Mega-Thread: Trump Focused Discussion

[Wilfire]

Looking for an older twink, huh?

Would be nice to have a respectable-looking leader for once

[Breccia]

So under the circumstances, I think a mass posting of CNN seems completely called for.

1) Sources tell CNN that the mood inside the White House is pretty grim. The non-political staff, of course, is probably pretty careful, but there's room for concern. Others...

But across the street from the West Wing, many national security officials still awaited any guidance. National Security Council staff, some of whom spend time in the West Wing and work in close proximity with the President and his inner circle, had not received any guidance or recommendations on whether or not to get tested or self-quarantine as of 9 a.m. ET Friday, according to one administration official.

Staff learned of the President's diagnosis through tweets and the media, but have received no internal notices about it, even from the public health standpoint.

"We're all sitting around wondering, 'ok, now what?'" the official told CNN.

There is no plan. The fact that it happened recently is not enough. Y'all were up with me ten hours ago. I could have made a plan in those ten hours.

2) Trump has the worst job losses on record heading into the election

Title speaks for itself. No, @Slant I don't want to hear it. And quite frankly, I don't think it's true that anyone else would have lost the same. I think some people would have fostered a much more cautious attitude that would have suggested or even forced more people to be safe. I think the Trump Death Clock has a point.

Trump was in charge. The jobs were lost, while Trump was in charge. Trump blamed Obama for everything, he gets to eat this and like it.

3) Apparently Hick's positive result was downplayed by Trump himself just before he found out he was infected.

But here's the big one:

4) Trump's coronavirus diagnosis guarantees this election will be about everything he has tried to avoid

Trump has spent months trying to move the country's focus away from the coronavirus. He's purposely downplayed the threat it poses to Americans, pushed unscientific treatments and ensured the country that a vaccine would be arriving any day. In pre-recorded remarks at the annual Al Smith Dinner on Thursday night, Trump promised that "the end of the pandemic is in sight, and next year will be one of the greatest years in the history of our country."

Hours later, just after 1 a.m. Friday morning on the East Coast, Trump announced that both he and first lady Melania Trump had tested positive for Covid-19.

That diagnosis made Trump's strategy of changing the subject in these final 32 days before the election from Covid-19 to, well, anything else, totally impossible.

Trump will now be forced to quarantine for two weeks, taking him off the campaign trail and likely forcing the rescheduling -- if not outright cancellation of, at least, the second presidential debate, which was set for October 15 in Miami, Florida. (The lone vice presidential debate is on the schedule for next Wednesday in Salt Lake City; Vice President Mike Pence tested negative for Covid-19 on Friday morning, according to his office.)

That, in and of itself, is a major blow to a President who is a) trailing former Vice President Joe Biden in national and swing-state polling and b) views his campaign rallies -- large, raucous affairs -- as the lifeblood of not just his campaign but his presidency. Despite the ongoing virus threat, Trump had increased the frequency of his campaign travel over the last few months as he sought to reassure the country that fight against the virus was being won and that the time had come to move on to other issues -- most notably, according to Trump from the podium, the violent protests happening in cities around the country.

CNN puts the exchange with Wallace next.

What the positive tests of the President and first lady prove (and, more accurately, re-prove) is that the coronavirus doesn't care whether you believe in it or not. It infects Democrats, Republicans and people who don't follow or care about politics. Ignoring it or pretending it is getting better -- in spite of data that suggests we have never, really, gotten over the first wave -- doesn't affect whether or not it can sicken you.

The practical impacts of Trump's diagnosis are serious. But the less-tangible impacts may be even more costly to a President who has banked his reelection on the idea that things are getting much, much better and doing so very, very quickly.

While Trump's behavior -- steady travel, lack of mask-wearing, exposure to lots and lots of people -- always made him more likely than the average person to contract the disease, the fact that he now has it will force a recalibration for many people. And that recalibration will center around this question: If the President of the United States can get Covid-19, what does that mean for my chances of getting it?

That uncertainty -- and the anxiety it causes -- is powerful. The virus, which has now been with us for the better part of six months, feels more real and more threatening for many Americans today than it has in many months. It's managed to sicken the most powerful and well-protected person in the country. How people react to the new-found freshness of the threat -- even if the threat remains roughly the same as it did prior to Trump's diagnosis -- is an X factor in the election, particularly given that we are less than five weeks away from the actual vote.

[Skulltaker]

Would be nice to have a respectable-looking leader for once

... and your pick is Mike Pence? Sorry to burst your bubble, but the dude holding Trumps dick for four years doesn't look respectable, he looks guilty by association, at best.

[szechuan]

Trumpvirus Super Spreader event at the Whitehouse

[Wilfire]

... and your pick is Mike Pence? Sorry to burst your bubble, but the dude holding Trumps dick for four years doesn't look respectable, he looks guilty by association, at best.

Out of Trump, Biden and Harris, Pence looks the least like a clown

[GreenGoldSharpie]

Would be nice to have a respectable-looking leader for once

Yeah, if you like a guy who can't hang with women and calls his wife fucking "mother" like a weirdo.

[eschatological]

Alls I know is that, in that one West Wing Episode. John Goodman had to resign as Speaker before being sworn in as president when Bartlett invoked the 25th

Not to go off a fictional TV series, but that's because you can't serve in two branches of government at once. In the show, there was no VP because he had resigned due to scandal, so the Line of Succession went POTUS -> Speaker.

[Wilfire]

Yeah, if you like a guy who can't hang with women and calls his wife fucking "mother" like a weirdo.

Better a guy who avoid women than a guy who screws his ex-press secretary and catches covid

[Elegiac]

Out of Trump, Biden and Harris, Pence looks the least like a clown

I see someone's never seen a picture of a young Joe R. Biden.



The R is short for "Rearrange These Guts".

[Thepersona]

I see someone's never seen a picture of a young Joe R. Biden.



The R is short for "Rearrange These Guts".

Young Biden is the definition of Chadness

[GreenGoldSharpie]

Better a guy who avoid women than a guy who screws his ex-press secretary and catches covid

So, you'll take the guy who carried water for him instead?

Sounds like you just like fucked up people to me.

[Wilfire]

I see someone's never seen a picture of a young Joe R. Biden.



The R is short for "Rearrange These Guts".

So? Everyone looks good in their twenties-thirties. Right now Biden looks like a fossil. At least Pence doesn't look like he's about to keel over any minute now.

[Felya]

Out of Trump, Biden and Harris, Pence looks the least like a clown

I think Harris is attractive... /shrug

[Elegiac]

So? Everyone looks good in their twenties-thirties. Right now Biden looks like a fossil. At least Pence doesn't look like he's about to keel over any minute now.

Actually no; young Mike Pence and young Donald Trump both looked pretty grody. Also I'm not even going to bother defending Kamala Harris because if you can't see that woman's obvious charms then you're a lost cause, lol.

"Mike Pence is good looking", sure Jan.

[Thepersona]

Actually no; young Mike Pence and young Donald Trump both looked pretty grody. Also I'm not even going to bother defending Kamala Harris because if you can't see that woman's obvious charms then you're a lost cause, lol.

"Mike Pence is good looking", sure Jan.

I'd let current kamala step on me any day of the week, tbh.
And no, not everyone looks that good on his/her early 20s-30s. I sure dont

PS: wholesome Amtrak Chad thundercock tested negative

[Wilfire]

Actually no; young Mike Pence and young Donald Trump both looked pretty grody. Also I'm not even going to bother defending Kamala Harris because if you can't see that woman's obvious charms then you're a lost cause, lol.

"Mike Pence is good looking", sure Jan.

Pence's smile is warm and friendly. Harris grimaces like a predator about to pounce on someone

[Breccia]

Funny story: Trump and Obama have about the same unemployment at the end of four years.

Obama lowered his by about two percent.

Trump lowered his by about one percent, changed his mind, and instead added three percent.

[Felya]

Pence's smile is warm and friendly. Harris grimaces like a predator about to pounce on someone

That’s hot...

[Draco-Onis]

Pence's smile is warm and friendly. Harris grimaces like a predator about to pounce on someone

So an attractive woman wanting to pounce on you is bad? You know Pence does not approve of that thinking.

[Elegiac]

So an attractive woman wanting to pounce on you is bad?

I'm starting to get why they like Mike Pence...