Coins commemorating President Donald Trump surviving COVID-19 are already available for preorder at an online gift shop.
The $100 “Trump defeats COVID” coins are for sale on the website of the White House Gift Shop, which is not affiliated with the White House.
The coin is part of a series designed by Anthony Giannini, chairman of the White House Gift Shop. He described the COVID-19 coin as the last in a series illustrating “President Trump’s ascendance over and defeat of the deadly COVID pandemic virus.”
“When we heard the sad news of President Trump’s positive COVID test, once again we had faith and prayed but we knew our President would find a way to Knockout COVID in early rounds of this battle,” Giannini wrote. “President Trump, as you know, is a fan of boxing, and the new design includes more than a hint of superhero qualities in history’s most fascinating president.”
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The commemorative coin went on sale before the president was released from the hospital. Trump tweeted Monday that he will leave Walter Reed National Military Medical Center at 6:30 p.m. EDT. He has been hospitalized since Friday.
“Feeling really good! Don’t be afraid of Covid. Don’t let it dominate your life,” Trump tweeted. “We have developed, under the Trump Administration, some really great drugs & knowledge. I feel better than I did 20 years ago!”
More than 210,000 people have died from COVID-19 in the USA, and the president was administered drugs not available to many Americans, including Regeneron, which has not been approved by the Food and Drug Administration, as well as remdesivir and dexamethasone.
Medical experts and critics remain uncertain about how serious Trump’s case of COVID-19 is and how much it might affect his presidential duties and reelection campaign.
Several of his supporters posted social media messages Monday suggesting the president “defeated” the virus.
Hogan Gidley, a Trump campaign spokesman, posted a GIF of Trump throwing a celebratory fist in the air at a WWE event.
Others were less convinced. Former Gov. Christine Todd Whitman, a New Jersey Republican, described the decision to leave as “irresponsible” and “shocking.”
“Though he may not entirely be out of the woods yet, the team and I agree that all our evaluations, and most importantly his clinical status, support the president’s safe return home,” White House physician Sean Conley said in a briefing Monday.
The coin’s listing has no photo but says it will ship Nov. 14. According to the website, 20% of the proceeds will be donated to COVID-19 prevention and cancer research.
Contributing: John Fritze
