Coronavirus Karma Comes Calling After the Cleveland Debate
President Trump and Melania have tested positive for the coronavirus. I’ll be a big boy here and wish them a speedy recovery, if for other reason than not to tempt the fates.
I’m sure this has nothing to do with the sudden popularity (seriously!) of a 10 week old post of mine entitled: A Mask Is Not a Political Statement: It’s an IQ Test.
There is a huge lesson to be learned here, namely that anybody can catch COVID-19, the chances are lessened if simple precautions are followed. It’s safe to say that flaunting those measures, even if you’re healthy, can be dangerous to others.
https://twitter.com/joelockhart/status/1312020127920119808?s=20
Despite a requirement by the Cleveland Clinic requiring the audience at the Presidential debate to wear face masks, more than half Trump’s invited guests were not wearing them. An attempt to furnish them with additional masks by a physician was rebuffed.
https://twitter.com/ECMcLaughlin/status/1312072585169956864?s=20
Everyone on Biden’s side was wearing masks, and the president’s rant for the evening included mocking the former Vice President’s frequent mask wearing. (I’ll also point out it was four years ago today that then candidate Trump ridiculed Hillary Clnton’s health after a report that she'd contracted pneumonia.)
The day after the Cleveland debate things began to break badly:
Hicks tested positive on Wednesday, and Bloomberg reports, “Some of Trump’s closest aides said they sensed on Wednesday that Trump was feeling poorly but they chalked it up to fatigue from an intense campaign schedule.” That’s the day after Trump stood opposite former Vice President Joe Biden and shouted for 90 minutes. Bearing out the view that Trump wasn’t feeling well on Wednesday, his rally in Minnesota that day was “about 45 minutes, roughly half the length of one of his typical rally speeches,” The New York Times reports.
It was on the trip to that Minnesota rally that Hicks began showing symptoms and tested positive. The White House tried to keep that information secret, but the story was broken by Bloomberg’s Jennifer Jacobs on Thursday night.
On Thursday, after Hicks’ diagnosis, Trump traveled to New Jersey for a fundraiser and a roundtable with supporters. So everyone at those events was presumably exposed after Team Trump knew that Hicks had not only tested positive but was symptomatic, and with people around Trump thinking he seemed unwell.
By Thursday evening, the Times reports, Trump “sounded raspy on a call with Iowa voters and in an interview later with Sean Hannity on Fox News.” But until Jacobs reported on Hicks’ positive test, the White House didn’t let slip that there was any reason for concern, even as, the Times reports, “Several staff members who have avoided masks were suddenly wearing them.”
Political scheming at the White House is in progress, according to Vanity Fair:
Campaign advisers are also gaming out how Trump’s COVID diagnosis will play out with only 32 days left until the election. Sources I spoke with are doubtful the next two debates will happen. “There really can be nothing for 14 days. It’s as if the campaign ended yesterday,” a second former West Wing official told me. Republicans close to Trump are discussing what kind of message Trump should put out that might limit the political damage. “He could come out and say, ‘Look, I had COVID and it wasn’t that bad. It just shows that I’m strong and we should open up the country,’” the former West Wing official said. “He could make a mockery of it.”
And, as is true with any misfortune affecting Donald Trump, there must be somebody else to take the fall:
Meanwhile, Hicks has experienced more pronounced symptoms than the president. Two sources said she has had a high fever and a cough, with one source adding she lost her sense of smell. Hicks is said to be frustrated with Trump for taking such a cavalier approach to the virus. She was one of the few West Wing staffers to wear a mask in meetings, which her colleagues chided her for. “She was made fun of because she wore a mask,” a friend said. Sources told me Hicks is also upset that news coverage has made it appear that she gave Trump the virus, when in fact no one knows where he got it. “It’s so unfair she’s sort of being blamed,” the friend told me.
I will end this on a positive note, hoping for the slim possibility of the Trump White House emerging from this health crisis with a semblance of empathy for the more than forty thousand (plus!) Americans who are contracting COVID-19 and the nearly one thousand people dying every day.
After all, I’m in the high risk category just like the President: older, overweight and low income.
https://twitter.com/GeorgeTakei/status/1312082923156393992?s=20
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