President Trump and First Lady have tested positive for Virus (Update: Trump to undergo televised ‘medical exam’ Friday night) (3 Viewers)

First Time Poster said:

The fact that all of us have legitimate reason to be skeptical whether the forking PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES is faking having a virus that has killed close to a quarter of a million Americans is the most banana Republic bullshirt that not even Tom Clancy can conjure up. I am so tired of this bullshirt Administration. They lie and obfuscate so much that no American truly knows what to believe. We need some forking normalcy back on Pennsylvania Ave. Damn.

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And this is why, even if not elected for a second term, he had damaged the perception to such a degree that in my opinion, it will probably take decades to get back to some level of trust

First Time Poster said:

The fact that all of us have legitimate reason to be skeptical whether the forking PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES is faking having a virus that has killed close to a quarter of a million Americans is the most banana Republic bullshirt that not even Tom Clancy can conjure up. I am so tired of this bullshirt Administration. They lie and obfuscate so much that no American truly knows what to believe. We need some forking normalcy back on Pennsylvania Ave. Damn.

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If he is faking that would be like lying about being in one of the World Trade Center towers on 9-11

It would be like lying about being injured in Vietnam or Afghanistan when you never even served

It would be like saying your baby girl drowned in the bathtub when you never had any children

Even for one who will lie about anything it crosses a line that even his supporters should have a serious problem with

It would honestly take a level of strategy and control to pull off faking this that I dont think this administration has ever demonstrated the capacity to execute.

Not to mention, I don’t see the obvious benefit? Furthermore, if it had an intended purpose I would imagine Trump would be trying to attack that angle with more than just questionable photo ops and car rides that serve to really, simply assuage his crippling personal fear of looking weak.

Maxp said:

Trump should have a deal with Sharpie. Never seen anyone use a permanent marker so often.

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You would think with those tiny hands he would use a slimming pen?

Optimus Prime said:

If he is faking that would be like lying about being in one of the World Trade Center towers on 9-11

It would be like lying about being injured in Vietnam or Afghanistan when you never even served

It would be like saying your baby girl drowned in the bathtub when you never had any children

Even for one who will lie about anything it crosses a line that even his supporters should have a serious problem with

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If you can convince them that proof of your lie is fake news, then by definition, you can't be lying.

I don’t think he is faking it. But I also don’t trust much of what I am seeing and hearing and reading. Something is just... off. And we probably will never know.

MT15 said:

There is no way any credible doctor anywhere would allow his highly contagious patient to do this trip in a closed car.

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What could a doctor realistically do to stop him? If he got up and walked out with a secret service detail, maybe there would be a verbal protest, but I can't see a doctor doing a Gandalf "YOU SHALL NOT PASS" reenactment. Trump has "I can do whatever I want and you can't stop me" mentality. Everything from stiffing businesses out of bills he owes, to women, to (presumably) not listening to what doctors tell him. At least this is my take.

I don’t think he is faking it but he will surely only talk about the positive stuff he did and never mention the fact he was scared and had some complications.
the way it was handled and the endangerment he and his staff did to cause this will put him in an even worst light and Covid has become number one again. He can’t hide from it and pretend it isn’t happening when he will likely be restricted to the White House for the next 10 days.

MT15 said:

The treatments described do not fit a mild case, though, at all. They very much point to a severe case, maybe a borderline severe case if you allow that they will probably treat him aggressively. He wouldn’t be on the steroid unless they are seeing lung involvement on imaging, for example.

It doesn’t matter which type of case he has, though, he would still be in isolation, in a negative air flow room. He would not be allowed visitors, he should not be having a photographer, videographer, and hair stylist in his general area. He for damned sure shouldn’t be parading around in a closed SUV with hapless Secret Service agents who should probably now quarantine themselves from their families. This is all irresponsible behavior from what is supposed to be a top notch hospital.

It defies all logic.

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Do we know whether the limo drivers had masks on? If they had N95 masks on, then there is practically no risk. I think the limo ride implies that he is not attached to a ventilator. However, if he became symptomatic on Thursday night, then his symptoms could be much worse within the next couple of days.

Lapaz said:

Do we know whether the limo drivers had masks on? If they had N95 masks on, then there is practically no risk. I think the limo ride implies that he is not attached to a ventilator. However, if he became symptomatic on Thursday night, then his symptoms could be much worse within the next couple of days.

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I think I read somewhere that they were wearing respirators and face masks.

N.O.Bronco said:

Not to mention, I don’t see the obvious benefit?

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I don't want to suggest that any of these are the reason he would lie about having the virus, because I believe he has it. This is just a list of things that could be considered possible benefits by Trump or his team:

Garner sympathy for having contracted the virus
Distraction from his poor debate performance
Distraction from his poor poll numbers
Distraction from revelations concerning his taxes
Distraction from the national security risk of his indebtedness
Distraction from the Jean Carroll sexual assault case (he had to provide a DNA sample by 9/15
Distraction from the Bob Woodward book revelations
Distraction from the fact that vaccine developers will not have a safe vaccine approved before 11/3
Keep him from doing more damage to his campaign by participating in more debates
Provide him with more excuses if he loses the election

N.O.Bronco said:

And I can’t help but reiterate, Herman Cain checked into the hospital July 1st for some symptoms, he died on July 30th. In between there people thought he was on the road to recovery and was actively planning out his post hospital schedule.

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I don't want to see Trump die. I especially don't want to see him die just days before the election. That's a really unsettling thought.

I wonder if they'll be any retribution for this...

Ayo said:

I don’t think he is faking it. But I also don’t trust much of what I am seeing and hearing and reading. Something is just... off. And we probably will never know.

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Yep.

I was in the "not faking it" camp firmly until day. I still don't think he is faking it, but the fact that I am legitimately questioning it is the point. This is sad. All the lying. Misdirection. Inconsistencies. This is bigger than just him. The American people deserve to know the health status of their President. If you want complete privacy, don't run. All these games. This isn't a game.

Ayo said:

I don’t think he is faking it. But I also don’t trust much of what I am seeing and hearing and reading. Something is just... off. And we probably will never know.

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First Time Poster said:

Yep.

I was in the "not faking it" camp firmly until day. I still don't think he is faking it, but the fact that I am legitimately questioning it is the point. This is sad. All the lying. Misdirection. Inconsistencies. This is bigger than just him. The American people deserve to know the health status of their President. If you want complete privacy, don't run. All these games. This isn't a game.

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I agree. Trump fakes strength, not weakness. I think if he's faking anything, he's faking that he's not a sick as he actually is. Everything about Trump's past behavior contradicts the idea that Trump is pretending to be infected or more sick than he actually is.

I think he's terrified and that's driving him to overcompensate with these press releases and the drive by. I think he's trying to convince himself that he's going to be okay as much as he is everyone else.

For the record, if I'm unfortunate enough to get infected, I'm going to be pretty damned scared for at least the first month of it, unless I die first. There's no reason to be ashamed of being scared if infected. It's a scary damn virus.

First Time Poster said:

Yep.

I was in the "not faking it" camp firmly until day. I still don't think he is faking it, but the fact that I am legitimately questioning it is the point. This is sad. All the lying. Misdirection. Inconsistencies. This is bigger than just him. The American people deserve to know the health status of their President. If you want complete privacy, don't run. All these games. This isn't a game.

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My take is that he's doing ok. He has a mild case, so it probably wipes him out, but he's not doing awful. However, they are doing a lot of things preventatively, since he's so old and in poor health.

I think he just wants the message to be that he's fit, fine, etc. He's desperate for that image, so he wants to be single handedly beating the virus.

Lapaz said:

Do we know whether the limo drivers had masks on? If they had N95 masks on, then there is practically no risk. I think the limo ride implies that he is not attached to a ventilator. However, if he became symptomatic on Thursday night, then his symptoms could be much worse within the next couple of days.

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Can't see the driver in this image, but I'd imagine they're also in an N-95 mask.