaware, Trump bounced back from the shooting at his rally Saturday to a hero’s welcome in Milwaukee. Biden’s campaign has been releasing ads and holding press conferences to counter Republicans throughout the week, but the president himself will not have any public appearances for at least a few days.
The juxtaposition offers what some see as a night and day approach to the two men’s respective campaigns in what has consistently been a tight race for most of the year so far.
“Today is a terrible day. If you pull it back and look at this thing: strength versus weakness,” Democratic strategist Van Jones said Wednesday night on CNN. “A bullet couldn’t stop Trump; a virus just stopped Biden. You’ve got the nominees of this [Republican] party getting their butts kissed. Biden’s getting his butt kicked by his own party. The Democrats are coming apart, and the Republicans are coming together.”
Biden tested positive in Las Vegas just moments before he was set to make a speech at a convention of Latino voters — a key bloc for him to win in November. He was experiencing upper respiratory symptoms, a runny nose and a cough before receiving a COVID-19 test.
When he landed late Wednesday night to isolate at his Rehoboth Beach home, Biden told reporters, “I am doing well.”
Biden’s physician Kevin O’Connor sent an update on the president’s health on Thursday afternoon, saying he is still experiencing mild upper respiratory symptoms, he continues to receive Paxlovid, he does not have a fever and his vital signs are normal. He added that Biden will “continue to conduct the business of the American people.”
Meanwhile, Trump’s pick for vice president, Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio), gave a boisterous speech to officially accept the nomination to be the running mate on the GOP ticket. The crowd in Milwaukee is now anxiously awaiting Trump’s speech, remarks that the campaign said were ripped up after Saturday’s shooting.
“Nobody understands the power of visual images better than Donald Trump, and it appears that President Biden increasingly does not understand that power. It’s obviously ironic to say that being targeted for assassination could be part of a lucky streak, but the split-screen images over the past week have reshaped the race to a tremendous extent,” said Stewart Verdery, who served in former President George W. Bush’s administration.
Biden’s COVID-19 diagnosis also comes at a precarious time for him, as calls for him to step off the ticket picked up again this week with Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) adding to the list, and reports surfacing of former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) pressuring him to drop out.
“If the Democrats were a soccer team, Nancy Pelosi is the coach about to sub in a replacement for an ailing player,” added Verdery, founder of Monument Advocacy.
Some Democrats were hopeful, though, that surrogates for Biden will step up and provide counterprogramming while he recovers.
“There is never a convenient time for COVID-19, but Democrats have a strong bench of people to be surrogates while the president gets better. Should we worry? It’s on the list, but not sure it makes it the top tier on the worry list,” said Ivan Zapien, a former Democratic National Committee official.
Surrogates on the ground in Milwaukee for Biden, including Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D), Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) and Rep. Veronica Escobar (D-Texas), have been holding daily press conferences with reporters.
The Biden campaign also unveiled a powerful television ad Wednesday night, just before Vance’s remarks, which was narrated by a Kentucky woman, Hadley Duvall, who was raped by her stepfather and got pregnant at 12 years old. She argued that “Trump and JD Vance don’t care about women.”
But the focus on Biden’s health that’s increased since his poor debate performance late last month was elevated once again when he tested positive for COVID-19. The White House has recently had to defend his fitness for office, leaning on the results of his physical in February that said he was fit for office while having to clear up why a neurologist with an expertise in Parkinson’s disease had visited the White House several times.
The president said in an interview that aired Wednesday that only a doctor telling him he had a medical condition would cause him to reevaluate his decision to run for a second term.
“If I had some medical condition that emerged. If doctors came to me and said, ‘You’ve got this problem, that problem,’” Biden told BET News’s Ed Gordon.
Biden’s been trying since the debate to ease concerns among Democrats over his ability to beat Trump in November and, after the attempted assassination of the Republican candidate over the weekend, attempted to project leadership and call for unity through three different remarks.
But, the COVID-19 diagnosis to cap off a tumultuous three weeks for the president — who is trying to change perceptions and prove that he is up for another four years in office — is a tough break, some say.
“In the three weeks leading up to the GOP convention in Milwaukee, weak got weaker and strong got stronger,” said strategist Bruce Mehlman, a former assistant secretary at the Commerce Department under Bush.
Republicans appeared ready ahead of Trump’s remarks Thursday night to point out the split screen between the two parties this week.
“Where there is chaos, disarray, free fall in the Democrat Party, where you have Schumer and Pelosi, meeting privately with Joe Biden. Talking about how it’s a problem for the House and the Senate. Versus the unity we have with Republicans,” Rep. Elisa Stefanik (R-N.Y.) said Thursday on Fox. “It’s a stark contrast for the American people to see.”
Updated at 1:58 p.m. ET