Well, he’s got it.

29 Replies

3D_medical_animation_corona_virus

Thought I’d better put up a post in case y’all want to discuss Trump (and his wife, and Hope Hicks, and who knows who else) having the coronavirus.

Joe said about all that really needs to be said:

But of course, a lot more will be said. And we’ll have a lot to think about. Some of the things I’ve thought include:

  • I really hope he doesn’t die. I hope that about anyone, of course, but such a private tragedy would in this case lead to a chaotic situation at a particularly chaotic moment for the country. I could probably write a couple of thousand words about the political possibilities, but I won’t. I’ll just hope and pray he gets better, and we can go ahead and have this election, and get a rational, sensible, decent person into the Oval Office.
  • At the same time, imagine what happens if he has one of those super-light “mild-cold” cases (as people around him, so far, are suggesting). This would confirm him in his “it’s no worse than the flu” carelessness, which would be bad for us all, and likely lead to a lot more people dying. As awful as it is to hope someone feels bad (and it is), other people’s lives depend on him realizing, for the first time, that this is a serious illness. So… I don’t know what to think or say along these lines. As for his wife, I hope she suffers as little as possible.
  • I’m glad Joe and his wife tested negative. Although you can’t really bet on negative tests. Fortunately, we know Joe will be careful, as always, not to infect others.
  • Of course, if Joe did get it, we’d know how it happened. It happened from you-know-who shouting at him across a stage for an hour and a half. Sure, they were technically “safe-distanced,” but since Joe is careful, when else has he been exposed like that?

Anyway, I’ll just stop now, and let y’all share your thoughts…

29 thoughts on “Well, he’s got it.”

  1. Bill

    Where’d the medical report come from? Trump wrote his own last,’clean bill of health’,and said it was from his doctor:
    “Trump doctor Harold Bornstein says bodyguard, lawyer ‘raided’ his office, took medical files.
    Bornstein said he felt “raped” after White House aide Keith Schiller and lawyer Alan Garten showed up unannounced and took Trump’s files.”

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  2. randle

    I certainly don’t expect any transparency from the White House regarding the president’s health, although throughout history, presidents and candidates have been less than forthcoming about their health.
    Meanwhile, Biden just gave another excellent speech, in full Mr. Smith Goes to Washington/George Bailey mode, which I love. I am a big fan of ordinary people getting a share of this country’s promise.

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    1. bud

      Biden repeated many of the same themes he’s been peddling throughout his campaign. I was impressed by his sharp mental acuity. The Republicans plan to make the candidates health an issue is backfiring spectacularly. Never thought that was a good tactic for them but now it works against them with a vengeance.

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      2. Randle

        I liked what he said about regular people feeling like they are not being seen. And that he saw them. And he speaks to their needs and challenges. I have not heard him say that in such a heartfelt manner before, but I haven’t heard all of his speeches. I have really liked what I have heard — simple and direct, and I agree with him in general, so I am definitely a fan. And that decency we keep talking about.
        Regarding the health attack —turnabout is fair play, eh? I won’t gloat — I am really concerned about Biden and company being infected at that debate. That was a whole lot of hot, fetid air the president was spewing in 90 minutes. I haven’t read anything to confirm that the auditorium had any special ventilation or filtration.

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        1. Brad Warthen Post author

          Joe not only SEES those regular people. He makes an extraordinary connection with them. I’ve seen it, up close, when he was campaigning with us in 2018. I had liked Joe before, but that really showed me what a special person he is…

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          1. Brad Warthen Post author

            I’d definitely be out of the loop, if important information could only be found on TV.

            I’ve told this on myself a number of times, but I’ll tell it again: Robert Ariail would often come into my office to show me a sketch, and I’d tell him I didn’t understand what it was about, and it would turn out that I hadn’t heard about the news item that was the inspiration for the cartoon, and he would express amazement, saying, “But it was all over the news!” By which he meant TV, and probably 24/7 cable TV.

            I was unapologetic. If it hadn’t been on the front pages of The State, or the NYT or Washington Post or Wall Street Journal, I figured I didn’t need to know it.

            I don’t mean to say that Robert focused on silly stuff while I was the serious guy. I’m talking here about some goofy development that a lot of people would have been talking about, and Robert would be using that funny item as a way of saying something about something serious — something I DID care about. Because Robert kept up with all of it. He played the radio all the time he was working in his office, and I assume watched the tube at night — in addition to reading.

            I’ve always listened to NPR, and read fairly voraciously. But there just aren’t enough hours in the day for me to spend any of them watching cable TV “news.”

            So that means sometimes I miss a joke. But other than that, I keep up fairly well…

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            1. Brad Warthen Post author

              Although I did have to ask my wife this morning, after seeing no fewer than three headlines about her in my Washington Post app, who Crissy Teigen was.

              My wife, who does consume TV news along with reading voraciously, told me that she was married to John Legend.

              Of course, I then asked who John Legend was. I told her I had heard the name, of course (although I had a vague picture in my head of this Will Smith movie.)

              She told me, in general terms. Someone in entertainment, which I sort of knew — that’s what I would have picked in a multiple-choice test. (As she Googled, she even found that he is the holder of an EGOT — so, a distinguished entertainer.) She even called up a picture on her phone to show me. I allowed as how he looked familiar — although what I meant was, familiar like somebody I might have seen regularly at church, or around the State House, or a fellow member at the Cap City Club, or something like that — someone I might have run into around town. Affable-looking fellow, at any rate…

              So I do miss things…

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                1. Bob Amundson

                  That’s for sure. I am a “Superstar” snob, having seen the original play on Broadway in 1972 and having listened to the album hundreds of times. My expectations of the televised version were low, but it blew me away. “What’s the buzz, tell me what’s happening.”

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  3. Norm Ivey

    Is he going to the hospital because he needs to, or is it “in an abundance of caution” as stated, or is it fear?

    I hope he recovers quickly. Too many have died or been left with life altering conditions.

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    1. Brad Warthen Post author

      They’re now saying he’ll be there for several days. Sounds to me like we may be headed for a Boris Johnson. First, he was handling it fine. Then he was on a ventilator…

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      1. randle

        You are correct, sir. Jim Acosta reports he is having trouble breathing.

        ahttps://twitter.com/i/status/1311865051029135360

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  5. bud

    Now he’s going on joy rides at a time when he’s highly contagious. Is there no end to this idiots inappropriate behavior?

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