Trump left Walter Reed Hospital yesterday despite all the conflicting reports about how seriously he has been affected by the virus. He clearly wants to send a message to his supporters that he is well again because in MAGA world, being ill is a sign of weakness. Hell, even taking precautions to avoid getting sick is a sign of weakness. While he wore a mask when he left the hospital, his gesture of taking it off just before he entered the residence was a gesture of bravado he had clearly planned in advance.
Coronavirus in Chief, Trump takes off mask as he returns to WH. pic.twitter.com/ukCyhU1Nv0
— Jim Acosta (@Acosta) October 5, 2020
(I had to laugh when I saw that gesture because it immediately brought to my mind films from back in the day from Tamil Nadu that featured a hugely popular actor named M. G. Ramachandran, known simply as MGR to his vast number of fans. These films were really cheesy and almost always featured MGR as an action hero, even well he was well into his fifties and sixties and quite portly and utterly unsuitable for the role. In many of the films he would disguise himself to infiltrate the den of the bad guys and at the climatic moment would whip off his mask and reveal who he really was before laying waste to the villains with some laughable jujitsu and karate moves. The audiences in the cinema hall were clearly anticipating this highly unsurprising plot development and would cheer loudly when it happened. Trump is MGR in real life, with his fans similarly applauding his pseudo-macho posturing.)
It has been pointed out that the White House has the resources to convert his bedroom into the equivalent of a hospital room if his symptoms worsen but that misses the point. It is not Trump’s health that is at issue. Since he is still infectious, he is putting the people who work in the White House at risk and his gesture of taking off the mask shows that he just does not care. It is one thing for an infectious person to be in a hospital where the people are trained to deal with infections and can be treated quickly if they get infected. It is quite another to be in a private residence where the workers are ordinary people who will not get anywhere near the level of care that Trump got.
A this note says, “The White House residence is staffed by approximately 90 people, including ushers, butlers, housekeepers and cooks, according to the Washington Post. The staff is predominantly Black, Latino and older.” Some have already been infected.
More info on 2 White House residence staff members who tested positive – they worked for the housekeeping department on the third floor, and didn't come in direct contact w the first family. When their tests came back positive, they were told to use "discretion" in discussing it.
— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) October 5, 2020
Of course, in the Trump world, these people simply do not count and their lives can be risked in order to further his ambition. That has been his guiding principle throughout this whole pandemic and his life. It is just that the people being sacrificed now are within his residence. Indeed, the White House seems to have become a hot spot, given the number of people working there who have been reported as testing positive, with press secretary Kayleigh McEnany and two of her aides being the latest additions.
But you have to give the Trump propaganda machine credit for their efforts at putting a positive spin on this debacle. They now claim that Trump getting covid-19 gives him an advantage over Joe Biden in fighting the pandemic because he now has firsthand experience with fighting the disease.
A campaign official for President Trump in a Monday interview said the president getting the coronavirus gave him a unique advantage over former Vice President Joe Biden given Trump’s “firsthand experience” with the disease.
…Perrine suggested his experience with COVID-19 gave the president an advantage over Biden, the Democratic nominee for president.
“He has experience as commander-in-chief. He has experience as a businessman. He has experience now of fighting the coronavirus as an individual,” she said, adding, “Those firsthand experiences, Joe Biden, he doesn’t have those.”
So now we know why Trump was traipsing around the place without taking safety precautions. He wanted to get the disease so that he could experience it first-hand and thus fight it better, unlike that wuss Joe Biden whose knowledge is weak because he only gets it from scientists like Anthony Fauci who themselves don’t know anything because they were not infected either.
Your stable genius at work, folks!
Alternative hypothesis: he doesn’t have it, he never had it, and the whole thing’s just theatre so he can pose as the tough guy and claim the virus isn’t that bad.
Yeah, it’s an un-evidenced conspiracy theory, but I think it’s not exactly implausible.
Conservatives love the empty macho posturing for some reason. Even in Canada. Peter MacKay*, one of the frontrunners for the CPC leadership, felt it was important to point out that while Justin Trudeau went in for yoga, MacKay was a hockey player. Nudge nudge, huh guys, knowwhatahmtalkinabout?
*Who played a key, lying, weaselly role in the F-35 scandal in Stephen Harper’s government.
I have seen folks over on Daily Kos theorizing that he’s high on steroids.
@3 We’ll know for sure if he accidentally wins the Tour de France.
(He won’t even need the yellow jersey…)
When I was an undergrad, taking Abnormal Psych(101) we had readings that were interviews with psychopaths. Interesting stuff. One of them seemed surprised when he discovered that other people had inner lives, thoughts, dreams, ideas -- he just saw everyone as meat robots that either served him, were in his way, or could be ignored. I imagine that’s what it’s like inside the glob of mashed potatoes that sits on Trump’s shoulders. When he says “I don’t know him” he means “I don’t bother to remember that anyone exists unless they’re either giving me money, or I’m taking money from them, or I’m having sex with them.” When he realizes a new person exists, he does a snap threat assessment and either turns on them or ignores them unless they’re one of the three categories above. The funny part is that he’s the one who’s the simple meat robot -- he just isn’t smart or reflective enough to realize it.
I loved the bit about the MGR movies. That strikes me as a perfect analogy. Unfortunately, it seems to work on those who can’t distinguish between bravado (when one is not really in danger) and actual heroism.
xohjoh2n @4:
I would settle for watching him on a bicycle trying to negotiate down one of those mountain roads off the high Alps.
Do you like silly coincidences that don’t really mean anything but are fun to laugh at anyway?
A TV station in Mt. Vernon, IL, which I can receive over the air, has been airing classic Doctor Who stories for a while now. Tonight will be parts 3 and 4 of The Caves of Androzani, the final story of the Peter Davison era. I just realized that, if they air all the Colin Baker stories except for Revelation of the Daleks, which is what they’ve done in the past, then The Ultimate Foe, the final Colin Baker story, will air on election night. Let’s hope another identity will change hands as well.
Also, the following night will feature the first Sylvester McCoy story; but it won’t begin with a regeneration scene because, in a fit of pique, Colin Baker refused to show up to do it. We’ll see whether that also anticipates something that happens in real life.
BREAKING NEWS! WATER IS WET!
Oops…
Hit the wrong key.
After more than four years, we’re all just preaching to the choir.
Our only hope is that the choir is big enough to vote his ass out.
I wish all the best of luck in achieving the goal