Trump

[Misfit]

Meanwhile:

Yep, that's exactly what everyone I've spoken to today was thinking. (NOT)

I hadn't thought of spinning it that way.

[KlaxonCow]

So, all that hydroxychloroquine he was taking... why did his snake oil miracle cure not work?

And, come on, why did he take a test? No testing, no virus, right?

To be frank, Trump responded to a question about the death of over 200,000 Americans with "it is what it is". So, if he gets hospitalised and then dies then, well, "it is what it is". Fuck him.

[RedOktober]

They put him in the hospital with all the other coronavirus sufferers, just to make sure he gets it.

[Cloudane]

It is what it is: Bullshit.

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/sta ... 0352972800

If he has covid, I'm a fucking unicorn - Biden has pulled all negative ads about Trump out of respect (or what Trump would call political correctness), he's been played hook line and sinker much like half the world.

I'm not a nutjob conspiracy theorist, it's just obvious

[Harlequin]

It is what it is: Bullshit.

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/sta ... 0352972800

If he has covid, I'm a fucking unicorn - Biden has pulled all negative ads about Trump out of respect (or what Trump would call political correctness), he's been played hook line and sinker much like half the world.

I'm not a nutjob conspiracy theorist, it's just obvious

That is also what many nutjob conspiracy theorists say. For me, the more "obvious" or "common sense" something seems to other people, the more inclined I often am to suspect otherwise.

I personally think, based on hardly any evidence bar prior history, that the probability of Dump faking this story is very high. I also feel, however, that there is slightly more than a 20% chance that you are a horny horse.

[tufty]

There is a possibility that this is fake, it's true. Getting coronavirus notably worked for Saint Boris.

On the other hand, from 27th through 30th September, Trump:

Played Golf in Potomac Falls
Held a news Conference
Hosted a reception for gold star families
Visited Lordstown Motors
Visited the Sheila and Eric Sampson Pavilion in Cleveland, twice - for 40 minutes, then went away and came back for the debate
Visited one Marty Davis in Minneapolis
Held a MAGA event in Duluth, Minneapolis

At none of these events did he wear a mask, and his supporters at least at the mass events were largely not wearing masks either. He also spent a lot of time aboard AF1, a closed space, with a load of other people. I'm not betting on him wearing a mask there.

Ockham.

[KlaxonCow]

It seems unlikely to be "faking it" from the perspective that Trump's campaign was desperately trying to get away from Covid, as Trump's mishandling of it all does not poll well. He wanted the conversation to move to the Supreme Court vacancy, to the law and order issues of dealing with protests and riots, as that's where he does way better.

And being shuttled to a hospital is not a good image. And, if he's there for many days, that's really cutting into his campaign trails of rallies to promote himself.

He was, after all, just before this, promoting in his speeches the idea that "the end is in sight" and he's been weirdly even suggesting that they'd have this sorted before the election, pushing the idea of a vaccine being widely available real soon (which is news to all those involved with developing those vaccines). He was trying to push the narrative of "this isn't a big deal, as it'll be over soon, and the vaccine is around the corner - so let's stop talking about this non-problem".

Well, that narrative's been shattered into a million pieces within less than a day.

If this is "faking it" then it's a poorly chosen political strategy. He's been brought down by the thing he was trying to push as "not a big deal and it's already over". The thing he doesn't want in the election narrative, as it doesn't play well. It'll take him out of the race for a while, in the crucial final run-up to polling. It kind of makes him look like an idiot - well, more of an idiot - to have been pushing all that "fuck face masks" rhetoric and mocking Biden for wearing one. Well, now he's got it and Biden hasn't, so that image ain't playing well - kind of suggests that maybe wearing face masks was a good idea all along.

And a big part of their campaign strategy against Biden has been to suggest he's not physically and mentally up to the job. "Sleepy Joe". Hints and rumours about maybe him having dementia or something, perhaps - hoping that bullshit sticks at least in some voter's minds.

Trump's the one in hospital, while Biden's happy and healthy. So much for the "who's most physically / mentally qualified?" angle they were going for.

Trump's behind in all the polls. Now would be the time for him to really start pushing and turning that around. Instead, he'll be relatively quiet - no rallies or anything - for a crucial couple of weeks when there's only about a month left to go.

If this is "faking it" to gain some sort of political advantage then he's horribly miscalculated, as there way more problems in the "cons" column than there is benefits in the "pros" column.

The one useful possibility that he has from this is that, if he gets it mildly and it's over fast, then he can play up the "it's no big deal" angle again. But that one's already ruined by him having to go to hospital for a few days - even if it really is "out of an abundance of caution", as they claim. As the images people are seeing ain't matching his rhetoric on it. And we only have a month left to polling - can this all realistically be pulled off in time, to set the narrative up just when it's needed? Seems unlikely.

Plus, Trump has had so many ex-staff leakers and a rotating door on his staffing policy, that pushing a "Big Lie" right now would, again, be strategically dumb. If it gets out with evidence and credible witnesses that he's "faking it" - and if he was, that's such ammunition to bring him down, so close to an election - then that's a heck of a risk to be taking before an election, that you're totally making up an illness that you don't even have. One set of "loose lips", with evidence he's a big fat orange-faced liar, could easily sink him beyond any recovery.

And a big play they've been making with the religious voters is that Trump is "God's chosen President". Well, clearly, God's not too happy with him right now, if he's "punishing" him with Covid. Him wandering around without a face mask and acting like he's "immune" was part of the "it's a miracle!" religious image they were using to pump him up with the religiously-challenged Americans. That's shattered in an instant, as folks who believe in "Divine Intervention" have little choice in how they interpret him being "struck down" - God ain't choosing him no longer, it seems. In this (erroneous) view, illness is a "punishment", so what's Trump done to deserve God's wrath here, eh? "I'm God and I DON'T approve this message" ain't something you want at the end of your campaign ads to the Bible Belt.

So, on balance of probabilities, I don't think he's faking it. But he might hamming it up to gain sympathy votes and trick Biden into dropping the attack ads and maybe use it as an excuse to dodge the TV debates, after he did poorly last time (because if he has it, best to try to milk what advantages it does have, even if it's mostly disadvantages and not good overall). But that's not an amazing strategy, in the grand scheme of things. And the next one is more "town hall" style, which arguably suits him more - and did against Clinton - so that's just really bad timing anyway.

If this is "faking it" then it's a poor political strategy that really won't help him much. Makes him look dumb and weak - when being "the big man" is his main selling point to his supporters - ruins his campaigning - when he's behind, so he needs every opportunity he can get, in these precious final few weeks - and brings back Covid as an unavoidable topic, that he now will be totally unable to "bury" in any way, where he polls badly. It's extremely risky, for little reward.

If he is "faking it" then he's an idiot for doing so. It really won't help him here. To do so would not remotely be any kind of "Machiavellian genius" right now.

[Harlequin]

… And the next one is more "town hall" style, which arguably suits him more …

I thought that was only for the VP debate.

[KlaxonCow]

… And the next one is more "town hall" style, which arguably suits him more …

I thought that was only for the VP debate.

No, they did the "town hall" thing with Hillary and Trump last time, as the second debate. I believe that was the plan this time around too (and, of course, may potentially still happen but let's keep things in the subjunctive tone for the time being).



(I was going to link to a video of the actual real Clinton vs. Trump debate itself but the SNL spoof is more fun to watch and covers the "highlights" in a more concise fashion.)

[Cloudane]

Now that his allies are testing positive I'm willing to believe he actually has it. In which case: hahahahaha
Let that be a lesson
It just seemed awfully convenient if he were to fake it as a way to "prove that it's nothing" and avoid some nasty debates as well. And I'm pessimistic usually in our post 2016 world.

I still think he'll bounce back - for one thing he obviously knew about vitamin D which is the big cheap life saviour that no one is talking about because it doesn't make money (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B01ZlRfMnmU)
Plus has all the experimental treatments no one else has access to yet. So I suspect in a week or two he'll be back to downplaying the virus, using the "I'm 74 and shrugged it off" reasoning.

[F-ZeroOne]

Using the same logic, deductive reasoning and evidence that has led some to believe that the Democrats deliberately infected Trump with Coronavirus, I can now present THE TRUTH:

Mike Pence tested negative after the debate, despite having been in close proximity to Trump and his aides before and during. Clearly, Pence was administered the antidote by Chinese-backed pharmaceutical companies who wish to harness his following among religious fundamentalists and make him President so that he can convince the faithful that God told them to take ALL THE VACCINES so that the medi-corps can rake in billions of dollars at the expense of ALL AMERICAS CHILDREN.

[Little stoned kiwi]

Trump *can't* have the ronies. If anyone would have been protected from this Russian biological attack, it's their puppet ruler.

[PFVA]

I still think he'll bounce back - for one thing he obviously knew about vitamin D which is the big cheap life saviour that no one is talking about because it doesn't make money (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B01ZlRfMnmU)

I didn't know about Vitamin D. I take it because I take calcium and the vitamin D helps to absorb it (osteoporosis). If that helps people who take it with the calcium and there is a lot specially women in the age bracket 50-60 should have better results recovering fm Covid 19 than the ones who don't take it.

[Whiteball]

Vitamin D3 has long been known to give better health benefits, especially compared to the more usual Vitamin C people go on about when getting colds etc.

Actually it's not a vitamin at all, it is a steroid hormone in active form inside of us.

Need a much higher dose than the RDA or whatever the daily intake number thingie is called these days.
I've heard recommendations around 3 to 5000 IU. But as always check with a GP/Pharmacy first to be sure.

[Cloudane]

I'm conscious that I keep referencing one person (John Campbell) but he provides excellent references himself. Anyway my basic understanding of it is that it's almost like "food" for the T cell type immune response - which many of us, maybe 50%, might already have an effective anti-covid response from due to other coronaviruses. But in many people, these T cells are starved of it.

I'm taking 50ug per day (the supplements are usually about 25, but multivitamins might only contain 5-10), but much as the disclaimer JC makes, this isn't a prescription, just saying what I take.