President Trump considered ripping off his dress shirt to reveal a Superman T-shirt when he was released from the hospital after being treated for the coronavirus.
On several photo calls made from inside the hospital’s presidential suite during his three-day stay, Trump toyed with the idea of likening himself to Superman, America’s most famous immigrant.
Trump initially weighed acting frail when discharged from Walter Reed National Medical Center last Monday and then revealing the Superman shirt as a sign of strength.
At some point, Trump abandoned the stunt idea before leaving the hospital on October 5.
Trump tested positive for the coronavirus on Oct. 1 – two days after the presidential debate with Joe Biden – and was taken to Walter Reed the following day for treatment after his oxygen levels fell.
He returned to the White House on Oct. 5 and released a video message he taped on the balcony telling Americans not to be fearful of the coronavirus.
In an interview last Thursday on Fox Business Network, Trump said he was able to beat the coronavirus because he’s in such great shape.
“I’m back because I am a perfect physical specimen and I’m extremely young. And so I’m lucky in that way,” Trump told Maria Bartiromo on the show.
Donald Trump says he is in great shape, getting a lot of exercise on the golf course.
At a brief White House appearance on Saturday, Trump saw several teal blue shirts among the attendees. “I want to put one of them on instead of a white shirt.”
Superman was trending on Twitter after the report surfaced and the proposal was widely ridiculed by political pundits and critics of the president.
“Whenever I think Trump can’t do something more ridiculous, he proves me wrong,” tweeted Renato Mariotti, a former federal prosecutor.