Americans, along with the rest of the world, are walking on eggshells. This is because some important questions have gone unanswered: Does President Donald Trump have COVID-19 or not? Is it a propaganda maneuver to show him as a man capable of defeating the virus and therefore securing his reelection?
Let’s not forget that before occupying the emperor’s throne, he was a television showman, a profession he’s learned well and completely mastered.
Last Friday, Trump and first lady Melania Trump, tested positive for COVID-19, which resulted in Trump being taken to the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. Trump made the announcement at midnight over Twitter, while critics were still analyzing the TV debate with Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, an event that was laden with insults and contained few serious proposals for dealing with the chain of crises currently tormenting the country.
Social media posts were full of skepticism and memes with respect to Trump’s having been infected with COVID-19, including some from Trump supporters, which either ridiculed the situation or denied it. With the election around the corner on Nov. 3, a large number of mail-in votes already cast and unfavorable polls about Trump’s chances of reelection, a rescue strategy is in order.
There is compassion for the sick president and concern that he won’t recover. Meanwhile, Biden and Vice President Mike Pence both tested negative for COVID-19. Trump’s doctor, Sean Conley, announced that Trump’s symptoms resembled that of a cold, and that he’d prescribed an 8-gram dose of an experimental cocktail of antibodies from the company Regeneron.
Conley added, “As of this afternoon, the president remains fatigued but in good spirits.” However, Mark Meadows, White House chief of staff, told journalists that Trump had shown “concerning” vital signs on Friday and that the next 48 hours “were critical.” What is the truth?
On Saturday, Trump’s physician announced that the president had shown serious symptoms and a fever for an hour while he was being given oxygen. Trump received Dexamethasone, a powerful synthetic corticosteroid that acts as an anti-inflammatory and an immunosuppressor, and which has shown promise in the treatment of COVID-19 patients in critical condition who are suffering from low oxygen levels. Doctors also administered Remdesivir.
Few, if any, believed Conley –- I’m not even going to mention medical ethics, because why would I? –- when Conley declined to respond to questions about Trump’s lung scan, which Conley said didn’t show anything “concerning.” To complicate matters, Conley then tried to explain away the contradictions by saying, “I didn’t want to give any information that might steer the course of illness in another direction … It came off that we were trying to hide something, which wasn’t necessarily true.”
On Sunday, there was another update on Trump’s unstable status, which appeared to be more of a staged presentation than a picture of a patient reacting to a serious illness: The Walter Reed medical team announced that Trump was improving, and that if his health remained at the level it was, he would getting better and if he stayed at that level he would be released the following day.
The peak of Trump’s irresponsibility as a “patient” came with all the appearances of a happy ending and the triumphant return of a “hero,” as Trump took a short swing around the hospital in the armored presidential car so he could greet his supporters stationed at the entrance of Walter Reed throughout his “illness.”
Can you imagine how many points this “strong man,” conqueror of the pandemic, will win in the home stretch for the race to the White House?
These circumstances are suspect, and I understand perfectly why Twitter users have been tweeting with the hashtag #TrumpVirus, because Trump’s mismanagement of the pandemic in the U.S. has resulted in the death of more than 211,000 citizens whom he’d sworn to protect, and whom he promised to make more powerful as their president.
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