President Donald Trump and his wife Melania Trump have both positive for the Coronavirus. Reuters. The President made the announcement on Twitter after quarantining himself after his staffer, Hope Hicks, had tested positive as well. President Trump is considered high risk due to his age, 74, and general condition. The stock market tumbled on the news and contact tracing is being done to see if other high ranking officials were exposed. Vice President Mike Pence and his wife Karen have tested negative. There are likely to be major election consequences and President Trump has already canceled several events. The White House has released a statement from Trump's doctor that he and the First Lady are doing "well". The President joins other world leaders, Boris Johnson, Justin Trudeau and Jair Bolsonaro, who have all been diagnosed with the disease.
Tonight, @FLOTUS and I tested positive for COVID-19. We will begin our quarantine and recovery process immediately. We will get through this TOGETHER!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 2, 2020
My Comment:
Absolutely awful news overnight. The last thing we need right now is this. President Trump had enough on his plate before contracting the virus, and now he has to deal with this as well. And of course Melania has tested positive as well. It's just terrible.
I should mention of course that there is a chance that the test results are wrong. False positives are a thing, though I doubt the President would announce this if they hadn't double checked. Still, there is a small chance that this is a simple scare and not a real issue at all. But my gut says it's legit.
The good news is that President Trump will get the best medical care imaginable. The doctors now have a much better idea of how to treat this diseases and several treatments are available for the President and his wife. This should minimize the chances of serious illness for them. And given that Trump is getting it fairly late in the outbreak I think there is a decent chance he didn't catch a bad strain. I personally think the virus has changed to become less deadly over time, so the chances of the President becoming seriously ill are small.
That being said, President Trump has several things going against him. First of all, at 74, he's in a much higher risk group. The vast majority of deaths from the disease are from people that are older than 70. And though Trump has been healthy through his presidency, he is overweight, which is a compounding factor. Plus, he has the most stressful job in the world, made worse by the pressures of a campaign.
Should the unthinkable happen, it's going to be an absolute disaster for this country. Losing a President right before an election would be devastating and would throw the election in chaos. Mike Pence would be thrust into the spotlight and would have to try and manage a SCOTUS nomination, an election and all the other various crisis's that have popped up, most notably the virus itself. Thankfully Pence has tested negative so we won't have to endure the potential duel horror of a Nancy Pelosi presidency and an empty GOP election slate, but this is still a very messed up situation.
I also worry that Joe Biden may have been exposed. It's unclear when President Trump contracted the virus, but it's possible that he was infected during the debate. I know that they did not get close to each other or even shake hands but it's still a scary thought, and given that they were yelling at each other through the entire debate, it would have been easy to spread the virus. I am in no way a supporter of Biden but I do not want him to get sick either, both on basic human decency grounds and on the grounds that it would have a huge impact on the 2020 election.
Thankfully, the worst case scenario rarely comes to pass. The average person of Trump's age has around a 95% chance of surviving the virus, and I am guessing President Trump has a better chance then usual given the quality of the treatment he will get and the lack of medical issues besides being overweight. My guess is that he will pull through.
However, I do worry that he will become seriously ill. Anything other then asymptomatic or a mild case could derail his reelection campaign and could cost him the Presidency, in theory. And it's possible that his quality of life could decrease after he recovers. He might not be the same man after he gets over the Coronavirus...
As for the election, I think this might actually help him in the long run. Very few things could ever humanize President Trump among his haters but catching Covid might be one of them. And the average undecided voter? They might forget President Trump's flaws out of a sincere desire for the leader of the country to get well soon. Remember, Ronald Reagan had a huge boost in popularity after surviving the assassination attempt against him, the same thing could be in play here, especially if he actually does have a more severe case.
Of course Trump Derangement Syndrome is still in effect. Many people on Twitter are shaming themselves now, either celebrating the fact that the President is sick or even hoping he perishes. Though some of that behavior is to be expected, to see it so blatantly is just disgusting. I am glad to see that some people are taking the higher road and others are shaming the worst actors.
What is encouraging is that many other world leaders have already gone through the same thing. Boris Johnson, Justin Trudeau and Jair Bolsonaro have all caught the disease and lived. So has Senator Rand Paul and several high profile celebrities. It's not like Coronavirus is a death sentence or anything.
Still, I personally am worried for President Trump. I know the chances are good that he recovers and that he will be well cared for, but it's impossible not to worry about the worst case scenario. I'm not a religious man but if I was I would for sure be praying for the President now. And who knows, I might just do it anyways. I sincerely hope that our President does and will make a complete recovery as soon as possible, along with his wonderful wife.
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