Hopefully Donald Trump will recover from Covid-19. But there is a chance he may not.
The President is overweight. He’s in a high-risk age group. In many ways he’s exactly the sort of person who has been dying from Covid-19. More than two hundred thousand have perished from the virus in the United States. The President will no doubt benefit from a standard of healthcare many of his fellow citizens could never have accessed.
In some ways the President’s diagnosis is a surprise. In others, in is entirely predictable. Inevitable, even. Why, in this year of horrors… should he of the bleach injections, of the hydroxichloroquine, of the Joe Biden’s a scaredy-cat cos he always wears a mask… why should he NOT contract a highly infectious virus? But Donald, wasn’t it supposed to go away during the Northern summer? Weren’t all the schools and churches supposed to be open in March and April? In a speech he made just last week… Trump said this:
“The end of the pandemic is in sight, and next year will be one of the greatest years in the history of our country.”
The uncertainty and sense of chaos this brings upon America, a month from the general election, is a major concern.
But if Trump is fortunate enough to suffer only mild symptoms, it may be a little breather that many sense they need.
Wednesday’s debate was the single worst political event I think I’ve ever seen. It was worse than the brawl in Turkey’s parliament earlier this year. Worse than the time Japanese politicians threw fists and traded blows in a dispute over a chair. I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone so powerful so deliberately promote chaos and lies. I’m not saying Biden was good. But from the word go, Trump was wilfully, destructively awful.
And actually the data point that most concerns me out of the U.S this week isn’t the rising Covid-19 cases. It isn’t the concern over a second wave in a few months’ time or the surprise that for all his protections, the U.S President can still contract a deadly virus.
The data point comes from a YouGov survey of almost six thousand Americans. Every year the researchers ask if violence is ever justified to advance their political goals.
In 2017, eight percent of Americans said violence is sometimes justified. In 2018, twelve percent said it could be justified. Today… before what may be the most contentious Presidential election in living history… thirty four percent of Americans say violence can be sometimes be justified to advance their political goals.
The President has already said the election is rigged against him. On a global debate platform, he told a militia group to stand by.
Hopefully this will be a bloodless election. There is a good chance it will not be.
