Trump touted the 'end' of COVID-19. Hours later, he tested positive.

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump's staggering announcement Fridaythat he tested positive for coronavirus had the potential to upend his all-is-well messaging on the pandemic while throwing an already contentious election into further disarray.

Trump has argued for weeks that the nation had "turned the corner" on COVID-19, despite spiraling case counts, and he often asserted Americans had the pandemic "under control" as he pressured states to open schools and businesses.

Hours before his early morning announcement Friday, Trump told a dinner audience via recorded remarks that the "end of the pandemic is in sight."

But the fact that White House officials were unable to keep Trump clear of the virus undercut those talking points, raised questions about his repeated dismissals of public health guidelines and led critics to argue the president had been playing with fire with well-attended campaign events while downplaying the severity of the pandemic. 

"Of course this happened," tweeted Ben Rhodes, a former aide to President Barack Obama, echoing a sentiment of inevitability widely shared on social media. 

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Not only does the announcement have seismic implications for the president's messaging, it will also have an impact on the logistics of his schedule just weeks before the Nov. 3 election. Trump had already canceled a rally in Florida on Friday, and the revelation of his positive result raised questions about his ability to hold rallies, fundraisers and participate in presidential debates scheduled later this month.
 

All of that presented an existential challenge to many of Trump's central arguments in the campaign: That the nation was poised to climb out of the pandemic soon, that states were only closed down for political reasons – as an effort to make Trump look bad – and that Democratic nominee Joe Biden was being too cautious, "hiding" in his basement. 

"Sleepy Joe Biden surrendered. You know where he is now? He's in his damn basement again," Trump said during a Nevada rally last month. "No, he's in his basement." Trump asserted in a White House briefing in August that "Sleepy Joe rejects the scientific approach in favor of locking all Americans in their basements." 

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The president, meanwhile, has also frequently mocked Biden and others for wearing a mask. He only rarely wears one himself, and often asks reporters to remove theirs so he can better hear their questions. Trump took Biden to task for the practice, which has been recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and public officials, during the first presidential debate in Cleveland earlier in the week. 

"I have a mask right here," Trump said, pulling out the black mask he wears occasionally. "I put the mask on...you know (when) I think I need it...I don’t wear masks like him. Every time you see him, he's got a mask. He could be speaking 200 feet away from me, and he shows up with the biggest mask I've ever seen."