Lt. Gov. Jeanette Nunez said that she “would have felt comfortable” in the same car Sunday with President Trump, who controversially left his hospital suite to greet well wishers inside a black Suburban with rolled up windows.
The President, who tested positive Thursday night and was hospitalized less than 24 hours, has been working to project an image of vitality while hospitalized.
Nunez told reporters on a press call Monday that the decision by the President was made “in consultation with medical personnel. I don’t think the medical personnel would have allowed it if had they felt there was an imminent threat in that car.”
“Yes, I would have felt comfortable,” Nunez said.
The comments came during a press call organized by the Trump campaign Monday ahead of Democrat Joe Biden‘s Sunshine State swing in which Nunez and state Senator Joe Gruters, the chair of the Republican Party of Florida, contended Biden’s election would usher in a full complement of far-left policy priorities.
Nunez contrasted Biden’s record, including what she vowed would be renewed concessions to Cuba’s communist regime, with that of the President.
Gruters noted, among other assertions, that “dangerous rhetoric” from Biden and Harris threatens to undermine vaccine development.
The press call came at a time of increased urgency for the campaign, with fundraising faltering, Trump recovering from the virus, and polls, such as the latest from the Florida Chamber, showing evidence of a Biden break as ballots are coming back.
The Trump campaign had to postpone weekend events, including an in-person presidential show up in Sanford and visits to multiple cities Saturday from the President’s namesake son.
Meanwhile, the Biden campaign, fueled by stretch run fundraising from donors big and small, is more visible on television. Including with the former Vice President’s own visit Monday.
Though Trump “can’t wait to get on the campaign trail,” as one surrogate on the call said, that return ultimately is not imminent, placing the onus of messaging on surrogates down the stretch.
Nunez is confident the President, a “relentless fighter,” will be “joining us in one shape, form, or fashion soon,” after a “decision in consultation with his medical team.”
And she “wouldn’t be surprised if the First Family or others spends a lot of time in Florida.”
Regarding mask wearing, a seeming optionality at the President’s political events through the spring or summer, Nunez predicted the status quo.
“I don’t know that there’s going to be a change in strategy,” she contended.
This photo first appeared at Florida Politics.
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This article appears in Best of the Bay 2020.