Alex Brandon/AP Photo
President Donald Trump boards Air Force One at Minneapolis Saint Paul International Airport, Wednesday, September 30, 2020, in Minneapolis.
The Greeks had a phrase for it: Character is fate.
Trump was hoping to divert public attention from the pandemic during the campaign’s closing weeks, but now he personifies it. His infection trumpets his own recklessness and disdain for science, for the public’s health, his staff, his family, and those who attend his rallies.
The latest news is that Trump is experiencing symptoms. The clip from the debate of Trump ridiculing Joe Biden for wearing a mask will be played over and over again. You could not script a better moment or a better contrast.
If Trump contracted the virus from Hope Hicks on Air Force One (the Flying Petri Dish) on Wednesday, then Biden probably wasn’t infected at Tuesday’s debate. Good thing, since Trump was spewing spittle along with insults.
Even Fox is outfoxed. This is one subject that will be impossible to change. Fox is almost playing this one straight.
Meanwhile, the supposed good news in the September unemployment report, which showed a drop in the official unemployed rate to 7.9 percent, is not nearly as good as it looks. According to a new study by the Peterson Institute, 4.4 million people have left the labor force since February, and large numbers are at home, sick, or dealing with sick family members or other caregiving duties related to the pandemic. The real unemployment number is 9.6 percent.
And many people who are still on the job have or have had the virus. Amazon recently admitted that just under 20,000 of its workers have tested positive since February, or 1.44 percent of this workforce. That includes workers at Whole Foods, who infected customers.
As Trump struggles with his own “coldlike symptoms,” it’s a daily reminder to voters that the president’s recklessness and denial needlessly sickened millions.
What now? Biden could well pull farther away, beyond Trump’s hoped-for margin of theft. None of it bodes well for Republican unity, much less Republican messaging. And if Pence gets sick, we could even have President Pelosi.
All of this is guaranteed to make Trump even crazier.
One other detail worth savoring. Trump disclosed his potentially life-threatening condition in a tweet. I quote: “Tonight, @FLOTUS and I tested positive for COVID-19,” Trump tweeted at 12:54 a.m.
There are very few things to like about Melania Trump. One is her lovely first name. But our president, always transactional, refers to her by the endearing term “FLOTUS.” Which sounds more like something your body discharges when you have COVID.
Seemingly, things can’t get any crazier. But they will.
