Donald Trump made an unfortunate gaffe on Rush Limbaugh‘s radio show on October 9, amidst growing concern that he’s unfit for office while suffering from COVID-19. During a discussion about new Iranian sanctions, the president said, “Iran knows that: If you f**k around with us, if you do something bad to us, we are gonna do things to you that have never been done before.”
Trump called into Limbaugh’s show from the Oval Office for a rambling, two-hour interview that essentially turned into a MAGA rally. The president ranted about Iran, his “unfair” treatment by the media, his Democratic opponent Joe Biden, and… Hillary Clinton‘s emails. He also told Limbaugh, whom he awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in February, that he’s feeling much better since starting a steroidal treatment for COVID-19. The president tested positive for the virus on October 1, and was hospitalized for two days. He is now back at the White House and not quarantining, despite CDC recommendations.
Despite tweeting shortly before being released from Walter Reed Medical Center on October 5 that he was feeling better than he had “in 20 years,” Trump’s behavior post-hospitalization has left some concerned. Upon arriving at the White House, he climbed to a balcony and gave photographers a thumb’s up, but was visibly gasping for air and splotched makeup. While taking a course of multiple heavy steroids, Trump began tweeting erratically, and non-stop for hours, all in caps.
The night before his interview with Limbaugh, Trump phoned into Fox Business for an interview that went off the rails. Trump wheezed and coughed throughout the broadcast, as he claimed that he was “clean” and no longer contagious. It had been less than a week since his diagnosis. I’m back because I am a perfect physical specimen and I’m extremely young. And so I’m lucky in that way,” Trump, who is 74, obese, and has known heart issues (also, again, COVID-19) stated.