Jen Psaki, Joy Reid compare Biden potentially 'bouncing back' from Covid to Trump's dodging a bullet

Mainstream media hosts and commentators claimed on Wednesday that if President Biden were to recover from COVID-19, it would be "exactly the same" as former President Donald Trump surviving an assassination attempt. The claims were made after the White House announced that Biden, 81, had been diagnosed with Covid and is suffering from "mild symptoms."

Reporting from the RNC convention, MSNBC hosts Joy Reid and Jen Psaki asserted that Biden's potential recovery from Covid-19 should be viewed as a similar demonstration of "strength" to the one that President Trump showed after narrowly escaping a bullet during an assassination attempt on Saturday.

"These two men are both elderly," said Reid, host of The Reid Out. "Donald Trump is an elderly man, who for whatever reason, was given nine seconds to take an iconic photo op during an active shooter situation, a weird situation we will figure out one day. But his survival of that and bouncing right back, and going right to his convention, is being conveyed in the media world as a sign of strength."

"This current President of the United States is 81 years old and has Covid. Should he be fine in a couple of days, doesn't that convey exactly the same thing? That he's strong enough - older than Trump - to have gotten something that used to really be fatal to people his age. So, if he does fine out of it and comes back and is able to do rallies, isn't that exactly the same?" Reid asked Psaki, Biden's former White House press secretary.

"It should!" Psaki replied.

This would not be the first time the president has been diagnosed with the virus; he has survived the virus before. Biden has already stated that he "feels good" after his diagnosis earlier in the day. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre released a statement and said Biden's symptoms are "mild."

CNN's Van Jones, a Democrat strategist who has been critical of President Biden since his dismal debate performance, also weighed in on the matter and said: "A bullet couldn't stop Trump. A virus just stopped Biden."

The comments follow widespread requests from Democratic donors and lawmakers for Biden to withdraw from the presidential race, as the Democratic Party no longer sees a route to success in November with Biden as the nominee. Between Biden's poor debate performance, which the entire world witnessed, and President Trump's victorious return to the campaign trail after being shot during a botched assassination attempt, the DNC has gone into panic mode.