President Trump considered ripping off his dress shirt to reveal a Superman T-shirt when he was released from the hospital after being treated for the coronavirus, according to a report.
The president initially weighed acting frail when discharged from Walter Reed National Medical Center last Monday and then revealing the Superman shirt as a sign of strength but decided against going through with the stunt, the New York Times reported on Saturday.
Trump tested positive for the coronavirus on Oct. 1 – two days after the presidential debate with Joe Biden – and was taken to Walter Reed the following day for treatment after his oxygen levels fell.
He returned to the White House on Oct. 5 and released a video message he taped on the balcony telling Americans not to be fearful of the coronavirus.
“I learned so much about coronavirus and one thing that’s for certain, don’t let it dominate you,” the president said in the video.
“Don’t be afraid of it. You’re gonna beat it. We have the best medical equipment, we have the best medicines — all developed recently,” he said.
In an interview last Thursday on Fox Business Network, Trump said he was able to beat the coronavirus because he’s in such great shape.
“I’m back because I am a perfect physical specimen and I’m extremely young. And so I’m lucky in that way,” Trump told Maria Bartiromo on the show.
White House Dr. Sean Conley said Saturday that the president is no longer contagious, clearing the way for Trump to return to the campaign trail.
“This evening I am happy to report that in addition to the President meeting the CDC criteria for the safe discontinuation of isolation, this morning’s COVID PCR sample demonstrates, by currently recognized standards, he is no longer considered a transmission risk to others,” Conley wrote in a memo released by the White House.