Jason Johnson Calls Out ‘Terrible Day’ For GOP as Covid Reaches Inside White House: ‘Could Be the Death Knell of a Functional Campaign’ by Trump
MSNBC contributor Jason Johnson warned that the bombshell news top White House aide Hope Hicks has tested positive for the coronavirus and that President Donald Trump has begun pre-emptive quarantining while awaiting his own test results could be devastating for his re-election effort.
Speaking with MSNBC’s 11th Hour host Brian Williams, Johnson said he suspected the news about Hicks was merely a crack in the dam, and that many more revelations about the spread of the virus amongst the White House’s inner circle could be on the way.
“We talk about October surprises, right? This is going to be like a nesting doll, Russian nesting doll of surprises,” Johnson predicted. “This has been — we’ve said this so many times over the last four years. This might be the worst 24 hours in the Trump presidency. He’s not only — because I think it’s important to mention it’s not just that he wouldn’t condemn white nationalists, but if you ask the white nationalists themselves including the Patriot Prayer groups and the Proud Boys, he actually told them to stand by and be ready at his beck and call.”
Johnson went not to note that Trump mocked the coronavirus and its impact just recently, but has now announced that he and the First Lady are having to temporarily self-isolate out of an abundance of caution.
“But the think the chaos surrounding the resident right now, the utter irony of a president who mocked mask wearing 48 hours ago possibly having to now go through the painful process that millions of Americans have gone through,” Johnson said, alluding to Trump’s bizarre dismissal of masks and public dressing down of Dr. Anthony Fauci at Tuesday’s debate. “Hopefully he survives, but if he has to go through the coronavirus process, this is almost a nail in the coffin of his incompetence handling the virus. And if that’s the most important issue to voters, and it seems to be right now, this could be the death knell of a functional campaign of Donald Trump going forward. This is a terrible day for Republicans across the board.”
Williams then added as a coda to Johnson’s remarks a point about an absurdly optimistic claim that Trump had made just hours before.
“I’m reminded again earlier today in recorded remarks for the annual — well, the semi regular Al Smith dinner in New York,” Williams pointed out. “The president said that ‘the end of the pandemic is in sight.’ As they say in Washington, he might want to revise and extend his remarks.”
Watch the video above, via MSNBC.
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