Trump

[Norwegian One]

Trump has tested positive for Covid 19.

Now, out of curiosity, what is the precedent if the president dies during an election season? Is Pence bumped up and needs to find a VP? Will there be a new RNC?

[Deamonbane]

if a candidate dies before the general election but after they've secured their party's nomination, it's a relatively simple fix: The deceased candidate's party picks a replacement (who may or may not be the vice presidential candidate from the ticket), and that replacement is on the ballot on Election Day.

I might be indulging my biases in this, but I think it's very convenient for Trump to suddenly have a reason to avoid any future debates before election. For myself, I doubt that there's going to be much of a sympathy bump, but this is right after the people in his campaign realized that putting Trump in front of camera is going to damage his chances every time, even with people lobbing softball questions his way.

[Norwegian One]

I might be indulging my biases in this, but I think it's very convenient for Trump to suddenly have a reason to avoid any future debates before election. For myself, I doubt that there's going to be much of a sympathy bump, but this is right after the people in his campaign realized that putting Trump in front of camera is going to damage his chances every time, even with people lobbing softball questions his way.

Yeah, I had that thought as well. Very convenient for Trump, if he has to isolate long enough to avoid the last two debates. By the way, thank you for the quick answer :)

[TheGlyphstone]

He can isolate to skip the second round in 2 weeks, but that still leaves the 3rd debate...

[Missy]

So if he survives, then we get to see what C19 did to his brain? Poetic Irony.

[Oniya]

Well, there goes that 'hoax' argument.  Stupid bastard.  I'm only surprised he hadn't gotten it sooner, considering how many people around him were testing positive.

[Sara Nilsson]

https://www.cnn.com/2020/10/01/politics/melania-trump-tapes/index.html

So, tape recordings of Melania has surfaced.

She continued, "OK, and then I do it and I say that I'm working on Christmas and planning for the Christmas and they said, 'Oh, what about the children that they were separated?' Give me a f****** break. Where they were saying anything when Obama did that? I can not go, I was trying get the kid reunited with the mom. I didn't have a chance -- needs to go through the process and through the law."

Well worth listening to, its.. quite telling.

[Sara Nilsson]

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/01/us/politics/mcmaster-trump-russia-election.html

The retired Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster became the latest of President Trump’s former aides on Thursday to declare that the president was aiding Russia’s disinformation campaign by failing to acknowledge how President Vladimir V. Putin was trying to manipulate American voters.

“He is aiding and abetting Putin’s efforts by not being direct about this,” Mr. McMaster, a former national security adviser who is now a fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, said in an interview on MSNBC. “This sustained campaign of disruption, disinformation and denial is aided by any leader who doesn’t acknowledge it.”

Sorry for double post. But another as Trump would say "loser who no one ever liked" or something speaks out against him.

[gaggedLouise]

He can isolate to skip the second round in 2 weeks, but that still leaves the 3rd debate...

He hasn't been looking like he's in good shape physically for some time now, so my bet is he might not be out of this in just two or three weeks...

I hope there will not be much of a sympathy bump from this in the elections, and Pence (if he'll be taking over) doesn't have much of the charisma or killer instinct on stage that Trump has always had, so...

[Haibane]

Its wrong of me to think this but the fact he now has COVID-19 makes me think "Good. Serves you fucking right, all this denial and no-masks bullshit. Now deal with it."

Quite frankly right now the best thing that could happen to America is that he dies. An honest but brutal personal view.

[Haibane]

On news, they say Mr Biden calls Mr Trump “Putin’s puppy”, in debate. News people here say, not puppy, but piglet.

In the UK some are calling him Putin's Bitch.

[Callie Del Noire]

Its wrong of me to think this but the fact he now has COVID-19 makes me think "Good. Serves you fucking right, all this denial and no-masks bullshit. Now deal with it."

Quite frankly right now the best thing that could happen to America is that he dies. An honest but brutal personal view.

Thing is..that put Pence in the White House and I’m not sure that is any better

[gaggedLouise]

Thing is..that put Pence in the White House and I’m not sure that is any better

It would only be for a short while; I dont see Pence winning this election. He has very little of Trump's charisma, and the loyalty of the Trump fanbase is very much to Trump personally. They believe in HIM, identify with him, even when they realize that some of his policies and talking points are guff.

[Haibane]

So much for hydroxychloroquine. Perhaps he should try household bleach?

[Various]

I tend to be skeptical that he actually has it given his documented history of claiming ailments he doesn't have to weasel out of obligations (See also, Vietnam). On the other hand, he probably sees those who have Covid-19 as weak which may preclude him from claiming it (not for ethical reasons as much as vanity).

[gaggedLouise]

I tend to be skeptical that he actually has it given his documented history of claiming ailments he doesn't have to weasel out of obligations (See also, Vietnam). On the other hand, he probably sees those who have Covid-19 as weak which may preclude him from claiming it (not for ethical reasons as much as vanity).

I feel fairly sure this is genuine. His instinct at this point is to get out and fight and try to turn the election around, using a trumped-up covid diagnosis as a pretext to retreat to the White House would be very much against the grain for him. He is short on time and he's trailing behind Biden in the polls.

Also, like it or not but the news that he has covid puts the pandemic at the centre of the election for the final few weeks. He really doesn't want the US pandemic to be up front like that - he wanted it to be about a bunch of other issues.

[Haibane]

One wonders what the 10s of 1000s of COVID-deniers think of this. If COVID isn't real at all, what's going on when their presidents closest advisors say he and his wife have the disease. I'd love to see inside the heads of some of them and find out how their minds deal with that.

[TheGlyphstone]

Most likely, they ignore it. He never claimed a positive test, and anyone saying he did is Deep State Fake News. They're already adept at selectively filtering reality.

[Fox Lokison]

It would only be for a short while; I dont see Pence winning this election. He has very little of Trump's charisma, and the loyalty of the Trump fanbase is very much to Trump personally. They believe in HIM, identify with him, even when they realize that some of his policies and talking points are guff.

This. The cult of Trump is just that. They are fanatically loyal to him and if he's out the way, all those people are gonna split on who to support. He was the only one they were willing to unite on. If he's gone, they're not gonna be able to all agree on the same figurehead, and with the way they're eating themselves over disavowing ANY right-winger who says the smallest thing against Trump, I don't see that unity lasting without him to obsess over.

One wonders what the 10s of 1000s of COVID-deniers think of this. If COVID isn't real at all, what's going on when their presidents closest advisors say he and his wife have the disease. I'd love to see inside the heads of some of them and find out how their minds deal with that.

Responses to his official tweet fell in three camps (of supporters, anyways, ignoring those who were roasting him): Those who said Biden gave it to him (as sabotage or just neglect, takes varied), those who said it was a hoax, and those who said it was a weak thing that wouldn't kill him/Trump is strong and he'll survive it. The amount of cognitive dissonance was absolutely stunning. I spent the morning reading through those threads because I like having no brain cells, and damn, it was just frightening. The total disconnect from reality really, really worries me. If Trump dies of COVID, these folks might just think he was bloody well assassinated and go on a tear over that to avenge him.

[RedPhoenix]

I'm not buying it.

This is far too convenient and I don't trust the source.

[Aiden]

Also I see this as a reason for him to "recover" and double down that Covid is a "Hoax" and not worse than a flu.

[Bibliophilia]

https://youtu.be/LkQXO0QkpF8

Here's a video by one of my favorite left-tubers about it.

[Oniya]

Pence is about as charismatic as soggy bread.  He's too subservient, both to Trump and his wife, for the MAGA folks to rally behind.

Policy-wise, though, I'd rank him as on par or worse than Trump, in that he actually has policies, and they aren't good ones.

[RedPhoenix]

Policy-wise, though, I'd rank him as on par or worse than Trump, in that he actually has policies, and they aren't good ones.

This, plus the fact that he'll have credibility simply by virtue of not being Trump. I've said it from the beginning, Pence will be a more politically effective version of Trump which is why I never put much stock in impeachment. Also, as I don't think Trump even wants to be president, I've always sort of figured he planned to hand the second term off anyway if he wins it, and Pence will just be a more "god says X" instead of "trump says X" type, they'll say the same thing and demand the same influence from their blind followers.

[Oniya]

I agree with everything but the 'would hand off the second term'.  Trump literally believes that he can do no wrong.  He's never been told otherwise.  Ever.  He has bullied and used 'fixers' and cheated his way through life, because he's 'above the rules'.  I don't even think he's really handed off Trump Org. to anyone - he's just got Eric or whoever up as a front, and they do whatever the hell he's told them to do.  He didn't want the presidency, but now that he's got it - well, he's not about to admit he can't handle it.  Why start now?

Even if Pence was being a mouthpiece, Trump would be making the decisions.