Does he, though?

,                                                 Trump Has Covid.
                                                   Does he, though?
 
            On Friday I wrote skeptically about Donald Trump’s positive Covid-19 test (Covid Karma or Covid Con?) and a number of people cited how many of Trump’s associates (beyond Melania) were also reported to have contracted the virus.  It’s Tuesday, October 6th, and Donald Trump is back (miraculously?) in the White House --- after a classic “Mussolini Moment” on a balcony, removing his mask and saluting Marine One, which had transported him from Walter Reed Hospital.  He taped a national address in which he stated: “Don't let it dominate your lives. Get out there, be careful,” which is, of course, dangerous, possibly lethal,  advice --- and also noted “Maybe I’m immune,” which is grossly ignorant if he did, indeed, test positive!  What I would like everyone to take note of (and this may be wading into serious “conspiracy theory” swampy water) is who are the people claiming they have also contracted the virus?  Does anyone else find it “interesting” that only a relatively small number of Trump’s closest allies have claimed they have the virus.  Let’s look at who, exactly, has tested positive since Trump’s case was “revealed.”  Here’s the list that Reuters has compiled.

Chad Gilmartin – White House press office staffer.
Karoline Leavitt – White House Communications aide.
Kayleigh MacEnany – White House Press Secretary
Hope Hicks – Presidential Advisor
Ronna McDaniel – Republican National Committee Chair
Senator Ron Johnson – Trump sycophant from Wisconsin
Senator Thom Tillis – Trump sycophant from North Carolina
Senator Mike Lee – Trump supporter from Utah
Bill Stepien – Trump’s Campaign Manager
Governor Chris Christie – still hoping for a second-term Cabinet post
Kellyanne Conway – former White House counselor
Rev. John Jenkins – Notre Dame University President
Nicholas Luna – Trump’s “body man”
Rev. Greg Laurie – a pastor who was at the Amy Barrett Rose Garden Ceremony
And 11 staffers who helped put the Presidential Debate together.
And, of course, Melania.
 
            Again, maybe I’ve been infected with the Conspiracy-19 Virus but does anyone else find this list a little suspect?  After watching the “President’s” miraculous 4-day infection and “recovery,”  --- and given how much lying and misinformation we have been bombarded with over the past 4 years --- I find it curious that the rest of the Trump family (that was sitting mask-less during the Tuesday night debate) has miraculously avoided contracting the virus.  If you examine the list of all the “positive” testers above they are all people who have a vested interest in supporting the President’s lying about this illness.

            I know, Trump is (purportedly) pumped up on experimental drugs and still under close observation and 24/7 medical supervision but, after watching last night’s piece of performance art by DJT I am more and more skeptical about this entire episode.  How is it Mike Pence has miraculously avoided testing positive?   And what of Rudy?  And Mark Meadows?  And all the others who traipse in and out of the Oval Office without masks?  ( I don’t doubt that poor Barron is free from disease since I’m sure he spends no time in contact with his parents.)  As Trump recklessly tells the public there is, essentially, nothing to really worry about, we are seeing infections and deaths rising in the upper Midwest and some Rocky Mountain states and, even though we are only 4% of the world’s population, we account for 20% of the Covid deaths worldwide.  Trump claimed he “learned a lot” about this disease from supposedly contracting it.  Did he, though?  Did this man, who has shown no capacity for learning anything,  take any lessons away from his (alleged) “bout” with Covid?  It seems there was no “lesson” other than one that serves his continuing misinformation campaign and ongoing desire to wish this pandemic away.

            After writing Friday’s BLAST, I received an email from my former roommate (for about two weeks, I think), lifelong friend, and Federal Magistrate, Jim Moyer (aka “Moyers”) which was, straightforwardly, this quote from Fitzgerald’s Great Gatsby:

They were careless people, Tom and Daisy- they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made
 
Substituting “Donald and Melania” for “Tom and Daisy” really sums up our situation, doesn’t it?  It’s almost immaterial if Trump has actually contracted the virus or not at this point, isn’t it?  It’s all political theater, new episodes of the White House Apprentice. Unless he actually is infected, and there is a serious,  virulent  second wave of it for him, we will have to live with the  tweets, the rallies, the debates with Biden, and the endless stream of  lies and misinformation until (we all hope and pray) January 20, 2021.
​
                                                                                       Stay safe.  Wear a mask.