On Plugged In:
The President …
of the United States …
infected with COVID-19.
((SOT- Trump: “I didn’t feel so good”))
((SOT- Frieden: “He seems to be doing well, but until 7 to 10 days have passed, he’s not out of the woods.”))
We examine …
the President’s treatment …
The affect …
his hospitalization had …
on national security …
And the impact all …
of this is having …
on the U.S. …
presidential campaign …
inside a month …
to Election Day.
On Plugged In: …
COVID in the White House.
[[GRETA]]
Hello and welcome …
to Plugged In.
I’m Greta Van Susteren …
reporting from Washington.
COVID-19's penetration ...
of the White House ...
adds another bit of anxiety ...
in an already momentous year.
[[FS]]
President Donald Trump ...
and First Lady …
Melania Trump ...
are atop a list …
of at least a dozen …
top government officials ...
who contracted COVID ...
after attending …
a White House event....
on Saturday, September 26.
[[VO]]
Many of the attendees ...
were not wearing masks.
Less than a week later ...
the President and First Lady ....
tested positive for coronavirus.
In between ...
President Trump ...
and former Vice President ...
Joe Biden …
held their first debate …
signaling the start ...
of the final stage ...
of the 2020 presidential
election campaign.
VOA’s Senior White House Correspondent
Patsy Widakuswara has the latest.
(TAKE PKG)
((Trump walks up the stairs, takes off mask and stands in front of the WH, AFP V000_8RH2GC))
((NARRATOR))
Upon returning to the White House after three days in the hospital, President Donald Trump took off his mask Monday evening and urged Americans not to be afraid of the virus.
((President Donald Trump)) ((AFP V000_8RH2GR))
“And now I'm better, and maybe I'm immune, I don't know. But don't let it dominate your lives, get out there, be careful.”
((Montage of Trump’s tweets today from https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump ))
((NARRATOR))
Trump had no public events scheduled at the White House on Tuesday but has been tweeting frequently. Some of the tweets downplayed the threat of the coronavirus,
((Various of Trump at WH balcony AFP V000_8RH2GC))
((NARRATOR))
the same message that he conveyed in the video of his discharge from hospital.
(( https://app.frame.io/player/374b8516-198b-4a3e-afc1-b6d40e51e912 TC 1:09))
((Jeffrey Bennett, Vanderbilt University))
“I don't think it's meant to do anything to advance the public health messaging that his own administration is attempting to do. It is, as it often is with this president, a display of what he thinks strength looks like. But of course, we know that there were some hiccups there as well, close ups of the president for example found him to be breathing rather heavily.”
((WH doctor statement from https://twitter.com/PressSec/status/1313522747432148993/photo/1 overlaid on background of pic of Trump))
((NARRATOR))
On Tuesday the White House released a statement saying the president’s vital signs are stable and that he “reports no symptoms”.
((Trump walking with mask, AFP V000_8RH2GC))
((NARRATOR))
Public health experts say that this does not mean he cannot transmit the virus to others.
((Graham Snyder, University of Pittsburgh Department of Medicine))
“Generally speaking, people with mild illness are no longer contagious by day 10. So, first and foremost, is if somebody is contagious with COVID-19, to stay self-isolated to protect those around you.”
((Close up of WH with flag, AFP V000_1FD6T9))
((NARRATOR))
Meanwhile the White House has become a virus hot spot, noticeably emptier than it was a day or so ago as some staff work remotely.
((GFX Slide 1))
((NARRATOR))
Other than the president and the first lady, there are at least nine White House and Trump campaign staffers who have tested positive, including press secretary Kayleigh McEnany. The number does not include undisclosed infected lower level staff and Secret Service agents.
((GFX Slide 2 or Various of debate, AFP V000_8R22YP))
((NARRATOR))
At least 11 people who helped with the presidential debate last week have tested positive,
((GFX Slide 3))
((NARRATOR))
as well as three Republican senators, two religious leaders and three journalists who were likely infected
((Various from ACB nomination at Roe Garden, AFP V000_8QT6YJ,
((NARRATOR))
during a White House ceremony on Sep 26th that has become a potential coronavirus super-spreader event.
((Various White House, AFP V000_8RA2WN, File of CDC, Various of DC residents in masks AFP sV045_1VN7TF))
((NARRATOR))
The White House says contact-tracing is being carried out. The administration faces criticism for involving neither the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention nor the municipal government of Washington, DC, where many staffers reside.
((Graham Snyder, University of Pittsburgh Department of Medicine))
“Looking backward is important, particularly for super-spreader events because knowing who the source was for an infection can help identify where other transmission patterns could have happened. In other words, knowing where President Trump was exposed may be important to identify other people who may have been exposed at the same time.”
((Scroll of memo, https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/update-health-safety-precautions-taken-within-executive-residence/ and various of White House exterior))
((NARRATOR))
The first lady’s office released a memo on Tuesday, outlining precautionary measures including full personal protective equipment and daily testing for staff working in the residential part of the White House where the first couple is recovering.
((Various of debate, AFP V000_8R22YP))
((NARRATOR))
Trump has just over a week to get well before he is scheduled for a second debate with Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden on October 15th.
(( https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1313489709847531520 ))
((NARRATOR))
Trump tweeted he is looking forward to it.
Patsy Widakuswara, VOA News.
[[GRETA]]
The Centers …
for Disease Control …
is the lead …
U.S. government agency …
fighting the pandemic.
Dr. Tom Frieden ...
was the CDC Director ...
during the Obama administration.
We discussed …
the president’s prognosis...
and the importance …
of a comprehensive approach …
to treating COVID-19.
[[SOT/FRIEDEN INTERVIEW]]
Dr. Tom Frieden: He's a 74 year old man who fits into the category of obesity. Given his weight and he's gotten oxygen which is standard Remdesivir which is commonly given to hospitalized patients and may reduce how long they're sick. A new experimental treatment called monoclonal antibodies or a cocktail of monoclonal antibodies. And that's a promising treatment. But there are only a few hundred patients who have ever been described with it. Very few who have also gotten Remedesivir and then Dexamethasone, a steroid which is usually given late in the course of illness to people to cool down their immune system when the immune system making you sick, not the virus itself. I think that basically means you've taken all of the most promising or demonstrated treatments and given them to the president. He seems to be doing well but until seven to 10 days have passed, he's not out of the woods. And it emphasizes that this is a very serious infection that can easily be fatal, even though most people will fully recover
Greta Van Susteren: Are those drugs readily available to everybody? I mean, he's obviously the President of the United States. But if you if I got sick or you got sick or somebody else on the street got sick and got to the hospital, are those drugs readily available?
Dr. Tom Frieden: Let's take them one by one. Oxygen. This is readily available in the United States. It's not nearly as available as it should be around the world. that's not just for covid. Oxygen is important for adults with pneumonia. It's very important for newborns who may need it just for a few hours to escape brain damage that may affect them for their whole life. So oxygen is something globally that we need to increase the supply of. Second is, Dexamethason. It's a steroid. You can use other steroids. They're widely available, inexpensive. Third is Remdesivir There isn't enough Remdesivir around. And there are challenges and problems with its manufacture and supply. So that's certainly a problem. And then monoclonal antibodies. That's not even on emergency use authorization. That was something that was gotten directly from the company. So that's not something that's widely available. Remdesivir in the U.S. is getting much more widely available. But the monoclonals, not yet.
Greta Van Susteren: Remdesivir was originally developed to address Ebola on the African continent, turned out not to be successful. So what was it, just put a shelf for all these years for a couple of years?
Dr. Frieden: Interestingly for many medications, there's a whole field of repurposing medicines. They might have been made for one thing, but it turns out they work really well for something else. And that's a good example of innovation in a way that doesn't mean discovering something new but discovering a new way to use something old. Dexamethasone though is the only one of those four treatments that's actually been proven to reduce the risk of death. And if you take an average of someone who's 74 years old, their risk of death is about 3 percent. If you have everyone in fact, about 10 percent, if you're looking at people who have symptoms and if they are required to be hospitalized, and it's not clear that the president required hospitalization, that risk would go up to about 25 percent. It's higher for males and females. It's higher for people who are obese, than non obese, but it's lower with good treatment including oxygen and Dexamethasone.
Greta Van Susteren: But the good news for the African continent is I've seen that is of beaten the early covered 19 predictions.
Dr. Frieden: Well there are a lot of things going on. One is there are a lot younger. And this is a disease that really hits old people hard. Second is they're doing a better job. We've worked in my organization Resolve to Save Lives with several dozen countries throughout the continent. They've had organized incident management responses. They've had very well-structured contact tracing and testing programs. They've had good community buy-in for mask wearing and reducing some social interactions that reduce the risk. But they're not out of the woods yet. They still could see a bad outbreak, as has happened in parts of South Africa and elsewhere.
Greta Van Susteren: Is there still a whole lot more to know about the Coronavirus? Are we still like just in the basic early stages?
Dr. Tom Frieden: We're still learning an enormous amount about this virus. We still don't know why some people get so sick and other people don't. We don't know why kids rarely get severe illness or why know the severity of illness increases dramatically the older you get or why men get sicker than women. And we don't yet know if there is going to be a safe and effective vaccine, which will be very important. But what we do know is that there's a lot that we can do to control it. And some of it is pretty straightforward. Wear a mask, quickly find the cases, isolate people from the moment they're infectious, find their contacts, warn them that they've been in contact. They can quarantine so the virus can not spread past them. There's a lot that we can do, even though there's a lot we don't yet know.
Greta Van Susteren: Doctor, thank you very much sir.
Dr. Tom Frieden: Thank you. Great speaking with you again.
[[GRETA ON CAM]]
At least three journalists ...
who cover the White House ...
tested positive for COVID.
Steve Herman ...
is VOA’s White House Bureau Chief.
He was aboard Air Force One ....
covering President Trump’s ...
campaign trip to Minnesota ...
the day before the President ...
tested positive.
[[SOT/HERMAN INTERVIEW]]
Steve Herman: I had a unique situation last week. I was on Air Force One on Wednesday for the round trip to and from Minnesota, which was the flight that Hope Hicks, a key aide to the president counselor to the president, she apparently started feeling ill on that flight back from Minnesota to Joint Base Andrews. And there's also some information that the president may have been under the weather as well on that flight back. So I had been tested for COVID that morning here at the White House before we got on the flight. And then I was supposed to cover vice president, former Vice President Biden's campaign on Friday, going from Delaware to Michigan. And the Biden campaign required us to get a test in Wilmington Delaware the evening before. I did get a test, it was negative. We got the results within about 15 minutes. And then a couple hours later, we got the news about Hope Hicks. Well, and that was before we knew that the president was COVID positive. I informed, the Biden campaign, which was understandably nervous, even though I had tested negative And a decision was made that I should not travel with the vice president on Friday, out of an abundance of caution. I was in a unique situation I was the only reporter I think that week that was trying to flip from the Trump campaign to the Biden campaign.
Greta Van Susteren: When you talk about tests, are you talking about the rapid tests, which is called the antigen one or the PCR test, because the antigen one, I think it's fast, but it's it's thought to be less accurate.
Steve Herman: Correct. It is a quick and painless test. I've probably had it nearly 20 times now, and it's just sort of a swab tickling both of your nostrils and they're able to get the results fairly quickly. And if you were to test positive from that, then there would usually be, especially in the case of somebody like the president or White House staff, a second more accurate test that would take longer to process.
Greta Van Susteren: What if you have an event like the vice- there was a debate last week between President Trump and former Vice President Biden, it was in Cleveland, but a lot of people met at Andrews and they flew on Air Force One. And there were a lot of guests taken to Cleveland Ohio for the debate. And then nobody was tested apparently from Air Force One in Cleveland. But were some tested at Andrews, you know some of the guests?
Steve Herman: Those reporters who would be in the travel pool would have been tested that morning here at the White House before going out to Andrews and then riding along on Air Force One with the president.
Greta Van Susteren: I take it when --if if you're if you're tested in the morning in the travel pool and you test negative. and they say we're going to leave at 4 o'clock for Andrews, that you're mixing with everybody else you're not like cordoned off in some particular area. But you're now mixing with people.
Steve Herman: There is a risk to that, definitely Greta.
Greta Van Susteren: Less than two weeks ago, there was a big event at the White House in which the president made a formal nomination of a judge to the U.S. Supreme Court. And there are a lot of people there. And now several people were there have tested positive for the Coronavirus, where those people all outside the whole time or were they inside the White House?
Steve Herman: Yes, some of those people were inside for a period of time, but for most of the time, they were sitting outside. Most of them were not wearing masks and they definitely were not socially distanced.
Greta Van Susteren: In general, where we are now with the situation, the president having been sick. His close person, Hope Hicks, the press secretary, go through a list of people who've gotten sick in the last 10 or so days. Kellyanne Conway, are journalists on edge covering the White House?
Steve Herman: Well I think there has been a degree of nervousness for a number of months and we have taken precautions. That's one reason we have been very vigilant about wearing our masks when we're in the White House. And there’s been a bit of friction during the pandemic between the White House and the White House Correspondents Association (WHCA). The White House Correspondents Association decided to reduce, twice, the number of seats in the briefing room. But the White House decided to let a couple of other reporters who aren’t part of the Correspondents Association to just stand in the back of the room and ask questions and when they weren’t wearing their masks earlier on, that did cause some friction and concern. And the Correspondents Association, Greta, I should also say, has made very strict protocols for what happens when we come into the West Wing of the White House, that we have to wear masks at all times and we shouldn’t congregate together. That wasn’t the White House that decided that. And we're wearing these masks to protect everybody, including the president of the United States.
Greta Van Susteren: Steve, thank you very much.
Steve: Herman: My pleasure, Greta.
[[GRETA]]
Messages of concern …
and prayer …
poured in from …
world leaders …
when the President’s diagnosis …
was announced.
More from VOA’s …
Mariama Diallo (Mah-ree-ah-ma Dee-ah-lo).
[[PKG/DIALLO]]
((NARRATOR)) ((Gen trump and twitter page))
World leaders are reaching out to President Donald Trump after he said he and his wife have contracted the coronavirus.
The head of the World Health Organization wished the couple a speedy recovery.
((Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus - Director General, WHO reading (in English) )) ((HEALTH-CORONAVIRUS/USA-TRUMP-WHO))
'"Overnight we heard that the President of the United Stated of America Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump tested positive for COVID-19. I want to start today by wishing them both a full and swift recovery. Our prayers are with them."
((NARRATOR)) ((Belgium Merkel Trump)) ((Merkel walking and addressing reporters)) (( https://app.frame.io/projects/24368708-68ca-4624-953b-d53db344e4cb/474da384-7d4d-4fef-a0df-b76c036793b3 ))
Addressing the media at the end of the two-day European Union summit where leaders discussed the virus and its impact on the economy, German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
((Angela Merkel, German Chancellor (in German) )) ((Belgium Merkel Trump)) ((00:34))
"I would like to use this opportunity to wish (US) President Donald Trump and his wife, Melania, a very full and speedy recovery as quickly as possible from their COVID-19 infection."
((NARRATOR)) ((Mexico Trump Reax))
Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador did the same.
((Andrés Manuel López Obrador, President of México)) ((Mexico Trump Reax)) ((00:06))
"I take this opportunity to wish the President of the United States and his wife a quick recovery.”
((NARRATOR)) ((Germany Russia WHO Trump Reax)) ((00:10))
The Kremlin released a statement saying Russian President Vladimir Putin sent a telegram to the White House. In the statement Putin writes in Russian ''I am sure that your inherent vitality, good spirits and optimism will help you cope with the dangerous virus.”
((NARRATOR)) ((Nigeria Trump Reax))
In Nigeria, many newspapers reported Trump's coronavirus infection on their front pages.
Abiodun Ayinde, an accountant and tax expert in Lagos.
((Abiodun Ayinde, Accountant, Lagos)) ((Nigeria Trump Reax)) ((00:16))
“All of us have to be careful, no one is immune. The American President (Donald Trump) has contracted it (COVID-19) so we have to be careful. Stay safe, use face masks."
((NARRATOR)) ((gen White House and Trump))
((MARIAMA DIALLO VOANEWS))
((GRETA ON CAM))
Despite the well-wishes …
there is always concern …
that enemies will try …
to take advantage …
when the U.S. president …
is ill or hospitalized.
Pentagon officials ...
reassured Americans ...
that the U.S. military …
stands ready ...
to defend the country ...
from any threat ...
in the wake …
of the President’s ...
COVID-19 diagnosis.
I spoke to …
VOA Pentagon Correspondent …
Carla Babb ...
on what the president’s health ...
means for U.S. national security.
[[SOT/BABB INTERVIEW]]
Carla Babb: We were issued a statement within hours of finding out that the President had the Coronavirus, he had tested positive for covid-19. We were actually told that there had been no adjustments that needed to be made at the Pentagon because this --the system that we have set up, while it is a delicate system for our defense, it can withstand one person getting sick or something happening to one person. And they just wanted to reassure the American public and the world and our allies that everything was going OK.
Greta Van Susteren: In terms of the Secretary of Defense traveling, when the president travels on Air Force One, the whole White House essentially goes with him, he's got a full office. And he can he can do business right from Air Force One. Is the same true for the secretary defense when he travels? Does he essentially have everything he needs as though he were back in Washington in the Pentagon?
Carla Babb: That's exactly right Greta. He has everything that he needs. I've traveled on that plane that he travels on many times. We travel on a plane called the E4B, that pretty much allows him to have all of the communications, the classified communications that he needs, if there were a nuclear war, he can actually continue refueling and staying in the air over and over and over again if needed. So he was perfectly capable of carrying out his duties and continuing everything. The one thing that was concerning that that some officials had raised concerns is that the Vice President was continuing to go out on the campaign trail. And because Coronavirus is still so fresh and new and you don't know what's going to happen, even though the president seemed to be getting better, they were concerned because the president has to handle the nuclear codes. and should something happen and he had an emergency and he lose consciousness, you would need that vice president to be there. Vice President Pence would need to be near the nuclear codes or the nuclear codes would need to get to him as soon as possible. And that is why we have seen potentially delays in telling how the president is being affected by Coronavirus. That's not unusual. And it's not necessarily not being transparent, as long as they continue to update the American public, because, for example if he were to lose consciousness and the vice president was not nearby. If our adversaries found out about that, that would be an advantage to our adversaries, a real advantage to our adversary. So the U.S. doesn't want that to happen.
Greta Van Susteren: Does the Secretary of Defense typically wear a mask Where is he on this?
Carla Babb: So when I have seen the secretary. And granted, I have been reporting from afar, so I've only been seeing him, but he has been walking up to the podium whenever he's done town halls or whenever he's spoken and he will sit down, social distance and then he will take off his mask. That is very reassuring, I'm sure, to all of the U.S. service members out there who want to make sure that he doesn't catch COVID-19 as well. And it's more, but the thing with the mask, it's not just to protect you It's to protect all of your, the people around you as well.
Greta Van Susteren: Do you have any sense that they are worried about national security as a result of the president being hospitalized and having covid-19? Or is it really is that everyone is just reassuring everything? It's business as usual. We need not fear national security risk associated with the president's illness.
Carla Babb: It very much is business as usual. Very much so, because as I said this this the situation that we have the protocols that the US has in place to transition power is easily withstood when one person in that chain of command gets sick. We've seen this with presidents before. And clearly if the president were to lose consciousness or anything, there would be a way to hand over power. This is happens all the time. President Bush had a colonoscopy and was able to hand over power in the past to his vice president while he was under anesthesia, undergoing that procedure and then handed it back immediately after that was finished. So there hasn't been any sort of worry at the Pentagon at all. Once the negative tests kept coming in. Everything really has been business as usual.
Greta Van Susteren: Carla, thank you very much.
Carla Babb: Thank you for having me.
[[GRETA]]
President Donald Trump ...
joins a growing list of ...
of world leaders ...
infected by COVID-19 …
since the outbreak ...
of the pandemic …
earlier this year....
[[ SOT/WORLD LEADERS ]]
British Prime Minister,,,,
Boris Johnson tested positive...
for coronavirus in March.
After spending …
More than a week …
In self-isolation …
Johnson had to be hospitalized …
and was close …
to being placed …
on a ventilator …
before recovering.
Brazilian President ...
Jair Bolsonaro, (Jah-eer Ball-so-Nahro) …
tested positive in July...
and recovered after three weeks.
Elsewhere in the Americas …
the presidents …
of Honduras …
Guatemala …
Bolivia …
and the Dominican Republic …
all tested positive.
Prince Albert of Monaco …
Was the first head of state …
To publicly admit …
Testing positive.
In Africa …
the vice presidents …
of Gambia …
and South Sudan …
are among government leaders …
infected.
Actors Tom Hanks …
Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson...
and Idriss Elba (Ih-dris Ehl-buh)
are among Hollywood figures …
who battled coronavirus.
[[GRETA]]
President Trump’s …
coronavirus diagnosis …
came at a critical moment …
in his campaign …
for re-election.
I spoke to Rick Klein …
political director …
for ABC News …
about how …
the President’s health …
is affecting …
the 2020 presidential campaign.
[[SOT/KLEIN INTERVIEW]]
Rick Klein: Well it makes the only issue for the foreseeable future, covid 19, which that's what Joe Biden has wanted to focus on, and particularly when he uses the president's mismanagement of this crisis- that's a favorable issues set if you're Joe Biden. Less so for President Trump. Clearly the messaging around the country being about to about to cure this, being out of the woods is hurt when he personally is infected. That's why I think you see him trying to project an image of strength, of optimism, of security from the virus that is probably not totally in keeping with the reality at the moment. So this becomes the big thing.
Greta Van Susteren: All right. The debate next week though, it's a town hall. Is there any thought of sort of changing what it was planned and maybe not have a town hall or doing it virtually? Have you heard anything about that?
Rick Klein: Yeah. Everything is on the table is what we've been told. I mean remember just a couple days ago we're talking about rules changes because of that debacle of the first debate that we all witnessed. Now it's a lot bigger than that. The vice presidential debate is going to have a piece of plexiglass that's put up at the request of Kamala Harris's campaign to keep them physically distanced. There will be extra precautions there. And then yea, the point that undecided voters would put themselves in potential potential health jeopardy by showing up is something that is relevant, and the Commission on Presidential Debates who organizes these things Greta, they’re putting everything on the table in terms of going virtual, terms of questioners or part virtual, part in-person, much different than we've seen in the past. But I think probably prudent, given where things stand.
Greta Van Susteren: So many people talk about the mask as a political symbol. Is the mask now a political symbol?
Rick Klein: It's become one. And I think it probably was one already, given the president's complicated relationship with the idea of wearing masks. But the way that he dramatically took the mask off in showing up on the Truman Balcony after being discharged at Walter Reed, I think solidified it. And then you see Joe Biden turning back with his town all hours later saying “come on. This is not a question of patriotism. Do the patriotic thing It put it on. This isn't about being macho.” And he's on social media dramatically showing that he's wearing a mask. We saw just a week ago at that debate, Biden was being mocked by President Trump for wearing a mask. It is an important divide. I think it's a cultural divide, as well as a political divide in the country right now. And Biden's calculation is that Americans understand masks as a simple gesture of personal responsibility. For President Trump, it's a lot more about personal liberty. And he has emphasized throughout that that he doesn't want it to be a requirement. Joe Biden said, I want a national mask mandate. I want every governor to mandate this in the country. So it's a clear division. It's not just a policy difference. again, i think it's sort of a cultural and attitudinal difference between the two candidates.
Greta Van Susteren: A lot of people are watching, watching this race. And they're hearing about Coronavirus. They hear us talk a little bit about health care, not a whole lot. The economy as it relates to coronavirus. But the one topic that we're not hearing a lot about and it is. And that's foreign policy and how it affects other nations. Do you expect that between now and election day we're going to hear more about what the U.S. foreign policy is between Vice former Vice President Biden or President Trump, or do you think it's just going to be corona virus, maybe the economy and health care?
Rick Klein: Yeah, frankly I don't think it's going to be a huge topic. I'd be surprised if it does come up in the remaining presidential debates if they happen. Either that town hall debate or the or the final debate, which is, you know, again, all the topics on the table. So the president, obviously as commander in chief, runs the foreign policy. I think though, short of world events crashing into the campaign, it's going to be very hard to muscle out covid, the economic crisis, the crisis around race that we've experienced over the last couple of months. These are huge domestic issues. They have foreign policy implications. And of course, there are vast differences to how Joe Biden would operate as president versus Donald Trump as president. But I don't see it becoming top of mind for voters again unless there is some kind of an international crisis, unless there is armed conflicts breaking out or some other way that the U.S. gets drawn into something. I don't see the issue set changing naturally in that direction.
Greta Van Susteren: You know the election is less than 30 days away. And you think that, I mean that just so much that can happen in the next 30 days. So much has happened in the last seven days. This is really this is a roller coaster ride for the United States.
Rick Klein: Oh, it's wild. I mean, I think, you know, the pace of these earth rattling developments is unprecedented. And it's happened at a time that Americans lives are just directly disrupted. People are changing the way that they live. They're changing the way that they vote by necessity. Often legal changes are buttressing that. It just it all adds to the monumental uncertainty in this country. You know that when you have both candidates saying this is the most important election of a lifetime, they're suggesting not just that future policy is at stake, but in varying ways the whole fate of the United States is at stake. You know, however you feel about that, there are a lot of people that believe that in this country. We are going through a wracking moment. A really divisive and ugly moment often, a moment of a real potential pivot point in American history, the stability of democracy. All of these things are coming into play at the same time. You know, Greta, I never thought I'd live to be able to cover an election quite like that. You have to go back a long time, I think, you know, maybe to be to the Civil war, maybe to the civil rights era to find anything even roughly comparable. This is a really tenuous moment for this country to have this political campaign play out against that backdrop is an extraordinary thing.
Greta Van Susteren: Rick, thank you.
Rick Klein: Thank you, Greta. Great to be with you.
[[GRETA]]
That’s all the time …
We have for now.
Thank you to my guests …
Rick Klein of ABC News ...
and former CDC director …
Dr. Tom Frieden.
And VOA Correspondents ...
Steve Herman ...
And Carla Babb.
Stay up to date …
With our website …
VOANews.com.
And follow me on Twitter @Greta.
Thank you for being Plugged In.
###
