Do you feel sorry for Trump?

[Hammy]

I'm a bit conflicted here.

As a human being, yes, empathetic at least. Nobody should go through what this virus does and should he succumb, even the worst people don't deserve to die alone isolated in the manner this causes. And I don't feel it's appropriate to be happy over this.

At the same time, with Trump being a leader who had the chance to both influence people to take precautions that would have limited spread, or himself refusing to take actions top protect himself from it to protect his public image.  And I don't feel the least bit sorry over that.

[Yoda]

I don't wish any harm on Trump at all, and I certainly don't want him to die. I say that as someone who literally hates him with a passion, and hates those politicians who enable him. And yes, I truly mean HATE.

However, can we stop shaming people who are giving trump the exact same treatment that he dishes out? I've barely skimmed this thread so I'm not accusing anyone here, but twitter is full of people displaying their outrage at some liberals having a laugh at trump and voicing their happiness at his illness as karma finally catching up with the guy. Does anyone need to be reminded how he mocked Hillary when she had pneumonia during the '16 campaign? Mocked a journalist's disability on national TV? Or took glee in the fact that some reporters covering the BLM marches were hit with rubber bullets? Called black athletes in pain protesting police brutality "sons of bitches"? Mocked Chuck Schumer for crying over the relatives lost in the Holocaust? He is sub-human dog sh**t, and while I will not and do not wish him harm, I certainly will not judge anyone who does. There's such a thing as reaping as what one sows, and as far as I'm concerned, trump deserves every malicious thought being sent his way. I wish him and Melania a full recovery, but I wouldn't bat an eye if he died. I wouldn't spit on his grave, but I also wouldn't spare a thought to mourn him, either.

[Mr.Bakari-Sellers]

No, and the non stop news coverage of Trump and many people are dying of Covid is the reason why people are turned off from politics. That's why only ,60 percent composition te in elections

[Meclazine for Israel]

Not a lot of sympathy from the Australian media outlet, The Chaser.

[DC Al Fine]

We should feel sorry for anyone unfortunate enough to contract a life threatening disease.

[beaver2.0]

I have sympathy for the man that is sick and hope he recovers.  However I also recognize some of this was brought on by his actions.

I'm sure that mister beaver is a nice person and I'm not trying to pick on him in particular here. I just want to point out that there's a word for those who'd extend compassion and other lovely virtues towards anyone and everyone: we call them easy marks who can and will be fleeced by sociopaths.

Once you lose the facile notion that all human beings are good and embrace a bit of Calvinist theology that says that there are irredeemable people, which we might call "reprobates", you lose the foolish tendency to be compassionate towards everyone. Would you be compassionate towards Hitler? A serial child molester or serial killer? In order to be compassionate towards the broad mass of people who are basically decent or who have the potential to be decent, we need to be willing to be ruthless towards those who only make life worse for others.

Note that this mostly is not about Trump.

I'm curious to know how that helps him fleece people.  I don't want him to die as I don't wish death on a person that smokes for years.  Yes, they are responsible for getting the disease but I don't actively want him to die.  There's a difference between recognizing he's a sick scumbag but nevertheless not wanting him to die and actively talking about how great he is.

[🐒Gods of Prosperity🔱🐲💸]

yes, when I read this

https://twitter.com/gabrielsherman/status/1312442681662926850?s=20

[The Righteous Tip of the Abundance Spear]

yes, when I read this

https://twitter.com/gabrielsherman/status/1312442681662926850?s=20

[MABA 2020]

Nope. I've said I don't want him to die cos I'd rather see him defeated electorally and don't wish him to become a martyr, but do I feel sorry for him? No way, this is karma

[Fuzzy Bear]

I feel sorry for anyone unfortunate enough to contract a life threatening disease, except Trump

The "bot" in yanebot says it all, does it not?

[Tokugawa Sexgod Ieyasu]

What Hammy said. I don't want Trump to suffer on a human level, but since he's a public figure and a main driver of the conversation on COVID I'm not particularly grieved that he's fallen prey to his own cavalier attitude. If it turns out that the more severe reports about his condition are the more accurate ones then I might reassess this position.

[Fuzzy Bear]

I feel sorry for anyone unfortunate enough to contract a life threatening disease, except Trump

The "bot" in yanebot says it all, does it not?

Lol. Just admit you're triggered. I'm sorry if I offended you little bear

You're triggered.  I'm tenacious.

[pbrower2a]

Considering conservatives openly celebrated RBG’s death it’s only fair that we get that same opportunity now.

Well, then we wouldn't much better than them. But we are. That's also why Joe Biden and Kamala Harris sent out the Tweets they did. Trump wouldn't have done so in a reverse scenario, that's for sure.

We must be better than they are. There are still millions who think that Donald Trump is wonderful, so he remains in the 'controversial' category. Would I feel sympathy for someone who, boozed up, drove his car into a tree and became a quadriplegic? Sure. Do I despise Donald Trump and his Borgia-like family (except that the Borgia family at least were patrons of the arts?) Sure. Do I wish that he could be an object of ridicule through the ages in American history textbooks? Yes -- and a clear lesson. 

Still, contracting COVID-19 as President Trump did results from a pattern of consummate stupidity and stubbornness. 

He has done far more harm than John Gacy, Ted Bundy, Dennis Rader, Charles Manson, Gary Ridgway, and Timothy McVeigh combined.

Still, over 200,000 Americans (and likely some others) are dead because of Trump's incompetent handling of COVID-19.

[JerryArkansas]

My empathy can only go so far.  I only feel sorry for one Trump in the immediate family and that's Barron.  I can't fake it for anyone else in that family.

[TarHeelDem]

No, I do not feel sorry for him. He deserves it and the world will be a better place when he leaves it.

[Dr. Arch]

He's infected a virus whose mortality he knowingly downplayed for months, all the while throwing most caution into the wind to shirk at the scientific community that's trying to do its best so that this country suffers the least damage possible.

All the while, he's tweeting doctored videos and fake pictures of him "at work," while STILL not wearing a mask or indicating any significant change of stance on the effectiveness of caution towards the virus.

Not to mention that he knew that he was sick for days before he announced it, and he still held public events and meetings with the people closest to him, with little to no protection (!!!). We, on the other hand, are doing our best to keep ourselves and our loved ones safe, despite all his best efforts to sabotage public policy measures that would assist us to that end.

No, I don't feel an iota of sorry.

[Tender Branson]

Trump and the Rs right now:

[JA]

It is what it is.

[politics_king]

I wish death upon no one but if anyone dies that's been infected with his stunts in the last couple weeks because of COVID-19, that falls directly on him and his team. Accountability. He really doesn't deserve sympathy but honest to goodness people will have empathy.

[Mr.Bakari-Sellers]

No, I am very angry at Pelosi, as many D's outside this forum at Pelosi for obstructing the stimulus bill and not passing the perfectly good price proposal of 1.6T instead of 2.4T,  alot of Californians said it's time for her to retire. She has botched the stimulus. What if Trump is reelected, she still will be back to the same numbers

She is now seen as an obstructionist to the stimulus checks

[Del Tachi]

This is a blatantly true premise if you accept the outcomes in question are probabilistic in nature.

Trump was responsible for the overall handling of the virus in this country, which he bungled. He additionally didn't take personal precautions for himself. There is no reasonable way to conclude that he is somehow just as much a victim of circumstance as the millions of people who've gotten infected so far.

This sort of world view only makes sense if you see the virus as some sort of sentient deity vindictively infecting those who eschew its rules and righteously passing over those who respect them.  A surprising number of people (including a militant atheist apparently, lol) actually do act like this is the case since, like God, COVID-19 "doesn't care if you're White or Black, rich or poor, Republican or Democrat, etc."  It gets even more amusing...these variables are actually quite deterministic in a patient's COVID-19 prognosis

No, for those who practice enhanced disease mitigation techniques...the reduction in risk is their only reward.  But this doesn't alter the moral implications/responsibilities for those who actually do get infected.   

What don't you get? Certainly infection is probabilistic, but Covid being in the United States in the first place was not. Trump is to blame for the pandemic, and therefore at least partially responsible for every single infection in the United States (a list which now apparently includes himself.)

But that reasoning only applies to Trump, right?  Otherwise, you'd be onboard with calling it the "China virus" and laying everything at Xi's feet because the CCP's dereliction of responsibility is what allowed the virus to leave China in the first place. 

Every country on earth has COVID-19.  Many of them (including a few liberal democracies in Western Europe that you idealize) have had it worse than the U.S.  What does that stay about the quality of their leadership under the arguments you're advancing?

The point you're attempting to make is absurdly reductionist and just leads to us going around in circles about how "ultimate responsibility" for a global pandemic could be assigned.

[Del Tachi]

This is a blatantly true premise if you accept the outcomes in question are probabilistic in nature.

Trump was responsible for the overall handling of the virus in this country, which he bungled. He additionally didn't take personal precautions for himself. There is no reasonable way to conclude that he is somehow just as much a victim of circumstance as the millions of people who've gotten infected so far.

This sort of world view only makes sense if you see the virus as some sort of sentient deity vindictively infecting those who eschew its rules and righteously passing over those who respect them.  A surprising number of people (including a militant atheist apparently, lol) actually do act like this is the case since, like God, COVID-19 "doesn't care if you're White or Black, rich or poor, Republican or Democrat, etc."  It gets even more amusing...these variables are actually quite deterministic in a patient's COVID-19 prognosis

No, for those who practice enhanced disease mitigation techniques...the reduction in risk is their only reward.  But this doesn't alter the moral implications/responsibilities for those who actually do get infected.   

Nothing I said logically entails any of the claims you made in this paragraph. I'm at a loss for what point you thought you were making here, and why you thought it made any sense at all.

If you believe certain people are "deserving" of getting COVID-19, then this kind of thought pattern is ultimately where you end-up.  Such moralising condescension is the tune of America's elite media (NYT was smart enough to change the headline to something less provocative on their website, but the editorial text is the original.)

Everyone is a "victim of circumstance" during a pandemic because catching a virus is a probabilistic event.  A reduction in risk exposure is its own reward, not a moral signal of one's "worthiness" to be infected/spared.  If you believe it is, then what does that imply if Trump is able to recover fully and quickly?

Note:  I'm not coming at JD specifically, but the moralising epithets are quite tiresome and inane. 

[Starry Eyed Jagaloon]

This is a blatantly true premise if you accept the outcomes in question are probabilistic in nature.

Trump was responsible for the overall handling of the virus in this country, which he bungled. He additionally didn't take personal precautions for himself. There is no reasonable way to conclude that he is somehow just as much a victim of circumstance as the millions of people who've gotten infected so far.

This sort of world view only makes sense if you see the virus as some sort of sentient deity vindictively infecting those who eschew its rules and righteously passing over those who respect them.  A surprising number of people (including a militant atheist apparently, lol) actually do act like this is the case since, like God, COVID-19 "doesn't care if you're White or Black, rich or poor, Republican or Democrat, etc."  It gets even more amusing...these variables are actually quite deterministic in a patient's COVID-19 prognosis

No, for those who practice enhanced disease mitigation techniques...the reduction in risk is their only reward.  But this doesn't alter the moral implications/responsibilities for those who actually do get infected.   

What don't you get? Certainly infection is probabilistic, but Covid being in the United States in the first place was not. Trump is to blame for the pandemic, and therefore at least partially responsible for every single infection in the United States (a list which now apparently includes himself.)

But that reasoning only applies to Trump, right?  Otherwise, you'd be onboard with calling it the "China virus" and laying everything at Xi's feet because the CCP's dereliction of responsibility is what allowed the virus to leave China in the first place. 

Every country on earth has COVID-19.  Many of them (including a few liberal democracies in Western Europe that you idealize) have had it worse than the U.S.  What does that stay about the quality of their leadership under the arguments you're advancing?

The point you're attempting to make is absurdly reductionist and just leads to us going around in circles about how "ultimate responsibility" for a global pandemic could be assigned.

If you want to go way back, I'm happy to assign blame to the CCP officials in Wuhan. That said, Trump is absolutely responsible for the virus getting as bad as it did in the USA because he specifically blocked actions like a national mask mandate which could have slashed the case count within our own borders. He didn't, and now he's reaping his reward. I certainly have plenty of criticism for the European response as well but presenting them as equally bad is just disingenuous.

[Del Tachi]

No, I feel contempt for Trump, but for a different reason:

If Trump, who is already being hospitalized as I type this, does in fact succumb to covid, then that would make the US the only wealthy nation whose head of state has died from this epidemic. That will be an indelible international humiliation of the US, and it would be entirely his fault.

Moreover, we haven't had a President die in office in almost sixty years, since JFK was assassinated in 1963. So that would be an alarming historical milestone, in and of itself. This whole situation has truly revealed to me that this country contains a large number of ignorant, uncaring, and evil people-who will willingly jeopardize the lives and fortunes of others, and who will not respond seriously to crises of this magnitude. And Trump, unfortunately, is one of them.

Did you know, LBJ actually spent the last two weeks of his presidency in bed with a bout of pandemic influenza?  Probably not, even though the 1968-69 flu pandemic killed over 100k Americans (maybe >3 million worldwide).  Good thing we have no historical precedents for COVID-19

[Badger]

I feel about this the same way I feel about someone who gets hospitalized from a car wreck they got into after driving 30 miles above the speed limit and running multiple red lights. You hope that they'll recover, but you can't help but shake your head and think of what a dumbass the person was risking both his and numerous other innocent people's safety being so reckless, and hope they'll learn their lesson.

Actually, to best complete the analogy it would be like if Trump was someone with a long record of such Behavior, where you realize that they will learn absolutely nothing from their recklessness.

I'm going to update this analogy, which I still feel fits like a glove. It would be the above scenarios, but add on to it that the guy who constantly drives recklessly and downplays its risks for not wanting to appear tough enough, actually goes out on the road and drives recklessly risking others around him yet again before he's even released from the hospital.