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

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

Because its the Trump admin, I have to ask, what are the odds that this is fake and being done either to excuse Donald Trumps terrible debate and/or have an excuse to bail on future debates?

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

From near the start of the recent televised argument between former Vice-President Biden and Mr. Trump:

Chris Wallace: (07:50)
All right. In any case, why you holding the big rallies? Why you not? You go first, sir.

President Donald J. Trump: (07:56)
Because people want to hear what I have to say. I mean-

Chris Wallace: (07:59)
But are not worried about us spreading disease?

President Donald J. Trump: (08:01)
… I’m doing my job as a president, and I’ll have 25, 35,000 people show up at airports. We use airports and hangers and we have a lot of people-

Chris Wallace: (08:06)
Are you not worried about the disease issues, sir?

President Donald J. Trump: (08:08)
Well, so far we have had no problem whatsoever. It’s outside. That’s a big difference according to the experts. We do them outside, we have tremendous crowds, as you see, and literally on 24 hours notice. And Joe does the circles and has three people someplace.

Vice President Joe Biden: (08:26)
By the way, did you see one of the last big rallies he had? A reporter came up to him to ask him a question, he said, “No, no, no. Stand back, put on your mask, put on a mask. Have you been tested? I’m way far away from those other people.” That’s what he said, “I’m going to be okay.” He’s not worried about you. He’s not worried about the people out there [crosstalk 00:08:48].

President Donald J. Trump: (08:48)
We’ve had no negative effect.

Vice President Joe Biden: (08:49)
No negative effect. Come on.

President Donald J. Trump: (08:51)
We’ve had no negative effect, and we’ve had 35, 40,000 people at these rallies.

Chris Wallace: (08:55)
All right. Do you want to just quickly finish up? Because I want to move on to our next-

Vice President Joe Biden: (08:57)
Yes, I would. He’s been totally irresponsible the way in which he has handled the social distancing and people wearing masks, basically encouraged them not to. He’s a fool on this.

President Donald J. Trump: (09:08)
If you could get the crowds, you would have done the same thing. But you can’t. Nobody cares.

Chris Wallace: (09:12)
Gentlemen, can we move on to the-

President Donald J. Trump: (09:13)
No cares.

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

Are they all going to get hydroxychloroquine?

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

https://twitter.com/jesserodriguez/status/1312024463848935426?s=21

Having symptoms already puts him in 20% worst cases range.

I understand the AP deems it appropriate to share White House statements, especially on something this important. However, why should we believe anything coming out of the White House on Trump's health?

This White House lies about everything. And does things for stupid and/or petty reasons all the time. We have no real idea if Mr. Trump actually has COVID, or how bad his symptoms are if he does.

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

This is one of those times where life kinda feels like a TV show. Trump could have caught it at any point from April to now but specifically getting in October just feels like a late season plot development. I know I sound silly.

No, the writers really have gotten lazy this season.

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/10/02/gop-donors-panic-after-coming-close-to-trump-at-fundraiser-hours-before-positive-covid-19-test.html

GOP Donors worry about being infected

What a perfect example of so much wrong with the Republican party.

(Trump's "leadership" leads to death and suffering for countless Americans) "Give him money!"

(He might make us sick) "Oh, the horror!"

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

https://mobile.twitter.com/thehill/status/1312094920602259462
Ah well that clears it up. He’s dead

The extent to which they don't even *try* to make their lies sound believable will never cease to amaze.

It's a demonstration of power.

They're saying to everyone who isn't part of their cult "See, not only do we not care what you think, we don't even need to pretend to care about what you think. You're powerless and we can do whatever we want."

And to those who are aligned with them (no matter how reluctantly), it's putting them in line. "We're going to say absolutely untrue nonsense, that we and you both know is false and nonsense. And you're going to repeat it and agree with it. That will demonstrate your loyalty and submission, and will alienate you from those who aren't part of the cult."

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

https://twitter.com/davidfolkenflik/status/1312122615704682496

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

https://twitter.com/MyDaughtersArmy/status/1312022368806670339

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

https://mobile.twitter.com/Acosta/status/1312139739017801729
This is quickly going the Boris Johnson route

Translation: he needs to be in Walter Reed, and the WH doesn't think they can hide that.

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

https://twitter.com/maggieNYT/status/1312138498523033602

Maybe he's just finally getting the rest of that physical, now that he's not so busy for a while.

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

Of course this White House can never be trusted, but they may well be being truthful about “out of an abundance of caution”. It is much better to monitor a high-risk individual at hospital than at home, even if he is not currently showing any particular signs that his situation is serious.

I agree in a vacuum, but they wouldn't have let Pence go out and say Trump was going to stay at the White House this morning if they were planning for him to be admitted to the hospital as a cautionary measure this afternoon. Clearly something else happened today.

This.

Official administrations statements this morning:

"He'll be doing a working recovery, taking it a little easy but doing the job. He'll be staying and quarantining at the White House, and will be talking on a conference call just after noon. Symptoms are moderate."

Official administrations statements this afternoon:

"He's in 'good spirits'. Pence handled the call. We're not going to provide exact details about his health. He's being moved to Walter Reed."

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

Hopefully he recovers.  I may not agree with him, but I do not wish death on anyone.

Let's not dance on his grave.  Criticize him on policy and personality, but don't wish him dead.

America needs to reject Donald Trump, not have him just go away. And we need to demonstrate that those who abuse the power the public has entrusted them with will face justice.

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

Given the pattern and practice of deceit and dishonesty by the administration, I think we need either evidence of competence from Pres. Trump by this evening, or Pence needs to be Acting President until Donald Trump has recovered. Between global and national events, there needs to be a clear chain of lawful authority.

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

Unless I've missed something, he's not actually at Walter Reed yet. Marine One is waiting on the White House lawn. (Isn't Walter Reed normally a short car trip from the WH?)

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

Given the pattern and practice of deceit and dishonesty by the administration, I think we need either evidence of competence from Pres. Trump by this evening, or Pence needs to be Acting President until Donald Trump has recovered. Between global and national events, there needs to be a clear chain of lawful authority.

His taped message and the official statement from the WH that Donald Trump remains in charge seem sufficient, for now.  I'm glad they put them out, even if Donald Trump being in charge isn't exactly  reassuring to me personally.

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

I’m glad to see y’all care about correcting my spelling more than human lives.  Always been a classy bunch here.

Bah. Thanks to the incompetence of your President and his lackeys, over 200,000 Americans have been laid low by a disease they implicitly encouraged them to regard as a hoax. And, millions now have to reckon with crushing healthcare costs, lingering pain, empty seats at dinner tables - or all three. As COVID killed, Trump called for premature reopening, endangering the lives of the vulnerable. His supporters have no place to call out people for a lack of regard for human life - this otherwise detestable notion defined his COVID response, and now, he faces the consequences. There is nothing to mourn here.

Oh, no. Not simply a hoax - a pandemic they knew was deadly dangerous that they deliberately allowed to spread because it was affecting mostly their political opponents (while they conspired, including with with America's enemies, to steal the election). The English language lacks words to readily express the magnitude of the crimes these modern-day Nazis engaged in over the last year.

Dying from COVID-19 is letting them off far more easily than they deserve. With only a little good fortune, every one of these Republicans will live for many years - with all of them spent on trial or in prison.

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

I’m glad to see y’all care about correcting my spelling more than human lives.  Always been a classy bunch here.

Your and you’re are commonly mixed up. Just trying to help.  

Haha thanks.  I’m on my phone typing very fast so I’m not exactly focused on my grammar/spelling.

Notice how you haven’t responded to the points that it’s their fault the virus got so bad?

I don’t need to.  I’m came in here to condemn people celebrating/cheering on others who now have life threatening illness. Two wrongs don’t make a right.

No one is celebrating or cheering anything.

They're simply pointing out that actions have consequences.

You're a Republican—shouldn't you believe in personal responsibility and being accountable for the consequences of your decisions?

yes people should always be accountable for their own poor choices.  That’s doesn’t mean celebrate that they have contracted a life threatening illness.  And YES there are definitely morons in this thread celebrating.

The people who contracted a life-threatening illness appear to have done so... while at an event celebrating the death of RBG. So there's a certain note of poetic justice to the whole situation. (Or if you prefer, an example of how evil often sows the seeds of its own demise.)

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

After getting infected with COVID and suffering from the symptoms, will President Trump realize that he was wrong for downplaying COVID and start to handle the pandemic more seriously?

Donald Trump will come away from his encounter with COVID either dead or convinced he's Superman and  unfairly crippled by Lex Luthor's kryptonite.  Either way, he's not going to start caring about other people.

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

https://twitter.com/evenbev/status/1312078525491556352

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

Trump in all likelyhood couldn't even fake this if he wanted to. Remember that a lot of medical personell and (military) docs are involved here. Imagine a prez going to them and his staff saying "hey, let's fake a Covid infection for political gain; and get me to the hospital". Do people like Moore really assume everyone from these countless officials just go along with that and nothing ever leaks? With all the leaks we have seen from this WH? That's beyond questionable.

Another reason Trump wouldn't fake this is because it prevents him from speeches and rallies. He's addicted to attention and admiration from his crowds, so why would we forgo weeks of campaigning? He hasn't even tweeted much since the announcement was made. Does anyone really believe he would have the discipline to refrain from tweeting if he was doing just fine?

I'm not about to conclude that the White House wouldn't do something just because it would be stupid and likely wouldn't work.

But getting Walter Reed involved does change things. More chances for leaks, and a lot more people who haven't passed Donald's debased loyalty tests. When it was "he'll quarantine in the WH" I think it was reasonable to be skeptical, given this administration's track record with the truth. Now, I'm convinced he has it, and the only thing we'll probably be lied to about is his actual condition.

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

One extra benefit the White House gets from lying is that the public discussion will then spend time discussing the fact that they're lying. Which benefits them, because "the White House is lying about the President's health" is a better narrative for them than most of the reality.

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

https://twitter.com/THEHermanCain/status/1312444689279184898

Words fail.

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

https://twitter.com/HelenKennedy/status/1312420528129560578

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

https://twitter.com/VeraMBergen/status/1312500086459428865

I'm a little surprised we haven't gotten a right-wing take yet of "Brave Trump risked the virus while Cowardly Biden hid from it". (I'm confident it's coming in some form within the next 24 hours.)