At re-election rally, Donald Trump says he 'feels so powerful'

MIAMI: At his first re-election rally following his October 2 announcement of being COVID-19 positive, US President Donald Trump boasted about being "immune" to the disease, adding that he "feels so powerful" following his recovery.

He made the remarks to a huge crowd of supports at an airport in Sanford, Florida on Monday night, about a week after being discharged from the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Washington following his COVID-19 treatment, reports The Hill magazine.

Neither did the President wear a mask nor many others in the crowd. There was no social distancing either.

"I am fighting to make sure we eradicate the virus, rebuild the economy and save our country from the radical left. "Now they say I'm immune. I feel so powerful. I'll walk in there. I'll kiss everyone in that audience. "I'll kiss the guys and the beautiful women, just give you a big fat kiss," the President was quoted as saying.

Before he left for the rally, White House physician Sean Conley said that Trump has tested negative for the novel coronavirus "on consecutive days", in the first public disclosure about the US President's health status.

"Repeatedly negative antigen tests, taken in context with additional clinical and laboratory data, including viral load, subgenomic RNA, and PCR cycle threshold measurements, as well as ongoing assessment of viral culture date, all indicate a lack of detectable viral replication," Conley wrote in a memo.

The memo, however did not specify on which consecutive days Trump had tested negative. During Monday night's rally, the President offered sympathies to the people who have lost loved ones due to COVID-19.

"I have such respect for people in this country, the way they have handled it. It's been an incredible love fest," The Hill news website quoted Trump as saying.

"And sympathies from all of us to those people whose family members who have died, whose friends, I have lost friends." Attacking his Democratic rival Joe Biden, Trump said: "He has no strength left. If he wins, the radical left will be running the country."

He accused the former Vice President of being controlled by "left-wing extremists" and described him as mentally unfit.

Trump is scheduled to campaign in Pennsylvania on Tuesday and Iowa the following day. Monday's rally came after Trump made his first public appearance at a White House event on October 10. On October 8, Conley cleared the President for public engagements "based on the trajectory of advanced diagnostics the team has been conducting". (IANS)

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