Trump critics seize on president's positive coronavirus test to mock, lecture

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Dr. Ronny Jackson on the President and First Lady testing positive for coronavirus

Former White House Physician Dr. Ronny Jackson on news of President Trump and First Lady to quarantine after testing positive for coronavirus.

While many on social media sent well-wishes to President Trump and first lady Melania Trump early Friday after the president confirmed they had both tested positive for the coronavirus, others took the time to criticize or make negative comments.  

TOP CRITICS OFFER PRAYERS FOR PRESIDENT

Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., dubbed part of a liberal "Squad" of freshman congresswomen who are relentlessly critical against Trump and his handling of the coronavirus pandemic, did not hold back.

Instead, she tweeted: "He still won't wear a mask. He only cares about himself and his life, NOT those around him or the people he took an oath to protect. Too many lives lost because of his deadly lies."

Her comments come just days after Trump, during the first presidential debate, mocked Democratic nominee Joe Biden for wearing a mask constantly to help stop the spread of the virus, which has killed over 200,000 Americans. 

"Tonight will reveal where we all think the line is comedically," director Judd Apatow, who is known for movies like "Knocked Up" and "The 40-Year-Old Virgin," tweeted about the likely prospect the president's diagnosis would be fodder for jokes. 

"Maybe you shouldn't have mocked people for wearing masks," screenwriter Randi Mayem Singer, who wrote "Mrs. Doubtfire," commented on Twitter. "Maybe you shouldn't have encouraged packed crowds. Maybe you shouldn't have told the CDC what to report. Maybe you don't deserve to be POTUS."

She added, "If that vile, science-denying, mask-discouraging, crowd-encouraging SOB put Joe Biden or his family at risk I may lose my mind. You?"

"Just learned that Hope Hicks tested positive for Covid," actress and frequent Trump critic Bette Midler tweeted before the president confirmed he had tested positive. "Timing’s so interesting. I guess Trump’s quarantining will mean no rallies, and no more debates. Convenient. It’s awful to always think the worst, but after four years of relentless lying? Can’t be helped. No trust left."

Actor and director Rob Reiner tweeted, "That damn hoax."

"Twitter was created for tonight," "The Ellen Show" executive producer Andy Lassner wrote.  

"Star Wars" actor Mark Hamill tweeted that if there's anything positive that could come from the president's testing positive, "it would be his followers reevaluating their opinions. If they will now accept a lockdown, social distancing & mandatory mask-wearing, we could crush the virus like we should have from the start." He hashtagged the post #ButIAlsoBelieveInTheToothFairy. 

Attorney George Conway, a frequent Trump critic, attempted to make a political point.

"He failed to protect the country," Conway wrote. "He couldn't even protect himself."

Anti-Trump intelligence commentator Malcolm Nance seemed to already be preparing for Trump to leave office.

'THINK ABOUT IT," Nance wrote. "OMG. If both Trump & Pence go down. @TeamPelosi could be President!"

Left-wing activist Michael Moore floated a conspiracy that Trump could be lying about having coronavirus to "change the conversation about this campaign" as an opportunity to "TO PUSH FOR DELAYING/POSTPONING THE ELECTION," he said in a lengthy post on Facebook. 

"The constitution does not allow for this, but he doesn’t give a f*ck about the constitution. He and his thug Attorney General Barr have no shame and will stop at nothing to stay in power. He may even use this as an excuse for losing," Moore wrote. 

"He may use his Covid as a pretext to drop out of the race and move Pence to the top of the ticket. Pence would temporarily become President, and then Pence could pre-emptively pardon Trump for all of his crimes," he went on. 

Norman Ornstein, a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute and contributor to the Atlantic, said he was in the debate hall on Tuesday. "The entire Trump entourage came in w masks, took them off as soon as they sat down, refused to put them on when asked by Cleveland Clinic personnel," he tweeted. "Flouting defiantly the law & rules. And Trump shouting only 8-10 feet from Biden for 90 mins. Oy."

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"Mr. President—if these reports are confirmed, I wish you and the First Lady well," former Democratic presidential candidate Julian Castro tweeted. "I hope this is a wake up call that this virus is not a hoax or something cured by injecting bleach. We need a plan, not the same divisive, dangerous rhetoric."

This story previously misidentified Dave Hogg as a Parkland shooting survivor