Covid Karma or Covid Con

                                                   Covid Karma or Covid Con?
 
           Donald Trump has tested positive for Covid-19?  The man who has lied over 25, 000 times during the last 4 years is telling us he has contracted the “Democrat hoax” China virus?  Excuse my cynicism but even though I’m not a huge fan of Michael Moore, I have to admit, his argument that this is just another con is not without merit (https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/michael-moore-donald-trump-fake-coronavirus-b750245.html).  Another voice in my head, of course, says, “Ah, Karma is a bitch!” and, while not wanting 45 to succumb to the virus, I’ll admit to not feeling much sympathy for the charlatan.
 
             However, with Trump falling further behind in the polls, particularly after his lunatic-fringe performance in the first Presidential Debate, why shouldn’t we believe this is Phase One of Trump’s “October Surprise?”  Imagine this: Trump “quarantines” and receives “treatment” at Walter Reed Hospital for the next week and then, miraculously, emerges virus-free!  Imagine the claims we’ll hear; “It’s not that bad.  Look how tough I am!”  Why should we believe that any of the information (controlled by Mark Meadows, Mike Pompeo, and Bill Barr) we receive over the next few days/weeks will be truer than any of Trump’s thousands of salacious statements?  Phase Two will be Trump’s Lazarus-like revivification shepherding the Amy Coney Barrett nomination through the Senate confirmation hearing, thereby setting up his Supreme Court to rule on his “contested” and “rigged” election claims (and why should we believe that Barrett will recuse herself and that Roberts, Gorsuch, and/or Kavanaugh will suddenly grow a conscience or gonads?). Finally, Phase Three will be that Trump announces (during a final debate?) that he was “cured” by Pfizer’s miraculous vaccine, which he has already ordered several billion doses of for the American people (clear, blatant lie, of course, but . . . .).  I do not put any of this past this Grifter-in-Chief.
 
            But, what if?  What if Trump actually does have the virus?  And what if all those people he was in contact with over the past week —- at Barrett’s “coming out” party (the already infected Utah Senator Mike Lee and John Jenkins, President of Notre Dame), at the Debate, at the campaign stops and fundraising event in Bedminster —- begin to drop like flies, contracting the disease?  If all these people — or some percentage of them, large or small — do contract the virus, what then?  How does that effect the coming election?  What do the Democrats and Biden do?  (And, of course,  what if they don’t contract it?).
 
            Trump admitted that he downplayed the severity of the pandemic, all the way back in February/March.  He deepened the cultural chasm that he exploited to win the presidency by disdainfully claiming masks were not a necessity, that keeping our economy open was more important than the quarter million lives lost.  The irony would be too great, of course, if he should genuinely, physically suffer from (or succumb to) this virus.  The United States makes up 4% of the world’s population but accounts for 20% of the pandemic’s fatalities —- and Donald Trump is the primary reason for that grim statistic.  Yet, I’m not sure I believe he is genuinely ill.  The evidence of a Senator and University President testing positive point toward the possibility of Trump’s illness being real.  But this man has lied so, so, so many times —- along with his sycophants —- why should we believe that he is actually sick from this virus —- particularly when he is so desperate to win the election?
 
            I’m writing this at 7:45 p.m. on Friday evening (October 2nd) —- who knows what the news will be 24 hours from now (or 24 minutes from now)?  If he’s truly ill, I hope he recovers and I hope this is not all a ruse.  If it does turn out to be just another staged piece of Trump’s reality show, I can only hope that the American people not only see through it but are outraged by such a cynical and callous ploy --- and VOTE HIM OUT!
 
                                                      Wear a mask.  Wash your hands.  Stay safe.