As Trump tries to project strength, his message gets amplified on Fox News.

President Trump’s conduct on Monday evening — leaving Walter Reed hospital despite being infectious and in the relatively early stages of the coronavirus, making a show of taking off his mask before re-entering the White House, and exhorting Americans, “Don’t be afraid of Covid” — struck many health experts as dangerous and irresponsible.

But Fox News’s star commentators cheered the president Monday night, calling his bravado an inspiring show of leadership that demonstrated the folly of imposing restrictions to halt the spread of a disease that has killed over 200,000 Americans despite those restrictions.

Tucker Carlson noted that Mr. Trump was 74 years old and argued, “The virus didn’t really slow him down.”

“You might conclude,” Mr. Carlson added, “that coronavirus isn’t quite as scary as they’re telling you it is.”