MSNBC host Joy Reid has suggested that President Donald Trump’s coronavirus diagnosis may be a lie to get out of future presidential debates.
Early Friday, just after midnight, President Trump announced he and First Lady Melania contracted the novel coronavirus after his top aide Hope Hicks tested positive.
On Friday the 74-year-old was transported to the Walter Reed Medical Center in Maryland to stay for several days and work out of the presidential suite there.
Before Trump headed to the hospital, the 'ReidOut' host shared a theory on Twitter that Trump may be faking his diagnosis, citing previous dishonesty from the president and his administration.
'Here’s how wrecked Trump’s credibility is at this point: I’ve got a cellphone full of texts from people who aren’t sure whether to believe Trump actually has covid. "He lies so much," one friend just texted. "Is he just doing this to get out of the debates?" others are texting,' Reid tweeted Friday.
Trump’s diagnosis comes just days after he and Democratic nominee Joe Biden shared the debate stage, marking a chaotic and tense evening that critics dubbed the worst debate in American history.
In the debate Trump bulldozed Biden and moderator Chris Wallace with interjections, the two candidates slung insults at each other, and Wallace struggled to maintain order as he could not mute their microphones.
Reid shared another tweet noting the White House’s caginess in describing Trump’s medical condition, saying, 'We haven’t been able to count on them for the truth about anything for four years.'
As of Friday Trump was reportedly experiencing a fever, cough and congestion.
However, not everyone agreed with her conspiratorial tweet.
'65K likes on this one from a national primetime host. Aged well with the president now on his way to Walter Reed,' The Hill media reporter Joe Concha tweeted.
'It looks like the conspiracy theorist who hacked Joy Reid's blog has now apparently hacked her Twitter account too. Cyber security is a serious problem,' Washington Examiner reporter Jerry Dunleavy responded.
But Reid wasn't the only figure to hit out at the president's shocking diagnosis.
Director Michael Moore, who created the movie 'Fahrenheit 9/11', blasted Donald Trump as a 'professional liar' Friday as he claimed the president was faking having coronavirus to get ahead in the election.
The left-wing activist, 66, went on a lengthy rant on his Facebook page in which he said Trump was pretending to have COVID-19 to win sympathy amid his dwindling poll numbers, or attempting to have the election day pushed back from November 3.
He finished the post by admitting that Trump 'probably does' have COVID-19 but said the president had to stay alive to answer for his handling of the coronavirus pandemic.
Moore was skeptical that the White House and Trump were revealing the truth about his condition.
The director claimed that the president was guilty of too many lies to be taken seriously about his coronavirus diagnosis.
'There is one absolute truth about Trump: He is a consistent, absolute, unrelenting, fearless, and professional liar. A serial liar. A factually proven liar,' Moore wrote.
'How many lies now has the Washington Post proven in these four years? 25,000? A lie at least twice during every waking hour? Think of all the bad people you've known in your life. Even the worst ones you couldn't say that about.
'Why on earth would we believe him today? Has he earned your trust now?' he questioned.
Moore added that he believed Trump had previously lied about his health and medical problems.
'Trump has a history of lying about his health. His longtime New York doctor, Dr Bornstein, admitted a few years ago that Trump dictated his perfect 'doctor's letter' during the 2016 campaign,' he alleged.
'Then there was the White House doctor who said Trump could live "200 years!" What about his lying about that emergency trip to Walter Reed "to complete his physical?"'
Moore continued to cite the reasons why he believed the president is lying.
The vocal anti-Trump activist said that he thought it was a scheme to postpone the election as polling shows him continuing to fall behind rival Joe Biden.
He branded Trump an 'evil genius' who was 'canny' and 'clever' in 'weaponizing this'.
'But most dangerously, HE MAY USE THIS TO PUSH FOR DELAYING/POSTPONING THE ELECTION. The constitution does not allow for this, but he doesn't give a f**k about the constitution. He and his thug Attorney General Barr have no shame and will stop at nothing to stay in power. He may even use this as an excuse for losing,' Moore continued.
'Then there's this: He may use his Covid as a pretext to drop out of the race and move Pence to the top of the ticket. Pence would temporarily become President, and then Pence could pre-emptively pardon Trump for all of his crimes.'
Moore finished the rant by pulling back on his skepticism and saying that Trump's positive coronavirus test may be true, urging the president to 'stay alive'.
'Finally, on a personal note: Stay alive Mr. President. Your exit from public life must happen in the right and decent way. You have many years to live. You have a child to raise. Grandchildren who need you. A base that loves you,' Moore wrote.
'And the families of nearly the quarter-million dead who might be alive today had you done your job, had you cared, had you not played politics with people's lives. Over 200,000 lost souls — and YOU KNEW! You told Woodward in February it was a plague. 200,000 dead because of decisions you made, because you denigrated science and ignored the doctors.'
Moore's comments came despite Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, his running mate Kamala Harris and former President Barack Obama all expressing their best wishes for Trump's recovery.
The White House said that Trump would remain in the hospital for 'a few days' where he would undergo tests. He would continue to work from the presidential suite, they added, which comes with its own conference room and an office for Trump's Chief of Staff Mark Meadows.
A Trump advisor told CNN Friday that there was 'reason for concern' as the president's symptoms were regarded as 'serious' but White House officials said there was no reason for the public to be worried.
At least seven people who were in attendance at the Rose Garden event nominating Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court last Saturday have now tested positive: President Trump, the first lady, a senior White House aide, two Republican senators who sit on the judiciary committee and the head of the University of Notre Dame.
Just before Trump and Melania were diagnosed, White House aide Hope Hicks, who had traveled with the president this week, tested positive.
This article has been adapted from its original source.
