Trump wanted to display Superman shirt after being discharged from hospital for COVID: Haberman book

03 October 2022

This Tuesday, October 4 is the official release date for New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman’s new book, “Confidence Man: The Making of Donald Trump and the Breaking of America.” Excerpts from the book have been widely reported, and one of the anecdotes being reported by Axios involves Trump’s desire to display the Superman logo when he was discharged from Walter Reed Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland in October 2020.

During his 2020 campaign, Trump downplayed the seriousness of the COVID-19 pandemic — as he feared it would hurt his chances of being reelected. But in October 2020, Trump tested positive for COVID-19 and was hospitalized at Reed.

In “Confidence Man,” Haberman describes Trump’s idea, reporting, “(He) would be wheeled out of Walter Reed in a chair and, once outdoors, he would dramatically stand up, then open his button-down dress shirt to reveal (a) Superman logo beneath it. Trump was so serious about it that he called the campaign headquarters to instruct an aide, Max Miller, to procure the Superman shirts; Miller was sent to a Virginia big-box store.”

According to Haberman, Trump’s idea was inspired by the King of Soul, James Brown, as well as professional wrestling. But Trump ended up abandoning the idea.

After being discharged from Reed, Trump returned to the White House.

COVID-19 was first reported in Wuhan, China in late 2019. According to Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, the pandemic has since killed more than 6.5 million people worldwide — including over 1 million in the United States.

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