Donald Trump's Original Walter Reed Exit Plan Earns 'Willy Wonka' Comparisons Online

President Donald Trump reportedly wanted to rip open his dress shirt to reveal a Superman T-shirt [...]

By Daniel S. Levine

President Donald Trump reportedly wanted to rip open his dress shirt to reveal a Superman T-shirt when he left Walter Reed Medical Center Monday evening, following a weekend of treatments for coronavirus symptoms, sources told The New York Times. The plan ultimately did not happen, as Trump walked from the hospital to the helicopter that took him to the White House instead. Still, the report drew several comparisons on Twitter to a famous scene in the 1971 movie Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.

During a phone call from the hospital, Trump said he wanted to walk out of the hospital purposefully looking frail before ripping open his shirt to show the Superman logo. He did not end up doing this, but he still made a dramatic arrival at the White House. After leaving the Marine One helicopter, Trump walked up the White House balcony steps instead of walking in through the front door and ripped off his face mask before saluting. Moments later, the Trump campaign had the scene edited into a video clip ready to be shared on Twitter.

The proposed Superman shirt idea was compared to the famous scene from Willy Wonka. When Gene Wilder is first introduced, he looked frail and carried a cane as he walked up to the children who found the golden ticket. He then drops the cane and somersaults to reveal that he is not really an old man. Even before the Saturday report surfaced, some compared Trump's actions on Monday to the scene.

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On Saturday night, White House physician Dr. Sean Conley released another update on Trump's health, claiming he is no longer at risk of transmitting the virus. Ten days after being diagnosed with COVID-19, Trump has been "fever-free for well over 24 hours and all symptoms have improved," Conley wrote. "In addition, sequential testing throughout his illness has demonstrated decreasing viral loads that correlate with increasing cycle threshold times, as well as decreasing and now undetectable subgenomic mRNA." However, Conley did not say if Trump has tested negative for the virus yet.

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