Trump Has COVID megathread (update 10/24: 2 Pence staffers test positive)

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

ACB is negative, for all you wishing it on her

I'm going to ask this as a sincere question because I do have some respect and fondness for you: Did you see people actually wishing that somewhere, or does it just seem like the sort of thing especially negative-minded Democratic partisans "would" wish?

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

It was obviously a misspeak.  The doctor couldn’t even remember what day of the week it was.

Is he a Simpsons character? Like, WTF?

We truly live in a Veep episode.

HI, EVERYBODY!

Hi, Dr. Sean!

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

You know, a politician who was capable of any degree of grace or dignity, or even only who had handlers and orbiters who were, probably would be getting a ~sympathy bump~ from this. Fortunately for the Biden campaign, though, Trumpworld gonna Trumpworld.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

Attorney General Barr chooses not to quarantine despite possible exposure to Covid-19

(CNN) - Attorney General William Barr is choosing not to quarantine after recently coming in close contact with members of President Donald Trump's inner circle who have tested positive for Covid-19, including former White House counselor Kellyanne Conway.

Conway is among at least seven people who have contracted the virus after attending a Rose Garden event last Saturday where Trump nominated Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court. Barr, who was seen leaving the White House Friday night by photojournalists, also attended the nomination event, where he sat in the front row and was among those tested by the White House for Covid-19.

Following Trump's announcement, Barr and Conway chatted in close proximity, hardly standing the recommended six feet apart, for an extended period of time. Both were seen not wearing masks. Barr also shook hands with other guests, touched his face and mingled among the crowd.

Barr then traveled to Oklahoma for a tribal justice event this week and returned to Washington.

[...]

https://www.cnn.com/2020/10/03/politics/william-barr-coronavirus-quarantine/index.html

Barr is one of the most staggeringly narcissistic and self-licensing-prone people to have been a public figure in my lifetime.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

If anybody didn't read "The Masque of the Red Death" in high school, now is the perfect time to rectify that.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

This goes two ways:

Trump dies or is in bad, bad medical shape, OR

he emerges from hospital Wednesday or Thursday, says he beat COVID and is ready to beat Biden and he pulls it out as he did four years ago.

The questions about Trump's movements endangering others will persist long after his own COVID case has an outcome.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

https://twitter.com/gabrielsherman/status/1312551360970268672?s=20

Could this have been prerecorded? The decor matches more of the style of the white house than the known photos of Walter Reed. Furthermore, his hair looks pretty much the same as the other day, and he doesn't mention any specific events that occurred since he left the WH.

This is the room at walter reed

This is a hospital room?! Geezum crow. It has a hardwood floor!

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

One step short of an open-topped jeep and aviator shades. Good God.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

https://twitter.com/GeoffRBennett/status/1312873550550884355?s=20

https://twitter.com/DrPhillipsMD/status/1312869454385229827?s=20

Does he have access to the strychnine case??

If it absolutely had to happen, which I don't think it does, I'd want a medical assassination of Trump to involve something a little less painful than strychnine. We're not Agatha Christie villains here.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

The entire trump administration is unprofessional and inept at handling anything Covid-related.
It's almost like they are intentionally spreading it to anyone inside and outside of their circle.
Why can these people not isolate themselves more, for a least one-week, while being tested daily?
Is it too much to ask for?

I can't speak for the others, but McEnany in particular is young enough to think she herself is immortal and right-wing enough to think "journos" deserve to die. Bad combo.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

So, community spread within the White House confirmed, then?

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

Fs in the chat thread lads

F

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

What's our over-under on whether he'll be wearing a mask when he leaves the hospital tonight?

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

Even beyond the obvious reckless and tone-deaf nature of his new "I caught COVID and it's not that bad" message, I think it's awful for him electorally, even if he really does recover without further complications. The message might get sympathy among the 18-40 age group (for them you could reasonably say it's true), but this will not sway their vote. But the 65+ age group most certainly will hate this message with a passion and it will sway their votes. Old people hate more than anything when people even mention, much less mock, their mortality, which Trump is doing here.  

Wrong.
Young people are more likely to be laughing at Trump for catching Covid-19. Remember, we grew up in a less "polite" World thanks to the internet, there is no sympathy in the lower age brackets. If anyone would give a sympathy bump, it would be people 40-65. Old enough to be prone to such a trend, but young enough to not be massacred by Covid.

Yes, they're laughing at Trump, but what I meant was that if "I caught COVID and it wasn't that bad" is accepted generally, then social distancing restrictions would be undone, and they can resume partying, clubbing, bar hopping, etc, which of course they desperately want to do. That's why I say they would sympathize with that view point.

That would require that young voters believe a word Trump says.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

No shame. No decency. No courtesy. No respect for human life.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

https://twitter.com/Fritschner/status/1313253073196810240

I was going to give a rare angry-PQG rant, but there just aren't enough words for me to use.  

I'm very interested, if you change your mind.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

"...stand strongly..."

https://twitter.com/kayleighmcenany/status/1313254221660160000

Good grief. She sounds like a six-year-old boy.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

Based on Tucker's monologue tonight, the mission statement over the next 3 weeks is that because Trump did ok the virus really isn't that bad. We'll see what happens when the rest of Fox falls in line tomorrow and how that saturates the air waves and if  it   works.

This is the definition of preaching to the converted and I genuinely hope this is what they go with.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

Just watched the video of Trumps return to the white house
everything seem ok until he took off his mask and that is when it become very clear that trump was having severe breathing problems

To be honest I was furious after seeing that clip and its not simply because trump took off his mask its also because he was clearly struggling to breath and was not well yet the people who are supposed care about him are simply ignoring that fact.

His family and so called friends should be ashamed of themselves
I would never let my elderly father or mother check out of a hospital when I know for a fact that they are still sick.

Trump should not be on a campaign trail or trying to get on a debate stage
He should be at that hospital trying his best to recover from a virus that is most likely going to effect him for the rest of his life

Yep. Trump may be a moral monster, but he's also a sick old man and there is a duty of care that is manifestly not being met.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

Is the medication making him extra bonkers? these tweets are on the verge of insanity

Some of the meds he's on can cause euphoria, yes.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

I was on a very low dose of steroids for a bad case of hay fever at one point. No effects on my mood as far as I could tell, but again, very low dose of a very weak steroid, as opposed to...whatever this is.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

https://twitter.com/maggieNYT/status/1313473300312584194

HE NEEDS TO REST. Again, I don't even care any more that he's Trump at this point, he's an old man with a severe illness who is refusing to take care of himself and for some ungodly reason is not being made to do so by others. This is painful to watch. It's like Kanye West's family and "friends" profiting from his manic episodes, only if Kanye actually was President.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

Yeah...Covid-downplaying when he was transported to a hospital several days ago is not a good strategy. This will hurt him.

It's not the downplaying that'll help him it's suggesting we open up. A lot of people, especially undecided younger people really want that.

Younger voters do not trust a word Trump says. I really don't know where this idea that 18-35-year-old voters are magically going to break hard towards Trump because OH YEAH BEER PONG AND 69ING, BRO is coming from, but it's not going to happen. Trump has been pushing hard for reopening for six months now and it hasn't moved the needle with young voters, or anyone else for that matter; why in the world would that change now?

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

Yeah...Covid-downplaying when he was transported to a hospital several days ago is not a good strategy. This will hurt him.

It's not the downplaying that'll help him it's suggesting we open up. A lot of people, especially undecided younger people really want that.

Younger voters do not trust a word Trump says. I really don't know where this idea that 18-35-year-old voters are magically going to break hard towards Trump because OH YEAH BEER PONG AND 69ING, BRO is coming from, but it's not going to happen. Trump has been pushing hard for reopening for six months now and it hasn't moved the needle with young voters, or anyone else for that matter; why in the world would that change now?

The fact that it's been seven months and a lot of people are getting stir crazy. Of course that idea wasn't as popular when this was all new.

Trump's messaging will start appealing to undecided voters and make them suddenly break hard towards him any day now...any day now...any day now...

I swear, it's like you want him to win again so you can be confirmed in your low opinion of the American public.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

Yeah...Covid-downplaying when he was transported to a hospital several days ago is not a good strategy. This will hurt him.

It's not the downplaying that'll help him it's suggesting we open up. A lot of people, especially undecided younger people really want that.

Younger voters do not trust a word Trump says. I really don't know where this idea that 18-35-year-old voters are magically going to break hard towards Trump because OH YEAH BEER PONG AND 69ING, BRO is coming from, but it's not going to happen. Trump has been pushing hard for reopening for six months now and it hasn't moved the needle with young voters, or anyone else for that matter; why in the world would that change now?

The fact that it's been seven months and a lot of people are getting stir crazy. Of course that idea wasn't as popular when this was all new.

Trump's messaging will start appealing to undecided voters and make them suddenly break hard towards him any day now...any day now...any day now...

I swear, it's like you want him to win again so you can be confirmed in your low opinion of the American public.

The American public reelected an obvious war criminal with over 50% of the vote in 2004, and then gave us Donald Trump. Forgive me for having a low opinion of our electorate.

Also, this is is almost certainly a majority introvert forum (myself included) so we aren't gonna grasp it but a lot of people still feel very limited and "Let's just get on with things, we can't do this forever" becomes a talking point that really resonates.

It would resonate with me if it had any basis in reality or was being advanced by someone I had any trust in. The medium is the message, and the medium right now is a roided-up Donald Trump who keeps hosting super-spreader events and CAPSLOCK TWEETING night and day.