Race for White House: Trump Tweets Leaving Hospital Says ‘Don’t Be Afraid’ of Virus

Presidential politics move fast. What we are seeing in a new week on the 2020 United States election campaign:

Days until general elections: 29

Days until next presidential debate: 8

THE NARRATIVE

President Donald Trump spent the weekend in hospital after testing positive for Covid-19, a development that added a new layer of chaos to an already turbulent 2020 contest just a month before Election Day. No first-term president has suffered such a serious health setback so close to an election.

Trump’s hospitalization has refocused the election right where Democrat Joe Biden wants it: on Trump’s uneven leadership during the pandemic. The Republican president has struggled to manage the nation’s response to the health crisis. After ignoring the recommendations of his own health experts for several months, now he and several high-ranking Republicans, not to mention first lady Melania Trump, are infected.

The revelation came days after an ugly debate that already had Trump’s allies on the defensive. While things certainly seem to be in Biden’s direction, 29 days is enough time for another October surprise. Or three.

THE BIG QUESTIONS
How long will Trump be in quarantine?

There is nothing more important to the Trump campaign than having its director healthy and back on the campaign trail. For now, no one knows when that could happen.

A best-case scenario could allow Trump to emerge just before the next presidential debate, scheduled for Oct. 16 (CDC says infected people can see another 10 days after the first symptoms appear at the earliest. , as long as symptoms improve). He could leave the hospital today at the earliest, his doctors said yesterday, but his health continues to change.

This morning, the president tweeted that he would be leaving today. “I’ll be leaving the great Walter Reed Medical Center today at 6:30 pm I feel really good! Don’t be afraid of Covid. Don’t let it rule your life. We have developed, under the Trump Administration, some drugs and knowledge. I feel better than 20 years ago! “

This is a time that transcends politics, yet millions of people are already voting and Election Day is looming in less than a month. Campaign manager Bill Stepien, who is also infected, described Trump as the “best asset” of the campaign over the weekend. Republicans want him back as soon as possible.

What is the Trump campaign doing now?

Trump’s team announced plans over the weekend to aggressively dispatch Vice President Mike Pence and the Trump family to key transition states after Thursday’s vice presidential debate to help the campaign regain momentum. However, it is not clear how the plan called “Operation MAGA” differs from the previous strategy of the campaign. The main substitutes for the president have been active in the election campaign for months.

It may be too late to adjust the campaign message, but after months of trying to downplay the pandemic, Republicans now have no choice but to take the deadly disease and its rising death toll seriously.

Is the vice president debate suddenly a much bigger issue?

Pence and Sen. Kamala Harris will meet in Utah for the only vice presidential debate. Trump’s state of health makes the typically low-key affair more important.

Candidates for vice presidency are often quite cautious when in the limelight, aware that their primary responsibility is not to damage the top of the list. The burden of getting tough questions answered falls on the moderator, Susan Page, Washington bureau chief USA Today.

Pence may be particularly vulnerable given his role as head of the White House coronavirus task force. By most standard measures, the United States has fared far worse than other developed countries in controlling the virus.

Can Biden keep his party focused?

This is a delicate time for Democrats.

We saw Republicans take advantage of a handful of ugly social media attacks by low-key liberals who wished the president badly, or worse, immediately after his diagnosis. These comments have largely faded, which is good for everyone involved.

Biden must make sure his is the dominant voice for his party through Trump’s health crisis. The Democrat has been sending an optimistic message of unity since the beginning of his campaign, a message that responds to this moment as well. He was roundly praised for taking the strike ads off the air after Trump’s hospitalization, and his surrogates yesterday largely kept the tone positive.

The nation’s attention is focused on Trump’s inability to manage a public health crisis that includes his own. Your campaign desperately wants to change focus. And resentment or meanness out of place at a time like this would help them do that.

THE FINAL THOUGHT

We are seeing in real time the effects of Trump’s well-documented, often casual, association with the facts. In a genuine moment of national crisis, many people do not know what to believe about the health of their leader.

Trump’s medical team and advisers offered conflicting information and declined to answer key questions about his health over the weekend. Even before the latest round of misinformation, seven out of 10 Americans didn’t believe what Trump is saying about the coronavirus, according to a recent ABC News / Ipsos poll.

At times like these, a nation needs to be able to trust its leaders. It is not like that right now.

– AP