President Donald Trump will board Air Force One Monday night for the first time in almost two weeks as he heads for massive outdoor rally in Florida to mark his return to the campaign trail.
And it’s just a start of a vigorous schedule for Trump, 74, who is marking his return to campaign trail since being sidelined with COVID.
One of his top campaign advisers said Monday the president is complaining about not having enough events on his campaign schedule, adding they expect to have two to three or more in the ramp up to November 3.
‘The president, even this morning, in our morning conversation, was getting on my case for not having enough rallies and public events scheduled. So he’s ready to go. I expect to see him out there in the short term two to three events a day and that will grow as we get closer to Election Day,’ Jason Miller, a senior adviser to the Trump campaign, told reporters on a press call.
President Donald Trump on Monday heads for massive outdoor rally in Florida to mark his return to the campaign trail
Trump will hold a rally in Sanford, Florida, where he was scheduled to be last Friday night before tested positive for COVID – above his last trip on Air Force was October 1, when he went to Bedminister, N.J., for a fundraiser
Trump will make his return to the campaign stage with a rally in Sanford, Florida, where he was scheduled to be last Friday night before tested positive for COVID.
Monday also is the start of a jam-packed with of campaign stops in states crucial to his re-election. On Tuesday Trump will be in Johnston, Pa., on Wednesday in Des Moines and Thursday in Greenville, North Carolina.
The president needs Florida’s 29 electoral votes if he wants a second term in the White House. Vice President Mike Pence was campaigning in the state on Saturday and Donald Trump Jr., the president’s eldest son, was in Florida over the weekend to rally supporters.
Florida’s death toll from the virus passed the 15,000 mark on Friday. The number of total daily infections topped 5,500 on Sunday.
And first-time filings for unemployment assistance in the state rose last week, with after Disney World and Universal Orlando announced layoffs.
Democratic nominee Joe Biden called Trump’s rally ‘reckless.’
‘President Trump comes to Sanford today bringing nothing but reckless behavior, divisive rhetoric, and fear-mongering,’ Biden said in a statement Monday.
Biden leads in the state by almost four points in the RealCleaPolitics average of Florida polls.
Questions linger about the state of the president’s health and how infectious he is. His doctor has given him the all-clear to return to the campaign trail and the president, at his rallies, is on stage and stays distant from supporters.
Florida is a state the president has to win if he wants a second term in the White House – Vice President Mike Pence campaigned in the state on Saturday
Democratic nominee Joe Biden called Trump’s Florida rally ‘reckless’
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that people with COVID refrain from being around others for 10 days after symptoms first appear, and that includes 24 hours with no fever without the use of fever-reducing medications.
Those with a more severe to critical case of the virus could infectious for 20 days after symptoms begin.
The White House has not been clear about the severity of Trump’s bout with COVID. Officials have declined to say when he last tested negative. Dr. Sean Conley, Trump’s physician, has released written updates on Trump’s health but has not taken questions from the press since last Monday.
Trump’s positive test result was announced Oct. 2, the same day he was hospitalized, and he received treatments that are typically reserved for those who are severely ill.
That could be because he is president or because it was medically needed. If it was the later, that indicates he may need to isolate until Oct. 21.
The president’s doctor said he is no longer contagious.
‘He is no longer considered a transmission risk to others,’ Conley wrote in a memo on Sunday.
Conley also said ‘there is no longer evidence of actively replicating virus’ and ‘decreasing viral loads’ – although there was no mention if the president has tested negative.
‘It looks like I’m immune for, I don’t know, maybe a long time, or maybe a short time. It could be a lifetime. Nobody really knows. But I’m immune. So, the president is in very good shape to fight the battles,’ Trump told Fox Business’ Mario Bartiromo on Sunday.
‘I knew I was free. I beat this crazy, horrible China virus,’ he added.
Photos on social media of the set for the rally in Florida, which will take place outside at the Orlando Sanford International Airport, showed rows of chairs lined up next to one another with little social distancing.
Additionally, there will be no requirement for his supporters to wear masks but they will be encouraged to do so.
‘We will have the same policies that we’ve had in place, the campaign has always handed out masks, encouraged people to wear them, provided hand sanitize or. Ultimately, you have a right in this country to show up and express your political viewpoint, that’s why we have peaceful protests. You can’t have one standard for the protesters out there on one side but not for those wanting to express their first amendment rights in support of this president,’ White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said on ‘Fox & Friends’ Monday morning.