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WASHINGTON – The fact that US President Donald Trump has been hospitalized with Covid-19 has turned the conversation for the week toward the pandemic, which continues to ravage the United States.
For him, that is a double-edged sword.
Yet as much as the president tries to blame China and toying with his initial ban on travelers from China, the coronavirus is a sore spot, a vulnerability.
He’s already blaming himself for bringing this on himself while putting others at risk: tempting fate by mingling with helpers and advisers, sometimes without a mask, and holding events where people mingle without masks, which, while it is relatively small, it still involves risk. The list of recommended protocol violations is long.
To top it all, Cleveland on Tuesday mocked former Vice President Joe Biden for wearing a mask.
“Trump’s approval of his handling of the pandemic has already been abysmal. Now the focus will be on his personal recklessness that put others at risk,” wrote political analyst Taegan Goddard, founder of the Political Wire newsletter. “The video clips of Trump downplaying the pandemic are endless.”
Thus, there is a lot of ammo to use against him, and this episode draws attention to his failures.
However, it also has a broader silver lining: refocusing much-needed attention on the pandemic, serving as a wake-up call for the complacent.
Covid-19 cases are on the rise again. Last week, Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and a member of the White House coronavirus task force, said: “We are seeing 40,000 new cases per day. That is unacceptable and that is what we have we have to get off before entering the most problematic winter “.
Meanwhile, the allegations – which he has rejected – that the president has paid little or no income tax; who mocked the war dead in the United States; that the First Lady in a tape made fun of Christmas; and his performance in the debate, all have been ripped from the news cycle.
The Trump campaign is now busy making alternate arrangements to move the president’s campaign online. On the cards there are phone calls and video calls.
Also on the cards is having Vice President Mike Pence step up the campaign (he’ll face Senator Kamala Harris in their only debate meeting on Oct. 7, and they’ll be 3.6m apart) to keep the momentum going.
But much is based on something unknown: the condition of the president.
If he comes out unscathed, he will be emboldened and his heroic image with his devoted base that sees him as some kind of gladiator figure will only be reinforced.
This may not get him a significant wave of sympathy votes beyond his base, but it won’t hurt him in polls, in which he has been consistently, if narrowly, behind Biden.
Separately, the Five Thirty Eight website’s Nate Silver survey data analyzer said, “On a very basic, square level, Covid-19 is a huge responsibility for the president, so focus more on Covid-19 probably not great for him.
“But … could Trump get the Covid-19 to change his message about the virus and the pandemic? Maybe. But this is Donald Trump … he is not inclined to be too disciplined or deferential to scientists, etc. It is Quite unpredictable, and we still don’t know much about the severity of her symptoms. “
Five Thirty Eight lead writer Amelia Thomson-DeVeaux said, “I think what happens to public opinion really depends on how sick Trump gets.
“A big part of the reason Republicans are not so in favor of Covid-19 restrictions is that they are much, much less likely to see the virus as a threat to their personal health. Research has indicated that Trump downplaying the virus is probably a big factor. of that. “
It could play out in at least two ways, he added.
“Trump gets moderately or very sick and this makes Republicans think … this is really serious and if it could happen to Trump, it could happen to me.”
“Trump remains largely asymptomatic and reinforces the idea that this is not that important.”
Filmmaker Michael Moore, who in 2016 predicted Trump would win, wrote on Facebook on Friday: “He’s losing the election. And he knows it. It’s not 2016. He was hated in 2016, but now they hate him even more.”
But Democrats, liberals, the media and others have always been wrong to simply treat President Trump as a buffoon, he wrote.
“He’s also sneaky. He’s smart … he knows being sick tends to win a sympathy. He’s not above turning this into a weapon.”
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