Analysis: Move shows lack of empathy for relatives of those who died from coronavirus

Even by the extraordinary standards of the past weeks news agenda, Donald Trumps decision to leave the Walter Reed hospital and wave to his supporters outside was another mind-spinning move by the US president.
Hours after his physician confirmed that he had taken supplemental oxygen and had been administered a steroid course that is typically given to the most seriously ill Covid-19 patients, Trump left the hospital grounds in a convoy of SUVs. Throughout the weekend, the president had made reference to the supporters outside, retweeting supportive videos and reportedly sending chocolates out to the crowd on Friday night. By Sunday evening it seemed that the thirst for adulation proved too much.
Trump defied even the most basic guidance given to any sick patient, particularly an overweight 74-year-old male, and left the hospital grounds to receive a brief flurry of approval from his supporters.
Quite apart from the risk in which he put the health of the secret service agents that accompanied him, the decision showed his immense lack of judgment as a president.
The move was reminiscent of the moment in June when he decided, apparently on impulse, to stride out of the White House and pose outside St Johns Church holding a bible a move that backfired, and utterly misread the mood of a nation reeling from the police killing of African-American man George Floyd, and facing a national reckoning with racial injustice.
Trumps short parade on Sunday night was a similar misjudgment, showing an utter lack of empathy with the thousands of Americans whose relatives have died from coronavirus, and who lacked the luxury of the specialised care and treatment available to the president of the United States.