Donald Trump resumes campaign after bout with COVID-19

Defiant as ever about the coronavirus, President Donald Trump turned his first campaign rally since contracting COVID-19 into a full-throated defense of his handling of the pandemic that has killed 215,000 Americans, joking that he was healthy enough to plunge into the crowd and give voters "a big fat kiss."

There was no social distancing and mask-wearing was spotty among the thousands who came to see Trump's return to Florida. He held forth for an hour, trying to get his struggling campaign back on track with just weeks left before Election Day.

Though he was hospitalized battling the virus only a week ago, Trump's message on COVID-19 was unaltered since his diagnosis: a dubious assessment that the pandemic was just about a thing of the past.

Trump insisted that, after being given experimental medication and other VIP treatment, he felt great and was glad he no longer needs to be concerned about infection because he's now "immune."

Trump returned to his many usual attack lines, slamming Democrats as "engaged and unhinged and out for vengeance," and hyping "tremendous progress" on virus therapeutics. He promised the third-quarter economy would be "record-setting" and claimed that, if he wins in November, "normal life" will resume, while Biden would delay the vaccine and destroy the economy with a "draconian" lockdown.

Trump's decision to so quickly return to the campaign trail drew criticism from Biden and other Democrats.

U.S. President Donald Trump tosses face masks to the crowd as he takes the stage for a campaign rally, his first since being treated for the coronavirus disease at Orlando Sanford International Airport in Sanford, Florida.

President Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally at Orlando Sanford International Airport in Sanford, Florida.

Trump was holding his first campaign rally since his coronavirus diagnosis as he continues to campaign against Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden.

President Donald Trump waves to supporters as he leaves a campaign rally at the Orlando Sanford International Airport.

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally, his first since being treated for COVID-19 at Orlando Sanford International Airport in Sanford, Florida.