Dan Rather criticizes Trump over Walter Reed ‘photo ops’

Veteran news anchor Dan Rather on Sunday issued a pair of tweets criticizing President Trump for his brief appearance in an SUV outside Walter Reed Medical Center as just the latest in a series of what Rather referred to as “photo ops.”

“Covid motorcades, signing blank papers, and tear gas walks to a church: the tragedy of Donald Trump’s photo ops,” Rather tweeted Sunday.

Covid motorcades, signing blank papers, and tear gas walks to a church: the tragedy of Donald Trump’s photo ops.

— Dan Rather (@DanRather) October 4, 2020

The tweet takes aim at a number of incidents involving the president, including earlier this year when police cleared peaceful protesters from Washington’s Lafayette Square using tear gas so Trump and associates could walk across the street for a photo op in front of St. John’s Episcopal Church.

In a second tweet, Rather mocked images released by the White House of the president at a conference table in the hospital, comparing it to the president using a Sharpie to incorrectly include Alabama in the range of states under threat from Hurricane Dorian in 2019.

“Nothing says ‘I work hard’ to America more than signing blank sheets of paper. But the real question is whether it was the same ‘magical Sharpie’ the president uses for his hurricane forecasting,” Rather tweeted.

Nothing says “I work hard” to America more than signing blank sheets of paper. But the real question is whether it was the same “magical Sharpie” the president uses for his hurricane forecasting.

— Dan Rather (@DanRather) October 4, 2020

Rather’s name trended on Twitter following the tweets.

The president was taken to Walter Reed on Friday, hours after the White House confirmed he had tested positive for the virus. He made a brief appearance outside the facility on Sunday evening. While the White House has said every precaution was taken, Secret Service agents have anonymously criticized the trip as putting them at unnecessary risk.