President Donald Trump returned to the White House from Walter Reed Medical Centre last night amid ongoing speculation about his medical condition. The White House medical team has emphasised that Trump will continue to be provided with expert care in the Oval Office as the President released a video calling on Americans to beat the virus.

The President – who tweeted “feeling really good!” – was flown by  helicopter to the White House at just after 12 midnight GMT. He took off his mask on the balcony of the White House and gave reporters the thumbs up.

The White House press team quickly released a cinematic video – it was like something out of the Apprentice or, perhaps, Apocalypse Now. It showed the President’s airborne return, complete with cheesy action music and a shot of Trump saluting the helicopter pilot from the White House, as the Lincoln Memorial dominates the background.

The President then uploaded another video to his Twitter account, in which he urged the American people: “Don’t let it dominate you. Don’t be afraid of it. You’re going to beat it. We have the best medical equipment, the best medicines…Don’t let it take over your lives. Don’t let that happen.”

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1313267615083761665?utm_source=POLITICO.EU&utm_campaign=c64f19d95a-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2020_10_06_06_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_10959edeb5-c64f19d95a-190630256

Trump was keen to emphasise that “as a leader”, he had to get back to work, despite the “risk” and “danger” involved. He explained that he feels “better than twenty years ago.”

Yet questions remain concerning the President’s exact medical condition and precisely how bad his brush with coronavirus has been, and continues to be.

In close-up footage of the scenes on the balcony, Trump is clearly struggling to breathe and battling to disguise it.

But the President’s physician, Sean P. Conley, sought to downplay fears that Trump might still be in danger of deteriorating further.

Conley said in a televised statement to reporters before Trump’s release from hospital:

“Over the past 24 hours, the President has continued to improve. He’s met or exceeded all standard hospital discharge criteria, and received another dose of Remdesivir today and then we plan to get him home. It’s been more than 72 hours since his last fever. Oxygen levels…are all normal.”

However, he also added: “Though he may not entirely be out of the woods yet, the team and I agreed that all our evaluations, and most importantly his clinical status, support the President’s safe return home, where he’ll be surrounded by world-class medical care 24/7.”

Conley previously confirmed on Sunday that the President had been treated with the corticosteroid Dexamethasone on Saturday 3 October – a treatment usually reserved for Covid patients with critical, or at least severe, illness.

Then there is the guidance of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which advises that patients who have tested positive for Covid-19 should isolate for at least ten days after they have begun to show symptoms. There is still a danger that patients with at first moderate symptoms can suddenly go downhill rapidly between 5-10 days after the beginning of the infection. According to the White House version of events, the President is on day four of the virus.

Trump will now seek to use his apparent recovery as proof that Americans can live with and triumph over the virus. He may try to draw a contrast between his cavalier approach to his own personal health and the caution of his Democrat challenger, Joe Biden.

Whether American voters will buy this message or not, however, is another question. With under a month left to run until polling day in the Presidential election on 3 November, Trump is down in the opinion polls – including in key swing states such as Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Florida.

After a brief battle against the virus, to be continued, President Trump now faces a tough fight against a persistent Biden lead on the campaign trail.