As Trump resumes travel, staff take risks to prepare trip

Washington, May 5

For much of the last two months, President Donald Trump has rarely left the grounds of the White House as he’s dealt with the fallout of the coronavirus pandemic and sought to minimise his own exposure to the disease.

But that changes on Tuesday, when Trump is scheduled to travel to Arizona to visit a Honeywell facility that makes N95 masks in what the president suggests will mark the return to more regular travel.

The trip also means a small army of advisers, logistical experts and security staff — a coterie of hundreds that includes personnel from the White House, Defense Department, Secret Service and more — will resume regularly hitting the road again and taking a measure of risk to assist Trump. In addition to Tuesday’s trip, Trump says he will travel soon to Ohio, to New York in June for the US Military Academy graduation, and to South Dakota in July for a holiday fireworks display at Mount Rushmore.

“I’ve been at the White House now for many months, and I’d like to get out, as much as I love this. … Most beautiful house in the world,” Trump said.

But White House officials are also taking precautions to try to prevent Trump and Vice President Mike Pence from exposure to the virus. Honeywell workers who meet Trump — just like anyone else who comes in close proximity to the President and Vice-President — will be first required to take a rapid point-of-care test to determine if they’re carrying the virus. — AFP

Air Force One flies again

At a moment when officials have asked Americans to postpone non-essential travel to help stem the coronavirus, President Donald Trump is looking to rev the engines of Air Force One as he tries to prod a shell-shocked American electorate — reeling from the death and economic destruction wrought by the virus — to edge back to normal life.