"Will you shut up, man?" US Politics October 2020

Hi!

I wonder when he'll drop the (false) 'vaccine is now ready' bomb. A week prior? Two days prior?

Knowing him, he'll probably start selling his own branded vaccines after he loses.

Covid-19 and vaccines are both fake, but only a loser would say no to the MAGA vaccine.

we're gonna get rid of covid and replace it with something much, much better, believe me

and this time it's not just bleach, i swear

Got my DC ballot last night. Will probably cast it on Monday when the drop boxes open.

Interesting fact: my mom (retired but still sharp MD) told me that drinking bleach probably won't kill you. So for all you abstainers, that means more for me!

another part that Chris Wallace punted: when Trump kept insisting that his own officials were wrong about the vaccine and that some random CEOs told him there would be one in a month, he should've pressed him to give a name.

I can at least confirm that drinking only about a mouthful of bleach won't kill you. (It was a close friend, not me, I promise.) xp

ILX BLEACH CHALLENGE

bleached assholes

You first

The debat.

— Rudy W. Giuliani (@RudyGiuliani) October 1, 2020

It's really kind of incredible that everyone understands he constantly lies, mistakes and muddles that there's no point following up with him on anything and in fact it's probably better off in the end just moving on, because getting mired in contradictions and corrections is how he dominates everything.

the debat

pon de river, pon debat

The debavfefe

You bat, then you debat.

Thred title already obsolete GREAT JOB

https://blogforarizona.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Screen-Shot-2019-03-09-at-5.48.55-PM.png

ohhhh. the de bat

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/71OYcrWWklL.jpg

You can get with this, or you can get with bat. The choice is yours.

I wanna know if you can get with bat.

The English translation of 'El DeBarge' iirc.

I voted/posted my ballot today at the US Embassy drop box. Embassy Gardens is some next-level edge city.

srsly

Hopefully a Biden quote in the thread title is a good omen.

I actually think Biden needs to push the "if I'm president, you don't have to hear from this guy any more" angle harder

I need to go there to renew my iVisa once everything returns to something close to normal, and am dreading it. The old embassy was terrifying enough. xps

I liked the new embassy when I got a tour of the place last year. But I don't have to live with it.

I actually think Biden needs to push the "if I'm president, you don't have to hear from this guy any more" angle harder

it is 1000% the best (true) angle he's got

For Voters Still Mulling, One Thing Is Clear: That Debate Didn’t Help

A small but crucial segment of likely voters say they remain uncommitted — to a candidate or to voting at all — and nothing they heard on Tuesday clinched things for them.

via NYT article. who the fuck are these people?

narcissism

The kingmakers.

xp

they have been inspired by susan collins and are now emulating her methodology

HERE’S WHY I’M AN UNDECIDED VOTER pic.twitter.com/kg7GBwNpgn

— blaire erskine (@blaireerskine) September 30, 2020

Poll: Most voters didn’t enjoy Trump-Biden clash, say they should still keep debating

...wut

https://iep.utm.edu/derrida/#H5

Doesn't seem that weird to me. People have internalized that debates are a normal and necessary part of presidential elections. Even if they don't personally enjoy them, they may feel that canceling them would be undemocratic, or would have unexpected consequences.

Trump requires food aid boxes to come with a letter from him
The Agriculture Department last week began mandating that millions of boxes of surplus food for needy families include a letter from President Donald Trump claiming credit for the program...

Let them eat government cheese! If you don't vote for me.. no more food for you!

wasn't his $100 Medicare gift card tanked for basically this reason

The letter also mentions you should wash your hands, and stay home if you don't feel well. See, he's totally on it! The Churchill of Covid-19.

If you don't do any reporting, have never demonstrated any insight about politics, and don't even write particularly well, you'd think you could at the very least understand that 20% ≠ 0%. https://t.co/G1eONuBP1m

— Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) October 1, 2020

https://clickhole.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/dnmtn4ksijwyep0xmljk.jpg

I have no clue how the 538 model works but given Biden is ahead by more than the MOE in basically every swing state am I to assume that "Trump has no chance" would be true if the election were held TODAY?

In an election held today — Trump has no more time to make up ground — his chances would be 9 percent, not 21 percent, according to our forecast.

that's from https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/trumps-chances-are-dwindling-that-could-make-him-dangerous/

I saw that CNN headline... such a bummer, laurel-resting is really not what we need right now.

Yeah, this made me tense up.

Seeing some chatter/ads on social media urging third party voting because Biden is ahead. Anyone looking into that? Feels like 2016.

— Melody Joy Kramer (@mkramer) October 1, 2020

To paraphrase Tommy Boy, what Chris Cillizza doesn't know is what makes him Chris Cillizza.

After what happened in 2016 I don’t think you have much to worry about

I think that's probably right, frogbs.

There's an old saying in Tennessee—I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee—that says, 'Fool me once, shame on...shame on you. Fool me—you can't get fooled again.

really hope idea of an already given success isn't going to lead to people thinking the vote is already in the bag and staying home.
Would think everybody who could do anything to prevent another 4 years of this mess should see their input counting and necessary and things like that.

i don't think people are going to stay home. the point of that tweet is that chris cillizza is unbelievably stupid.

They say the Democrats are very motivated this year, including the youngins... I pray this is true.

xps: pretty sure it's 'fooled man can't get fooled again.'

Republicans fear Trump's debate comments on white supremacy could harm them in November

This implies they're otherwise fine with them.

duh

La Crosse Mayor Tim Kabat tells me the city's airport has been notified Air Force One will no longer be arriving on Saturday, when President Trump was supposed to hold one of two rallies in Wisconsin this weekend.

— Molly Beck (@MollyBeck) October 1, 2020

Kabat says state sen candidate @DanKapanke inquired about what would be needed for a permit to hold a rally in La Crosse's Copeland Park, where his La Crosse Loggers play, but city said it would be unlikely a permit would be issued because of the COVID-19 situation in the city.

— Molly Beck (@MollyBeck) October 1, 2020

wisconsin is in a bad way with covid. if the GOP are cancelling an event it sounds like it might be bad enough shut down campaigning there until the election.

no kidding!! I was fucking furious that asshole wanted to come here right now!!

Things must have been getting a little too close in Texas... I'd be interested to see the internal polling that prompted this move.

BREAKING: Gov. Abbott issues proclamation CLOSING (as of Oct. 2) satellite offices where voters can drop off completed mail-in ballots.
Counties can only have 1 dropoff point, he says.
Travis has 4, including 3 downtown.
Harris has 12.

— Chuck Lindell (@chucklindell) October 1, 2020

Abbott says move, which also requires early voting clerks to let poll watchers observe ballot delivery, is an election security measure.
Clerks said the multiple dropoff spots were to help voters, particularly amid questions about Postal Service efficiency.

— Chuck Lindell (@chucklindell) October 1, 2020

Read the proclamation, which amended Abbott's July 27 order that extended early voting and allowed early dropoff of mail ballots, here: https://t.co/uPc4MtYMis

— Chuck Lindell (@chucklindell) October 1, 2020

Democrats criticized Abbott's order as a thinly veiled effort to suppress votes in a tight election. pic.twitter.com/ibDg0xtkB9

— Chuck Lindell (@chucklindell) October 1, 2020

The president claimed Biden would propose a "700 percent increase in refugees coming from the most dangerous places in the world, including Yemen, Syria, and your favorite country, Somalia."

"Biden will turn Minnesota into a refugee camp … overwhelming public resources, overcrowding schools and inundating your hospitals," he added.

This is really, really dark stuff.

If it talks like a fascist…

Biden launching in-person canvassing

Relevant to Trump's anti-refugee remarks in MN: His campaign is running an ad that warns Biden will increase refugee resettlement "by 700 percent." And it's true - bc Trump drastically cut down on refugee resettlement, so restoring it surges the total. https://t.co/wUJlSVQcii

— Dave Weigel (@daveweigel) October 1, 2020

If not for refugee resettlement, we wouldn't have Jared Kushner.

Oh...wait...

"What is going on with Omar?" he continued, citing unproven claims tying Omar to a ballot harvesting scheme. "I’ve been reading these reports for two years about how corrupt and crooked she is. Let’s get with it. Let’s get with it."

The rally crowd then broke into a chant of "lock her up..."

America at her best.

jfc

somehow every day i increasingly look forward to his death

This alone just caused me to make a donation to Joe Biden.

"she want to tell us how to run our country"

Icky Trump, nothing better to do? Why don't you kick yourself out? You're an immigrant too

christ what an asshole

I hope the date he passes becomes a national holiday so I can hose down his grave every year without having to dip into my PTO.

I keep imagining the huge party in Chicago when they finally pull down those giant ass letters from his building.

Whoa!

MSNBC anchor Ayman Mohyeldin has enough of Trump campaign advisor Steve Cortes baselessly claiming the Biden campaign agreed to earpiece inspections and backed out, cuts off the interview.

Tells him he can come back when he can provide proof to substantiate the claim. pic.twitter.com/eHeKFkXyPR

— Justin Baragona (@justinbaragona) October 1, 2020

.@ScottAdamsSays feels personally abused by Trump bombing on the white supremacy question during the debate. Adams says Trump lost his vote. pic.twitter.com/VQxQstqKso

— JD-800 💽 (@thejd800) October 1, 2020

gonna change thread title to "Whoa!"
xp

"I'm not gonna allow you to call me a LIAR on TV!"
Awesome.

Same old, same old:

https://www.reuters.com/article/usa-election-russia-disinformation/exclusive-russian-operation-masqueraded-as-right-wing-news-site-to-target-u-s-voters-sources-idUSKBN26M5OP

Scott Adams's weirdly empty shelves make me uneasy

It's like he's broadcasting from a hastily arranged safehouse

Trump must've really bombed it if he's willing to vote for this guy instead:

If Biden is elected, there's a good chance you will be dead within the year.

— Scott Adams (@ScottAdamsSays) July 1, 2020

Did he say anything about voting for Biden?

What you're missing is that Scott Adams actually wants us all dead

He'll be writing in a vote for Dogbert iirc

The Trump campaign appears to be declaring war on the Commission on Presidential Debates in a call happening right now, describing it as biased against POTUS

— Alex Isenstadt (@politicoalex) October 1, 2020

The obvious move here is, if Trump backs out of the next debate, Biden should just show up and take audience questions for 90 minutes.

He's such a fucking baby.

honestly, my fear now is that this asshole is gonna read the writing on the wall and do something completely novel and dangerous: declare war on a country, shut down the stock market, claim that coastal states are seceding... who knows!

The Trump campaign appears to be declaring war on the Commission on Presidential Debates in a call happening right now, describing it as biased against POTUS
— Alex Isenstadt (@politicoalex) October 1, 2020
The obvious move here is, if Trump backs out of the next debate, Biden should just show up and take audience questions for 90 minutes.

― but also fuck you (unperson), Thursday, October 1, 2020 4:03 PM (eight minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

and hire a really good Trump impersonator to stand at the other podium and violently shit his pants.

we're only a few steps away from him tweeting that he has the nuclear codes so if we know what's good for us we better fall in line.

"Some people say I might just use this football thing, whatever you call it."

he's gonna bark a lot but there is no way he will pass up being on a high-rated TV event

its quite literally the one thing he actually cares about

well, that and staying out of jail

And rawdoggin' faded softcore stars

And the Gorilla Channel.

Vote Trump/McGrath? -- It's another episode of "Swamp Turtle"

"You let China take our mask! I don't know why Kentucky keeps reelecting this guy!" pic.twitter.com/4Y8HSCWzBR

— David M.F. Schankula 🤔😬😷🔥 (@davidschankula) October 1, 2020

Scott Adams is as self obsessed as Trump. Like he's the fuckimg victim when the president calls on a fascist militia to stand by! He's just another fucking mark and he's upset it's taken this long for the penny to finally drop.

yeah if you read his blog back in '16 (and I highly recommend you don't) it's clear that his love of Trump is mostly because he sees his reflection. underqualified dude who nevertheless used the ~~powers of persuasion~~ to succeed in a field he should never have been in. he is also remarkably thin-skinned and has a habit for just saying shit, the man has no consistency whatsoever. he goes on and on about how dumb metaphors are then compares vote-by-mail to snorting fentanyl. they clearly have the same personality disorder.

Jacob Wohl and Jack Burkman have been charged with election-related felonies in Michigan.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EjRhR91WAA44JTA.png

somehow every day i increasingly look forward to his death

― mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Thursday, October 1, 2020 1:57 PM (two hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

i think about it all the time

If he dies now, he'll be a folk hero. I'd much prefer him with a massive stroke, unable to speak. That would be delicious.

Dunno how good this one is but this kinda poll 5 weeks out from the election is pretty fuckin bad for Republicans

#NEW National Post Debate Poll:

Biden 54% (+13)
Trump 41%@ChangePolls/@CNBC, LV, 9/29-30https://t.co/jnLsgtb0dR

— Political Polls (@Politics_Polls) October 1, 2020

Like there seems to be a reason every R is freaked out right now

Hope everyone has steeled their nerves and laid in a supply of ativan for the polls tightening up over the next few days.

― Donald Trump Also Sucks, Of Course (milo z), Tuesday, September 29, 2020 7:06 PM (two days ago) bookmarkflaglink

I'm starting to doubt this (mid-debate) prediction is going to happen

Texas is gonna have a statewide single polling station at the Alamo... must wear a ten gallon hat to vote.

^^Joke's on us--it's in the basement.

trump got very bad coverage from the debate, but the assumption should be that this is a temporary polling bounce. debate bounces don't tend to last, but let me know if it's still around in a week. (it might be! i'm saying don't get excited yet.)

It could just be projection on my part, but I get the feeling that everybody is just so sick of his shit to a historic degree. Like, I had a guitar lesson today, and my teacher confessed he spent half the day yesterday just walking around yelling "motherfucker!"

my brother in law's entire family, who live in North Carolina and have all been Trump supporters this entire time, are totally done with his ass and ready to vote Biden because they feel like they've been taken for chumps.

I'll take it, but, well ...

Are there any, like literally any, stories to the contrary?

There is a new McConnell add which goes into how much money he has raised for drug addiction help in KY that ends with him smiling into some laptop looking pretty much like Mr. Burns. It's pretty much prime meme ready.

I believe that, among people who watched the debate, Trump made a notably horrible impression and almost certainly lost votes.

There was none of the transgressive "bad boy" quality to his theatrics the other night. He came off like a sneering, condescending bully.

Or even worse like a drunken, abusive father.

He totally pwned Biden's dead son, though. Like a real alpha male.

did we see this? DHS memos after the Kenosha shooting were full of talking points to defend and apologize for the shooter:

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/internal-document-shows-trump-officials-were-told-make-comments-sympathetic-n1241581

Today I learned that agreeing with Democrats and saying I won’t vote for Trump makes them hate me extra and threaten me. So I’ll be voting for Trump.

— Scott Adams (@ScottAdamsSays) October 1, 2020

A new poll shows the Democrat up by 12 in Iowa.

trump's debate performance was bad, but the really the only consistent thing about his polling has been: when he is in the news a lot (saying things, not coverage of things he may have done in the past, e.g. russia, etc.) his polling goes down, and then slowly creeps back up as he is less in the news and swing voters forget how much they physically despise his person.

most people who aren't in his base hate him more when they see him! that explains 80% of polling movements over the past 3.5 years IMO.

Did... did Scott Adams literally just go "hahaha JOKES ON U IDIOTS AS IF"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ruOGeIZHTRw

*borat voice*: I am NAAAAHT voting for trauump

Jacob Wohl and Jack Burkman have been charged with election-related felonies in Michigan.

Did... did Scott Adams literally just go "hahaha JOKES ON U IDIOTS AS IF"

Shocked he didn't frame it as "I was just running a psychological experiment on you cucks and I WAS PROVEN RIGHT"

We should tell him we really didn't hate him any worse than usual

Yeah, we've entered the era of no take backs. If you're an asshole for years, you're an asshole forever.

I would never kink-shame anyone, but it seems like Wohl and Burkman have really let their humiliation-and-punishment fetish run wild and I hope they get the help they need. After prison.

NEWS: Hope Hicks, who traveled with Trump aboard Air Force One to and from the presidential debate on Tuesday, and to his Minnesota rally yesterday, has coronavirus, sources tell me.

— Jennifer Jacobs (@JenniferJJacobs) October 2, 2020

i thought she was fired or something

She came back...and was rewarded with Covid-19.

I heard that Posdnuos has dandruff.

https://jeffstafford76.files.wordpress.com/2019/03/monkees-as-dandruff.jpeg?w=584&h=329

Wait, Dilbert is voting for Trump after all?? <clutches pearls> ALL HOPE IS LOST

Not sure if anyone posted this earlier. Typical alarmist headline, but most of the piece I found reassuring...sort of: there's a circularity at work that isn't.

So we could be headed for a vicious cycle where Trump increasingly gives up on trying to persuade or turn out voters and voters increasingly give up on him. But from a polling standpoint, this is one of the clearer elections to diagnose: Biden isn’t home-free, but he’s in a strong position. Nonetheless, the outlook for what’s actually in store for America has rarely been more cloudy.

http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/trumps-chances-are-dwindling-that-could-make-him-dangerous/

If Hope has the Cove... well....

Abandon all Hope, etc. . .

Trump being forced to quarantine for two weeks would probably be a big relief to his campaign at this point, to the extent that he has a campaign.

He likely accosted her near the restroom, so we can only Hope...

Trump will get coronavirus and survive

― honky wonk badonkadonk (crüt), Friday, March 13, 2020 8:33 AM

I like this concept where he’s gonna follow quarantine instructions.

Hope is the thing with feathers!

He's the healthiest president since Bob Dole.

The virus he gets will be the best virus. Bigly.

So by normal guidelines the entire campaign team should quarantine now, but instead they will go to rallies all over the country where they refuse to wear masks, right? https://t.co/BVgCk4TiO6

— Schooley (@Rschooley) October 2, 2020

Calling It Now: Playing Hope Hicks will be Lindsay Lohan's comeback role.

Trump dying or getting really sick before the election would be bad - need him driving turnout for Democratic Senate candidates.

Let him drop dead November 4th.

is that stephen miller goose-stepping

"Let him drop dead November 4th..."

That's my birthday. That'd be awesome.

I swear when I played this, I thought it was someone parodying Melania Trump's voice.

Full Melania Trump video: “They said, ‘Oh what about the children that were separated?’ Give me a fucking break.” pic.twitter.com/FQF3AJshXP

— Matt McDermott (@mattmfm) October 2, 2020

I kinda like that the inner circle is so defiantly anti-masker... like a petri dish waiting for a spore.

Xxp

Please to remember
The fourth of November

XP Developing that Herd Mentality...

I'm pleased to read about planning:

Some House seats might count a lot more than others in this chaotic campaign season.

Take Michigan’s 3rd Congressional District, where Joe Biden is expected to visit Friday. Though Biden’s trip to Grand Rapids will boost his bid to claim a state President Trump narrowly won four years ago, Hillary Scholten hopes the former vice president can help her win a Western Michigan district that Democrats have not held in 28 years.

And, if successful in elevating Scholten, Biden’s trip could serve as a backstop for his own presidential bid.

A Scholten victory would likely give Democrats eight of Michigan’s 14 seats in the House, helping House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s newly stated goal of blocking Trump from a last-gasp effort to remain in the White House if he does not win the November election.

It’s all very complicated, but there is a remote chance that neither Trump nor Biden will be a clear winner in the electoral college.

Look, Christmas comes but once a year... migrant children are 24/7/365. It's still a big deal in Slovakistan.

Slovenia

“Slovakistan”

Wtf?

SLOW WALK GEDDIT

Sorry, sorry... I'm being facetious. I never felt like she had a nice attitude towards fellow immigrants.

https://i.imgur.com/wyjHuU7.jpg

Of course she fucking hates him too

Trump, when asked on “Hannity” about Hope Hicks’ coronavirus, blamed members of military and law enforcement for approaching White House staff. “They want to hug you and they want to kiss you because we really have done a good job for them. You get close and things happen.” pic.twitter.com/fZ0oz5ps8B

— Jennifer Jacobs (@JenniferJJacobs) October 2, 2020

jfc

Lawrence! As promised, @Lawrence , here's the fuller version of Representative @malcolmkenyatta at yesterday's hearing in Pennsylvania. It's 🔥:https://t.co/okkVbcPcxK

— Rachel Maddow MSNBC (@maddow) October 2, 2020

“No one is getting Malcolm Kenyatta under control”
lol

welp, looks like trump is going to begin a "quarantine process" as they await test results

so uh....we hopin Trump does or does not get sick?

I'm hoping not yet.

Dying of the 'rona might be poetic justice but I'm still hoping he dies on the shitter like Elvis, mid-tweet

I can’t think of any way I’d prefer him to die than after 30 days intubated on a respirator, unable to appear on TV or open his foul fat mouth, watching the election results roll in as he takes his last desperate breath.

Malcolm Kenyatta did a good job explaining why he was opposed to that resolution.
Chairman Garth ignoring the question about whether it would be effective immediately or retroactively post-election, and then threatening to have security remove Malcolm Kenyatta for his tone, did not so much do a good job.

Also, you know how some people are repulsed by images of surfaces covered with little holes? I react similarly to twelve-legged octopus-like power-splitter boxes lurking in the center void beneath a conference room ring-table.

we have a thread for that

for twelve-legged octopus-like power-splitter boxes lurking in the center void beneath a conference room ring-table?! goddamn, what isn't there a thread on!

xp *shudder*

since Trump is incapable of doing or saying anything that will help his numbers this might be his only way back in the race

Here's Hope Hicks with Jared Kushner, Stephen Miller, Dan Scavino, and Nicholas Luna -- none of them wearing masks -- on their way to board a helicopter on Wednesday, hours before Hicks tested positive for coronavirus (Getty Images) pic.twitter.com/v1hFLjg06x

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 2, 2020

how the fuck is something like this the 5th biggest story today

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

so there is no way Trump is gonna quarantine for 2 weeks but doing one of those fucking rallies next week guarantees yet another week of bad news & a perfect angle for the Dems and he's already way behind

what to do, what to do

sad thing is, i'm sure biden's getting tested too. you can pass covid19 without symptoms, or pre-symptoms, and 2 days ago he was standing 6 feet away from an angry sweaty guy spewing out invective and potentially covid19 for 90 minutes

Commercial All Over TV In 2022: "Did you or a loved one attend a Rally For Former President Trump in 2020, and contract Covid-19? You may be eligible to take part in a class-action suit..."

and also, who knows who hope hicks got it from. possibly from "people from the military, or from law enforcement, and they come over to you, and they want to hug you, and they want to kiss you because we really have done a good job for them. You get close, and things happen" like trump said tonight. or possibly she got it from someone else in the close orbit. who the fuck knows, because they don't wear masks or practice basic social distancing or anything like that

Amazed he didn't turn that into "she really gets around folks, you know what I mean? Very... giving."

this might be a long post and I'll probably get slagged for it. idgaf!

I'm actually really bothered by this Hope Hicks news. They were supposed to be testing the staff on a very regular basis. I imagine the USSS details were getting tested all the time. I imagine all the other WH (non-campaign) staff were getting tested all the time. Then they just let whomever on the plane, with no masks, no distancing at all, because Big Daddy Said So.

I have worked in federal government, in one form or another, since I stopped being an undergraduate. I have put an at-times-unreasonable amount of faith in the system, that people follow procedures and checklists to ensure things are going to be predictable and consistent, if rarely "good." I'm learning as I grow older that I'm probably that guy nobody wanted to play in D&D, the "lawful neutral" asshole (I'd like to be "lawful good," but posters like table keep reminding me how far we are from good - and that good is never just an individual choice, good is a thing that a society does together).

But predictable and consistent. That seems fundamental to civilization. Let's try to aim for that. Doing that would require ensuring the duly elected President is safe from harm, including infectious diseases that we know have a 2.5% fatality rate (even higher for his demographic) and that we have procedures to protect against - testing, tracing, masks. Nobody did that. They just straight up let a campaign staffer hang out with the President and all of his staff and family (is there a difference? no) without any of the preventative measures we already know work.

On this board, we all hate this guy. We don't care much for his staff or his family either. But I'm kinda shook that all of the protective measures fell down. After the vote - which we're also in the process of fucking up, thanks Governors Abbott and DeSantis - the "protect the President from an incurable and potentially fatal infectious disease" checklist is pretty high on the list of procedures that the government should be able to follow through on. The fact that we can no longer do that tells me two things, both of which I already basically knew, but it puts it in very stark terms:

1. The only thing this administration really knows how to do is get Trump paid.
2. That's why the only major legislation they passed was a tax cut.

To repeat myself, they have disintegrated the core of the federal executive branch to the point where it is no longer capable of protecting its own commander-in-chief. This bothers me, because even though I also hate the fucking guy, this Hope Hicks COVID case isn't funny to me at all. It's a WTF moment of "how did we let it get this bad?" - it's been like that all along, I know, he's been forcing the federal government to do terrible things since January 2017, but now we're at the point of "sir, you shouldn't wipe your ass with your bare hands and then eat" and he's saying NO I WILL IT'S PART OF MY DIET NOW

I don't know, this is a waste of words. Everything has broken down, I knew it was broken, I just somehow felt surprised that the "perimeter" was such a joke that they just let a staffer in with a hot cup of COVID and she got to hang around with everyone. It feels like if anybody seriously wanted to kill this man at any point in the last four years they probably could have done so, all they needed was a half-decent story about how they were going to help him get bigger ratings with demographic XXX. Jesus Christ.

TL;DR I am actually sad that Hope Hicks brought COVID on the plane, because I am a safety & security checklist dickhead.

Well said.

xp soooo, you're concerned now that high-profile people are getting sick?

every security measure in place to prevent him from contracting a deadly illness broke down for one reason and one reason only

It seems likely to me that Asshole would insist that he had absolute authority in such decisions, and after four years of his autocratic, stupid bullshit I can imagine that nobody would be too invested in fighting him on that.

Texas Republicans have been rigging elections here for decades, Abbott's recent moves are public enough to make me think they're truly scared of losing Texas this go around, they're usually content to let gerrymandering and high hoops for voter registration do the trick. Their concern is less about Trump winning or losing than the fact that the Texas House is in danger of flipping in a Census year... let Dems have a hand in redistricting Texas is truly terrifying to the Texas GOP.

We're not getting the straight-ticket voting option this year either.

And here we go

The president and the first lady have tested positive for COVID. The president is among the higher-risk groups given his age. https://t.co/QXpfm57K2P

— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) October 2, 2020

trombone sound

My conspiracy theory -- it's just his excuse to get out of the rest of the debates.

"protect the President from an incurable and potentially fatal infectious disease" checklist is pretty high on the list of procedures that the government should be able to follow through on.

In full agreement with you there.

It's a WTF moment of "how did we let it get this bad?"

Simple. "We" elected Trump to an office at the very pinnacle of the chain of executive command, which gives him the legal power and ultimate authority to fuck things up in every respect not hedged by the Constitution or law. The only remedies provided for a seated president like Trump (which the framers of the Constitution did foresee as possible and feared) are impeachment or invoking the 'incapacity' provision of the 25th amendment.

The framers did deploy a further mechanism designed to forestall the possibility of a Trumpian president, but it was the fucking Electoral College and we all know how effective that has been. It was the best solution that occurred to a group of patrician and paternalistic rich white men in a nation partly run on chattel slavery. It has been a dismal failure and a millstone around all our necks since the very beginning.

guess that hydroxychloroquine didn't work

i assume trump and melania are not the only one in the gang we don't know about yet.

well, this is an interesting late season plot twist

The monkey's paw curls...

Ahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha hope his ventilator fails, the dumb fuck.

My conspiracy theory -- it's just his excuse to get out of the rest of the debates.

― Ned Raggett, Thursday, October 1, 2020 11:59 PM (yesterday)

it is pretty convenient that it happened 2 days after one of the lowest points (the lowest?) of his presidency

I know this is buzzfeed not like USA today but I think this is what a lot of people including swing voters will be thinking right now. Not expecting a sympathy vote!

"Trump has tested positive for the coronavirus after he spent months downplaying its severity, refusing to regularly wear a mask, undercutting the government's top scientists, and so severely mismanaging the nation's response that 200,000+ are now dead."https://t.co/ZdnIl36vNm

— Stephanie M. Lee (@stephaniemlee) October 2, 2020

that debate was a pure disgrace, but it was not a moral or humanitarian outrage, so it doesn't even make the top ten lowest points

My conspiracy theory -- it's just his excuse to get out of the rest of the debates.

honestly my first thought too, the doctor's statement is from his pet navy dude

Lolololololololol

What a stupid fucker, see you in hell.

like Boris "testing positive" a few weeks after hiding in a fridge, on camera, to avoid answering hard questions from serious journalist Piers Morgan on camera

xp to me

honestly surprised he didn't catch it months ago

Other aides to the president would not say whether he was experiencing symptoms, but people at the White House noticed that his voice sounded raspy on Thursday, although it was not clear that it was abnormal for him, especially given the number of campaign rallies he has been holding lately.

here we go

Hooboy

Yeah I'm also finding the timing sus.

Orange very sus

Even if Mr. Trump, 74, remains asymptomatic, he will have to withdraw from the campaign trail and stay isolated in the White House for an unknown period of time. If he becomes sick, it could raise questions about whether he should remain on the ballot at all.

this seems a stretch (https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/02/us/politics/trump-positive-coronavirus.html)

well, this is an interesting late season plot twist

i don't find it sus at all. we're in the middle of a pretty intense ~third wave. he's traveling and holding weekly rallies again, having refrained through a lot of the summer. and he's a huge idiot who takes no precautions. stands to reason.

who would have thought the president donald trump emulated most was william henry harrison

Then he will read that post I just posted and realize time is a flat circle

Kinda hope he didn't give Biden covid, with all the time he spent screaming directly at him.

no one away right now will get this joke, but for the UK crowd:

https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2016/04/28/13/282C55AB00000578-3563463-image-a-47_1461846260972.jpg

*awake

Boris is mid-50s, got it, recovered... Bolsonaro is mid-60s, got it, recovered... time for round 3 I guess

Holy shit

congrats to wisconsin btw. they get out of his visit this weekend.

crowd:

https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2016/04/28/13/282C55AB00000578-3563463-image-a-47_1461846260972.jpg

― 𝔠𝔞𝔢𝔨 (caek), Thursday, October 1, 2020 10:30 PM (seven minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

lol

October surprise?

Somebody has already updated the "October surprise" wikipedia entry

On October 2, 2020, Donald Trump and Melania Trump, the First Lady of the United States, tested positive for COVID-19.

this guy called it!

Here's another E6-B that just popped up visible on MLAT on the west coast. IMO Stratcom wants them to be seen. pic.twitter.com/nvN03Rnnh9

— Tim Hogan (@TimInHonolulu) October 2, 2020

has trump seen pence recently?

good point!

Question: Will Judge Coney Barrett will be quarantining for the next two weeks. How will this impact the US Senate schedule?

— Chris Cristi (@abc7chriscristi) October 2, 2020

sorry i'm just pure vibing right now.

Is that plane thing true or tinfoil?

CAN’T STOP SMILING I KNOW THERE ARE NEGATIVE ASPECTS BUT I AM SO HAPPY LET ME HAVE THIS

xp, the guy said this is what they'd do if he had covid and 20 minutes later he announced he had it so 🤷🏻‍♂️

who would have thought the president donald trump emulated most was william henry harrison

time for ethan and jess to return to ILX for five weeks

THIS IS A HELL OF A FUCKING INFRASTRUCTURE WEEK

like Boris "testing positive" a few weeks after hiding in a fridge, on camera, to avoid answering hard questions from serious journalist Piers Morgan on camera

xp to me

he looked and sounded absolutely terrible before tbf

What I’d like to do is to give Asshole a wide range of potential treatments, including some not for COVID, and get him to make a decision without advice from “experts” and “scientists”.

He'll probably be fine

betting markets think the big winner is mike pence (was 1%, now 7% chance to be the next president)

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EjTce9LVoAARcyI?format=png&name=small

Judging by the betting markets and Dow futures this is not good for his re-election chances

well, if he's going to go down, at least he went down on top shortly after an offensive annoying petulant public meltdown

Tonight, @FLOTUS and I tested positive for COVID-19. We will begin our quarantine and recovery process immediately. We will get through this TOGETHER!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 2, 2020

THE RESPONSES TO THIS ARE SO FUCKING BIZARRE WHAT IS GOING ON

Like are these Iranian bots wishing death on him? The translations are kinda spooky. What’s with all these unsettling images? This is so weird

https://www.news18.com/news/buzz/donald-trump-tested-positive-for-covid-19-and-people-are-trying-to-cast-satanic-spells-on-him-via-internet-2927407.html

I can’t think of any way I’d prefer him to die than after 30 days intubated on a respirator, unable to appear on TV or open his foul fat mouth, watching the election results roll in as he takes his last desperate breath.

live long enough to die in prison, please

So, Trump brought down by Hope.

Frogbs, the same sort of tweets popped up recently when Taylor Swift fans took to p4k etc because they thought she didn't get a good enough review.

Hoping this thread title finally delivers for good.

he’s gonna be fine and emerge bragging about how some people are saying he has the greatest immune system the world has ever seen

yeah people are really into posting "curses" in Amharic because they think it looks demonic or something? pretty dumb and racist imo!

original language of the Bible?

Nope

You're thinking of aramaic, most of the original bible was written in Hebrew with some aramaic

duh, stupid of me sorry

Time to go back and watch Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade for a refresher course.

Boris got such a numbers boost from being in the hospital it was wild to watch. Surely not in this case though, right?

Taking that back - he didn’t get a boost (though his numbers were very high at that point anyway)

This is not what happened. Two separate polls (by us and Opinium) done BEFORE Johnson announced his positive test on 27th March put the Tories on 54% with a 26 point lead. We had him on 72% satisfaction. Neither that, nor his ICU admission, had a discernible effect on the polls. https://t.co/k1TRs2k2en pic.twitter.com/1K7YVwiKoL

— Matt Singh (@MattSingh_) October 2, 2020

Trump was never one for shaking hands with Covid patients, I'm guessing

pic.twitter.com/BAFU9Qd3Fi

— Simon Young (@iamsimonyoung) October 2, 2020

A+

so uh will Amy Coney Barrett quarantine?

not sure blaming the military for infecting him is the best plan

lol the NYT's political story already reads like an obit:

No modern president has publicly endured a health crisis this close to a re-election attempt. Ronald Reagan was shot and convalesced in 1981, just over two months after he was first sworn in. And Dwight D. Eisenhower suffered a heart attack while in office, but it was more than a year before he faced the voters for a second time.

Ever since he began his unlikely political rise five years ago, Mr. Trump alone has been the driving force behind his campaign and then his presidency. A real estate developer who eventually became a marketer of himself, he has dismissed the advice of experts in politics, government and, most recently, public health.

To the shock of his legions of critics, his bombastic style won him the Republican nomination followed by the presidency four years ago.

And for over three years as president, he was able to steer the political conversation any way he wanted, sometimes to his benefit but often to his detriment.

After the coronavirus shut down the country in March, though, Mr. Trump finally ran headlong into a foe that could not be attacked, ignored or fully overwhelmed with his usual tactics.

RIP big man

Do we have confirmation that Biden and his wife are OK?

Remember when Trump's rebuttal for the "pee tape" story was that he would never get near urinating Russian prostitutes... because he's a germophobe?

Good times, good times.

Let's rewind the tape a bit

https://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/trump-told-comey-pee-tape-real-germaphobe-article-1.3930847

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.politico.com/amp/story/2019/07/07/donald-trump-germaphobe-1399258

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.cnn.com/cnn/2020/03/03/politics/donald-trump-germaphobe-coronavirus/index.html

https://www.businessinsider.com/germaphobe-trump-hates-people-coughing-and-sneezing-in-his-presence-2019-7

good morning y'all, i miss anything big on the UK shift?

I can’t think of any way I’d prefer him to die than after 30 days intubated on a respirator, unable to appear on TV or open his foul fat mouth, watching the election results roll in as he takes his last desperate breath.

― error prone wolf syndicate (Hadrian VIII), Thursday, October 1, 2020 11:26 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

This, except he lingers on in a painful state until inauguration day.

can we just move straight onto harris v pence please

I feel like Biden's gonna be governing from a bunker for the first hundred days, while they sterilize the White House until it's basically a clean room.

They need to rush Trump massive doses of bleach and hydroxychloroquine, stat.

Trump getting the 'ronnie gives him a lovely out/excuse he can use for losing so it seems like a win-win all around. I hope he survives (this).

live long enough to die in prison, please

― erratic wolf angular guitarist (sic), Friday, October 2, 2020 2:48 AM (five hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

prison would be nice, but death by COVID seems the one true way to prevent his martyrdom....

he would forever be stuck with World's Dumbest Criminal

death by COVID seems the one true way to prevent his martyrdom....

surely the q massif would just say that he was murdered somehow and it was a cover up?

damn they didn't have to shoot him with the COVID gun

Yeah, Deep State strikes again. Introduce an unknown virus, spark a deadly pandemic, encourage its global spread, the White House is yours for the taking. Thanks, Soros, Gates, Epstein, etc.

I'm feeling El Tomboto's post. For a time since the 2nd World War the USA has been seen globally as a competent place. It's a reason that the global reserve currency is the US dollar, and that the international language has been English. Alongside Boeing's recent failures, and of course the failures of the US military strategy in the Middle East, this is another sign that that era of competence is over.

it seems weird that Trump getting it would be the signpost for competency-breakdown when 200,000+ have died

I can think of approximately 199,999 instances prior to this one that better speak to systemic incompetence. This is just one man's idiocy.

You mean his incompetency at catching a relatively easily transmissible deadly virus while taking no serious precautions.

If you're having health problems, I feel bad for you, son

I can think of approximately 199,999 instances prior to this one that better speak to systemic incompetence. This is just one man's idiocy.

You are drastically underselling both people's inability to grasp large numbers and the ripple effect one moron in a position of prestige and power can have.

Pence is going to try to ropadope the debate into taking a moment of silence to pray for the recovery of this asshole.

Cf how it wasn’t actually a real thing until Tom Hanks had it

xxp I wasn't speaking to public perception. I'm saying it strikes me as odd that someone would saddened by this because it somehow reflects systemic incompetence.

There was an effective system for managing infectious diseases in place that this guy dismantled.

I hear the president is becoming increasingly isolated.

Deep State strikes again

I was unable to sleep at 3 am ET and stupidly looked at my phone. By 4 am this was already a right wing talking point - that forces in the government had deliberately infected the Greatest President Ever.

By 5 am every possible take, and evry possible counter-take, were definitely in play.

It's borderline criminal that Trump was aware he was exposed to the coronavirus by Hope Hicks, who tested positive on Wed., but he still traveled to his club for a fundraiser on Thurs. "where one attendee said POTUS came in contact with about 100 people" & he was having symptoms https://t.co/fRJJuyCQrY

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 2, 2020

We got our asses kicked by this early and are currently one of the best states as far as covid control goes. fucking asshole brought it here!

#BREAKING: New Jersey has started coronavirus contact tracing for people who attended President @realDonaldTrump's fundraiser at his Bedminster golf club Thursday evening, @GovMurphy said Friday morning. https://t.co/1LsVGIC3kF pic.twitter.com/V3Q3bzZwLH

— NBC10 Philadelphia (@NBCPhiladelphia) October 2, 2020

also we don't know that Hope Hicks or anyone else on staff gave it to him...it's just as likely the other way around

BREAKING - Ronna McDaniel, the RNC chairwoman, tested positive for the coronavirus on Wednesday, multiple sources say. She has mild symptoms. She was last with POTUS last Friday and has been in Michigan since then.

— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) October 2, 2020

You know, I'm starting to think this covid thing might be serious.

ChiNeSE HoAX

FAkE nEwS

I mean...there's a good chance a ton of high profile people in this administration have it now, correct?

Wait, Chinese hoax, c hoax, coax, coaxial ... the virus is being spread by your TV! Unplug everything!

5G my man

Dana Bash reporting that Hicks, Trump, Stephen Miller, Bill Stepien, Chris Christie, among others were basically in a small conference room, unmasked, for days prepping for the debate.

— Person Woman Man Camera TV (@ClaraJeffery) October 2, 2020

this is all because Biden said Inshallah

so in the last FOUR DAYS you've got a bombshell story about the President committing tax fraud, a diasterous debate in which Trump literally told Nazis to "stand by", Melania saying "fuck Christmas" on tape, his ex-campaign manager going berserk and embezzling $40 million from the campaign, now the POTUS has Covid and we're gonna spend all today finding out which high level officials have it as well? could this be the greatest infrastructure week of all time?

good morning!

Melania saying "fuck Christmas" on tape

ok she's now easily the best trump

he's lying about COVID, like he lies about everything

every single thing he says is a lie, it's so fucking obvious

that being said, I'd love to see these fuckers all die

What does he gain from lying about this? What advantage, what ego-stroking, what self-mythology does this play into?

yeah this is not some orchestrated thing

dominates the news cycle, for starters

"cured with hydroxychloroquine"

Yeah, getting sick is a sign of weakness in Trump's mind...not sure what he would have to gain from lying about it

outpouring of bot-dominated sympathy

I can keep going?

I'd love to see these fuckers all die

Only if they can do so without taking out any of the huge number of innocent people they happen to breathe near

Exhibit A is still "he lies about everything, compulsively"

i do not buy this theory at all

But sympathy, too, is not something he respects. This just brings *more* attention to the one issue he desperately wants to avoid.

That would mean that Hope Hicks is also faking it, and whomever else we've yet to learn about...

Has anyone said if he was tested because of symptoms, or if it was just routine?

I was wondering how long it would take for us to have a truther on this

he "dominates the news cycle" with extensive coverage of an issue, COVID response, that has been absolutely terrible for him and where polls show the public overwhelmingly favoring the other guy. also endless conversation on TV and around virtual water coolers for the next month about how this is the guy who opposed masks, said the virus was nbd, etc. etc. also extensive conversation about the vulnerability of his aging and ill-maintained physical body, not exactly a favorite topic of a man who is visually defined by a toupee and a spray tan.

They tried to keep the fact that hicks had it secret.

People with serious illnesses do not get polling boosts.

Everything about his behavior guaranteed he would get it.

He has it. Absolutely love it.

Trump clearly sees getting ill as a weakness, he mocked Hillary relentlessly for it in 2016, and getting sick means he can't do the thing he loves most, which is hold rallies and get his voting base killed

I think the "conspiracy" here is this - they absolutely knew about this as early as Wednesday night, had news of Hope's diagnosis not leaked out yesterday they would've kept this under wraps

which is fucking stupid, obviously someone close to him would've contracted it and shown symptoms but we all know they are that fucking stupid and selfish

We have some Boris covid truthers too IIUC. Real galaxy brains.

All of his lies are in service of some form of self-aggrandizement. Everything ties back to the narcissistic world view where he is the absolute best at everything. He is the smartest, he is the strongest, he is the cleverest, he is the most insightful, he is the best. This paints him as being like everyone else. He is not built to take a weaker position for long-term gain; it is evident in everything we know about him. He's a bloviating moron so haunted by his father's disapproval that he has to bluster his way through being the greatest at everything and, if something doesn't go his way, it's the fault of everyone around him rather than his. You are projecting cunning and artifice upon him that he is not capable of.

also I would like to point out the way the Dow Futures & betting markets reacted to this news implies that this wasn't some weird ass ploy to help his re-election chances

I'm happy to be proved wrong but y'know we are never gonna see his tests

I sincerely believe he's lying, but also he is very very stupid so I could be wrong! I sure hope so.

ha, xp with DJP, OK yeah I agree with all of that and am not trying to be a truther, but my first reaction was "no way"

so was this was the military coup we've been waiting for?

we can only hope

tbh, I'm surprised he isn't wheezing his way to a podium to strenuously deny these fake reports of his illness

THAT would be a "Trump is obviously lying" conspiracy that I would buy

If he dies before the election, what happens to votes already cast for him?

This is critical. The White House didn’t disclose this. Jennifer Jacobs got the story that Hicks had covid, something the White House had apparently known since the previous day. That put all eyes on the President. https://t.co/r5bnOB96Ob

— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) October 2, 2020

If he dies before the election, what happens to votes already cast for him?

they turn into beautiful swans

xxp good question, I think the Trump/Pence team is still considered the "candidate" in that case and theoretically Pence could win?

lol DJP

It's also just far from improbable that he would contract coronavirus.

sleeve all I'm saying is if Trump really was gonna fake COVID I don't think he'd do it in a way that straight up implies he took no precautions whatsoever and knowingly put a ton of people at risk

this has the feel of the "grab 'em by the pussy" tape, one of the very few times he's actually had to come face-to-face with the real world

sorry everyone, having a hard time this morning. it sucks to not be able to trust anything these assholes say or do.

Wasn’t he with Chris Christie and giuliani for debate prep? Can’t imagine either of those two have great general health.

Whatever the case, nobody is talking about his taxes anymore.

fwiw this was the first thing I saw when I woke up, from Sept. 18th:

Trump’s October surprise will be the announcement of “his infection.” Fake, but quite dramatic. This twist will blow Biden off the screens, the “Trump COVID watch” dominating every minute of every day. Then, 14 days later, Trump will emerge, 100% cured by hydroxychloroquine.

— JohnCammo (@JohnCammo) September 18, 2020

Apparently, if Trump were to withdraw or die before the election, the RNC would vote on a replacement candidate: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/10/02/were-final-stages-presidential-election-what-happens-if-candidate-withdraws-or-dies/

Welcome, President Romney

Lol how will Biden get any votes without the "stop the fascist" coalition?

Oooh, can they get Ryan to be the nominee? I'd pay to see that debate again.

Harris tested negative yesterday as part of routine testing, according to NPR.

fwiw this was the first thing I saw when I woke up, from Sept. 18th:

🐦[Trump’s October surprise will be the announcement of “his infection.” Fake, but quite dramatic. This twist will blow Biden off the screens, the “Trump COVID watch” dominating every minute of every day. Then, 14 days later, Trump will emerge, 100% cured by hydroxychloroquine.
— JohnCammo (@JohnCammo) September 18, 2020🕸]🐦

fwiw this was the first thing I saw when I woke up, from Sept. 18th:

🐦[Trump’s October surprise will be the announcement of “his infection.” Fake, but quite dramatic. This twist will blow Biden off the screens, the “Trump COVID watch” dominating every minute of every day. Then, 14 days later, Trump will emerge, 100% cured by hydroxychloroquine.
— JohnCammo (@JohnCammo) September 18, 2020🕸]🐦

CONFIRMED: There was no contact from the Trump campaign or the White House to alert the Biden campaign of possible exposure. The campaign learned of the situation from the news reports, a Biden campaign aide tells me.

— Yamiche Alcindor (@Yamiche) October 2, 2020

well, yeah

these motherfuckers

I find the fact biden hasn’t announced a test result yet a little ominous tbh

am I correct that as per Democracy Now this morning, no journalists who came into contact have been tested?

Was there any goddamn reason the two of them had to be anywhere near one another on that goddamn debate stage?

oh, you all thought the Rogan debate was a bad idea, but just think, ALL THREE of them could have been on their deathbeds as we speak!

I bet Rogan could have brought some supplements that would have prevented this

Rogan's 53 and fit in his own bulky kind of way, he'd be fine.

suddenly, an alex jones appears

just got the latest Q drop btw: Trump infected himself so he can go after Epstein in hell.

I find the fact biden hasn’t announced a test result yet a little ominous tbh

― 𝔠𝔞𝔢𝔨 (caek), Friday, October 2, 2020 10:00 AM

i do, too. harris and pence already confirmed negative.

Makes you think....

Does anyone else find it odd that no prominent Democrats have had the virus but the list of Republicans goes on and on?

— DeAnna Lorraine 🇺🇸 (@DeAnna4Congress) October 2, 2020

sad lol

speculation about how the transmission to/from the president and the timing

I'm puzzled about the timing here. It's not clear to me that both POTUS and FLOTUS would be testing positive 48 hours after exposure.

Prior exposure? Others infected? https://t.co/xKDnzII8YJ pic.twitter.com/91nARNWuXb

— Carl T. Bergstrom (@CT_Bergstrom) October 2, 2020

somehow every day i increasingly look forward to his death

― mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Thursday, October 1, 2020 2:57 PM

Coming clearly into the foreground now...

the president has a cough and a mild fever, WH reports.

Lots of assumptions happening around when and where they were infected. There probably have been many different opportunities.

yeah, why are we speculating?

Trump clearly sees getting ill as a weakness, he mocked Hillary relentlessly for it in 2016, and getting sick means he can't do the thing he loves most, which is hold rallies and get his voting base killed

I think the "conspiracy" here is this - they absolutely knew about this as early as Wednesday night, had news of Hope's diagnosis not leaked out yesterday they would've kept this under wraps

which is fucking stupid, obviously someone close to him would've contracted it and shown symptoms but we all know they are that fucking stupid and selfish

the fact they didn’t tell biden is insane to me.

What if only Melania dies and everyone votes for Trump out of compassion for the bereaved.

idk seems perfectly in character to me xp

gee would be unfortunate if Melania's last public statement was "fuck the kids and fuck Christmas"

_I find the fact biden hasn’t announced a test result yet a little ominous tbh

― 𝔠𝔞𝔢𝔨 (caek), Friday, October 2, 2020 10:00 AM_

i do, too. harris and pence already confirmed negative.

Bernie still has a chance.

lol

Isn't Biden always on a train? Like the plot of Snowpiercer?

Refreshing honesty from 538 today

https://i.imgur.com/pJ8xbg2.png

There is timing, there is good luck, and then there's flat out total sorcery:

Omfg @alexgibneyfilm does it again.

pic.twitter.com/7vvW5iqb2W

— Molly Jong-Fast🏡 (@MollyJongFast) October 2, 2020

Mike Lee has tested positive for COVID after meeting (maskless) with SCOTUS nominee Judge Barrett earlier this week. https://t.co/lJBQ9O4FmT

— Addy Baird (@addysbaird) October 2, 2020

but she has reportedly tested negative.

Typhoid Barrett

"We need you to get approved by this committee, so make sure none of them die." "Okay!"

What if only Melania dies and everyone votes for Trump out of compassion for the bereaved.

If she was the one who got the 'rona bad it'd be amusing to watch Trump publicly try and pretend he gives the slightest shit about whether his missus lives or dies.

This is a double blow to Melania, since Christmas came early.

— Ken Jennings (@KenJennings) October 2, 2020

god I love Ken

haaaaaaaaaaaa

NEWS: @mikememoli reports Biden has tested NEGATIVE.

— Alex Seitz-Wald (@aseitzwald) October 2, 2020

btw everyone keep in mind that you can test negative for a while and then be positive a week later, in fact this has happened on several professional sports teams already

Yeah it's a matter of follow-ups and precautions. I suspect the campaign was already going to be even more vigilant anyway.

There's your subtweet

I’m happy to report that Jill and I have tested negative for COVID. Thank you to everyone for your messages of concern. I hope this serves as a reminder: wear a mask, keep social distance, and wash your hands.

— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) October 2, 2020

That last sentence. Nice.

expert level shade there, nice

PHEW

He has the virus. We won't entertain talk of otherwise. It must be taken seriously. Him lying about it makes no historical, logical, strategic, or political sense. Beyond anyone's sense of vengeance or what have you, there are serious consequences at stake, even if he recovers.

— Richard M. Nixon (@dick_nixon) October 2, 2020

Him lying about it doing anything makes no historical, logical, strategic, or political sense.

reposting all of this, even though it's a premium EXCLUSIVE TPM

The timeline of events leading up to the disclosure of President Trump’s diagnosis point overwhelmingly to some mix of a coverup and gross negligence and likely both.

Let’s review some key facts, as far as we presently know them.

The New Jersey Trip

Yesterday morning Hope Hicks received test results showing she was COVID positive. It’s not clear when the test was administered (we’ll get to that in a moment). But she received the confirmed positive test yesterday morning before Trump left for a campaign/fundraiser trip to New Jersey. On that trip Trump was frequently observed unmasked, including in an indoor roundtable meeting. He appears to have exposed dozens of people during that trip.

It is clear that the President’s medical staff and top staff (and almost certainly the President himself) knew before leaving on that trip that he had been exposed to COVID. But he went anyway and exposed dozens more.

That was at a minimum an act of gross irresponsibility.

As I’ll note in a moment it also suggests the strong possibility that the White House tried to keep the whole situation secret.

Who Infected Who and When?

Most people are assuming that Hicks infected President Trump. But based on what we know that’s not the only or even the most likely scenario. Indeed, their infections being discovered so close in time makes it probably more likely that some other person or persons infected both of them. But there are details here that don’t add up.

We’ve been led to believe that the President and the people around him are tested either daily or close to daily. The White House medical staff have both the rapid saliva tests which take on the order of 15 minutes or so and the PCR tests which a dedicated lab can turn around in something like an hour and a half. If these tests are being done that frequently there should never been more than hours between someone becoming virus positive (and thus infectious) and tripping off a test.

We know that you can be infectious before becoming symptomatic. Indeed there’s significant evidence that you’re more infectious before developing symptoms. But your infectiousness is about your viral load. A significant viral load should trip off a test.

But here’s the problem. We don’t just know Trump, Melania Trump and Hicks are COVID-positive. They all appear to be actively symptomatic, sick. Presumably their symptoms are currently mild. But it is unlikely that all three people reached viral levels capable of testing positive and became actively sick on the same day.

This throws into some question whether the top people at the White House, including the President, are actually being tested on a daily basis. It also suggests that these three and likely others have been infectious and possibly actively sick for a significant period of time. There’s some mix of failed surveillance and/or secrecy about what the surveillance has found.

Were They Keeping It a Secret?

A critical part of this equation is that the White House didn’t come forward with any of this. Jennifer Jacobs of Bloomberg News learned that Hicks had tested positive and reported that last night. That immediately focused attention on the President’s exposure and forced the overnight disclosure of his illness. Were they planning on disclosing that Hicks had tested positive? That is at best unclear. They hadn’t disclosed that Ronna McDaniel, the head of the RNC who met with Trump last week, tested positive. We just found that out this morning. And what about Trump himself? Trump had repeatedly traveled with Hicks. Her diagnosis Thursday morning should have led to President Trump’s being immediately tested and possibly diagnosed yesterday morning or at the latest in the afternoon. But news reports last night suggested – though without saying so directly – that they were being tested and waiting on results last night.

This timeline has serious holes in it.

This is a crisis situation. Things can get confused. And because it is a crisis situation we can’t assume that all the reporting we have is complete or entirely accurate. We can’t point with total confidence to the contradiction between two apparent facts. Because none of them are that certain. But there are lots of indications that the White House was trying to keep this information under wraps and possibly endangered the lives of numerous people in doing so, including that of the President himself and possibly his challenger Vice President Biden.

Lemme know when you get the good stuff from TPM EXTREME.

can't stress enough that the whole TRYING TO KEEP IT SECRET thing is gonna undermine any shred of goodwill people feel towards him for this

Garry Kasparov @Kasparov63

It takes a lot to impress a Russian with surprises in October, but this one is off to a rather impressive start.

can't stress enough that the whole TRYING TO KEEP IT SECRET thing is gonna undermine any shred of goodwill people feel towards him for this

savage

pic.twitter.com/ZnD9jStNZ4

— TJ Ducklo (@TDucklo) October 2, 2020

whoever the fuck these people are who keep bouncing Trump's approval from 39% to 45% and back and forth depending how much he's in the news. I think in a "normal" situation a sitting president contracting a serious disease would generate some sympathy but pretty much all the coverage I've seen of this is pretty clear that this is entirely his fault and most likely he put a ton of other people at risk by not disclosing this asap

After Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) announced he tested positive for COVID-19, journalists on Twitter pointed out that he met with Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett earlier this week. Neither of them wore masks during the meeting.

looks like Barrett thinks she's above common sense and public health and safety, too. shouldn't be surprised

(she tested negative, btw)

she already had it a few months ago I thought

Just announced that the president of Notre Dame, who was also at the Rose Garden ceremony for Barrett, has COVID now, too.

It's almost as though it were spreading like a virus or something.

lol plague inside the castle

A Senate GOP aide, on background, tells the Post that some Rs are now discussing asking Leader McConnell to "take the Senate out of session next week" before the ACB hearings start in mid-October.

"If some in the Republican caucus get sick, we are screwed," the aide says.

— Robert Costa (@costareports) October 2, 2020

interesting if true

Just announced that the president of Notre Dame, who was also at the Rose Garden ceremony for Barrett, has COVID now, too.

― jaymc, Friday, October 2, 2020 11:57 AM

i was glued to the livestream of the aftermath of that Barrett/Rose Garden ceremony, as it happened, since a WashPost camera kept rolling after the ceremony, as all the VIPs stood up to schmooze and make plans to make even more money in the near future.

what was captivating me at the time was a conversation that bill barr and kellyanne conway were having in clear view of the camera. never did get to the bottom of that (even after performing some "Enhance!"-like equalizer/remixing to isolate the speech frequencies), but as it was happening, it was impossible not to be astonished by the total non-covid-19 awareness. almost everyone there was standing in groups of 5-6, tightly spaced, no mask, laughing and talking to each other.

i'm sure you can look in that footage and see the Notre Dame president, too. reports were that he was not wearing a mask and shaking everybody's hands. fucking idiot, but you wouldn't be able to spot him in this crowd, they were all fucking doing that.

A Senate GOP aide, on background, tells the Post that some Rs are now discussing asking Leader McConnell to "take the Senate out of session next week" before the ACB hearings start in mid-October.

i don't want to jump the gun, but is this possibly evidence of god finally paying attention to earth?

here's some of that footage xp

Video of the ACB announcement event on Saturday at the WH featuring Sen. Mike Lee of Utah, who has now tested positive for Covid-19. pic.twitter.com/aCqP2JCH73 via @bubbaprog

— southpaw (@nycsouthpaw) October 2, 2020

YES! that's (part of) the exact footage! and i feel like such a dumbass - i didn't recognize that was Mike Lee while I was watching! during that footage (there's much more than that clip, before and after), Lee is walking all over the place gregariously chatting it up with everyone, he hits the cameraman on accident and apologizes, all sorts of shit happens

amazing

with a mask in his hand!

can i just say i may be even happier that mike lee tested positive than the t man

also, i mean, LOTS of people were at that ceremony. Bill Barr, etc. and i know it was outside, and everything. but that 16 seconds of footage is only a small part of the 5-10 minutes of close contact schmoozing going on after that. in addition to the big names everyone would recognize on sight:

...When the press is escorted to the Rose Garden, many guests are already seated. There is some slight distance between the chairs because of COVID-19, but only a few guests are wearing masks. A military band is out on the South Lawn, playing the “Battle Hymn of the Republic” and similar martial choices.

It’s time to see who’s here. Corey Lewandowski, the president’s one-time campaign manager, had walked past the press office earlier and now is seated near the front. Gary Bauer, who served in President Ronald Reagan’s administration, led the Family Research Council, and ran for the Republican presidential nomination, is seated in the middle.

Mercedes Schlapp, a former Trump White House staff member who is now working on the president’s re-election campaign, is seated near the front. Her husband, Matthew Schlapp, the chair of the Conservative Political Action Committee, is seated farther back, next to Thomas Fitton, the president of Judicial Watch.

John Malcolm of the Heritage Foundation, who has helped draw up names for Trump’s Supreme Court lists, is here, wearing a mask. I don’t see Leonard Leo, who also helped draw up such lists when he was with the Federalist Society.

Christine Rousselle, a reporter with the Catholic News Agency, helps me identify a few other guests, including Marjorie Dannenfelser, the president of the anti-abortion group Susan B. Anthony List, and Jeanne Mancini, the president of March for Life, a similar group.

Rousselle also points out the Rev. John I. Jenkins, the president of the University of Notre Dame, where Barrett is still on the faculty even after joining the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit in 2017.

https://www.scotusblog.com/2020/09/a-view-from-the-rose-garden-the-nine/

along with "At least five Republican members of the Senate Judiciary Committee": aMike Lee of Utah, Mike Crapo of Idaho, Ben Sasse of Nebraska, Thom Tillis of North Carolina, and Josh Hawley of Missouri.

i'm not pro biden beyond any of the obvious reasons but that clip has major actor-of-a-certain-age going for the oscar vibes 2 me

Tbh I hope they all die.

Well well

News: I have obtained a memo from the @WHCA board to WH reporters with word of "two additional cases of COVID-19 at the White House." A journalist received a preliminary positive result. And a WH staffer who sits in the "lower press" area received a confirmed positive result.

— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) October 2, 2020

Also, a useful little thread.

1/ Quick reminder that Sen Judiciary Comm. rules require a quorum to be "actually" present to conduct business (such as recommending ACB for SCOTUS seat). Related Senate standing rule requires committee quorums to be "physically" present to report measure/matter to full Senate.

— Sarah Binder (@bindersab) October 2, 2020

I was already thinking the whole Trump testing positive reveal and Karl's story/video above about the Rose Garden event seemed like a Pynchon set piece, but "Senator Mike Crapo" just seals the deal.

It's almost as though it were spreading like a virus or something.

It may be going...

Wait for it...

Viral

(CSI Miami sunglasses gif)

😎

Daltrey: "YEEEEEAAAAAAH!"

bummer - the previous version of the archived WashPost video had ALL of the footage, including the minutes before and after when everyone else clearly thought the cameras were down.

this is the same video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDcz4laYqxY

but it's been trimmed down substantially. you see just a couple of minutes (starts at around 20 minutes in) of the people milling around, which is enough to give you an idea of the density of the seating there as well as how almost no one is wearing a mask. but the good stuff was after that, another 10-15 minutes where everyone's got their guard down and you can clearly hear mike lee and others just a couple feet away from the mic. all that's been removed from the video. oh well.

hopefully someone kept it, because honestly i think it's a historical document of stupidity, from several angles all at once.

to me it's like if you had 1944 footage of hitler sarcastically joking about killing himself in his bunker

lol

until the very end, where I spied a grand total of three masks you couldn't even tell the event was happening in the Covid era

given the way these people live it's amazing they've dodged the Vid for so long

It's like a guy getting pink eye after 6 months of wiping his ass with his hands

nah it makes sense that he got it when he started doing dozens of rallies and fundraisers (which other than mt rushmore and that half empty indoor arena thing he wasn't over the summer i don't think)

I guess we'll see what a diet of Cool Ranch Pringles, KFC & diet coke does for one's health & vitality.

Nothing good so far

Trump cancels events, goes without tweeting for 12 hours following coronavirus diagnosis https://t.co/riCZRSRIg1

— The Independent (@Independent) October 2, 2020

xxpost sure but there were also a bunch of cases in the White House and directions that mask wearing was a bad look

Bearing in mind the iron law that they're liars and it's always worse than it seems with these people, I note he has "mild symptoms".

It's now beginning to look to me like the White House was at the center of a super-spreading event, or multiple such events. This seems more horrifying than cause for glee, but this is a rich harvest of payback for Trump's enablers.

President Trump’s advanced age and his immune system’s response will most strongly influence the course of his battle with covid-19, a disease whose impact ranges unpredictably from no symptoms at all to rapid death, according to experts and research.

sounds good. keep me posted.

Bearing in mind the iron law that they're liars and it's always worse than it seems with these people, I note he has "mild symptoms".

someone mentioned he was notably off during his NJ fundraiser, not taking time to chat with anyone and appearing out of breath

By official medical standards, "mild" symptoms could mean flu-like, which could still be shitty for him, and yeah, it could get worse, because he is old and fast and an asshole.

Impatiently awaiting word on Attorney General Barr.

I note he has "mild symptoms".

Born to be mild

Negative, I’m afraid.

xp

Negative, I’m afraid.

Ah, well. But I hear there are plenty of false negatives, and any one negative test is unreliable.

Boris is like Usain Bolt compared to Trump.

Meanwhile, Florida!

Wow. Look at these returned vote by mail numbers in Florida. @FlaDems +91,340 vote advantage.

DEM: 184,552 (7.6% return rate)
GOP: 93,212 (5.6%)
N/3/I: 64,119

Total: 341,877

In 2016, this far out from E-Day, GOP held +1,304 advantage with only 7,487 mail ballots returned.

— Kevin Cate (@KevinCate) October 2, 2020

awesome

Let me point out: Miami-Dade and Broward haven't voted yet. So.

with this many ballots already cast it's gonna be fucked up if Trump actually died from this

not bad, just fucked up

More positive tests in the White House. Details to come

— Frida Ghitis (@FridaGhitis) October 2, 2020

with this many ballots already cast it's gonna be fucked up if Trump actually died

there is no time left for ballots to be reprinted. should trump die or withdraw all votes cast for trump-pence would be assigned to whatever substitute ticket the Republicans might designate. this is the only solution that even approximates an orderly process.

"We've replaced Donald Trump with... Hillary Clinton"

b/c the Republicans care so much about an orderly process, yes yes

Aimless you might be right, but that seems kinda fucked up. wouldn’t there be a metric assload of maga chuds who’d rather go vegan than vote Romney?

i'm pretty sure that process for dealing with last-minute death or withdrawal of a candidate is codified in various state election laws. plus, since a dead man can't be president, the Republicans have a vested interest in still having a shot at winning, so they would be quite happy that such a process exists.

have to figure the national party would nominate Ivanka, to keep the name. and start madly spinning out propaganda that while she may have been out of the spotlight, she's JUST as much of an egomaniacal racist lib-owning piece of shit asshole who built a great company and will build the wall and make America great again

At the rate we are going, I wouldn't be shocked if Trump fully recovered and then said having antibodies made him a better candidate, because Biden was too at risk of catching covid.

the best antibodies!

xxxpost afaict, the party convention would reconvene and select a name. electors won by Trump/Pence would be encouraged to vote for that person (hard to imagine many of them bailing).

there's a chance this tanks his Supreme Court nomination, right? like we don't know who all has it but it would be nuts for the Senate to convene right now

Has it been noted that supposedly Trump has gone 12 hours without tweeting? Usually that only happens when he is traveling overseas, but apparently you also go silent while you are traveling the River Styx.

yeah that got noted upthread but not sure if it's in this one or TRUMP HAS COVID

i'm really looking forward to hearing trump promoting the idea of herd immunity after this

Do they make ventilators that will accommodate someone of his... size?

FFS

I keep humming "Who's Got The Crack?" to myself only it's "Who's Got The COVID?" and then I think "TRUMP" and smile

Do they make ventilators that will accommodate someone of his... size?

This is an extremely odd question, ventilators aren't pants

i'm really looking forward to hearing trump promoting the idea of herd immunity after this

― idkwtf (Karl Malone), Friday, October 2, 2020 1:55 PM (one minute ago) bookmarkflaglink

Um, I believe it's called 'herd mentality'.

i guess i shouldn't count my eggs before they're hatched, but i'd have to hope that perhaps the trump admin will take this more seriously now. if so, it perfectly fits into the longstanding tradition of conservatives never expressing belief or support about anything they don't like until it directly happens to them (see: children coming out as gay to conservatives, who then suddenly find the courage to stop expressing constant hatred toward the LGBTQ+ community)

breaking: Trump has died.
cause of death: couldn't find ventilator that wold fit Trump

wold!

buried in a piano box

Someone needs to bump Shakey's apposite thread.

that's totally otm, I do think this will cause some conservatives to take this more seriously, plus all those cancelled rallies are going to directly correlate to lives saved, if you believe all lives matter it's absolutely a good thing he's got the 'rona

he had the biggest covid

xxpost When I woke up this morning to 'TRUMP GOT COVID' I was genuinely expecting to find a 'Not really.' from shakes upon clicking through. Sad!

can't tell you how giddy I was creating that thread for all y'all to wake up to

I'd never do that to you

Thank you for your service. And the caps – it just wouldn't have been the same without them.

I was just about to go to bed and randomly decided to check Twitter one last time, put on CNN and bam there it was

struggled for a few minutes to decide whether or not to wake up my wife, and I decided I had to...she's been waiting too long for this day. I mean in retrospect it's a damn miracle he didn't catch it sooner

Trump hasn't tweeted in 12 hours. Notably neither have I because I got suspended for the day for telling him to die.

He's actually up to 14 hours now.

i woke up my partner when i went to bed, around 1:30 last night. i couldn't help it. how often do you get to wake up someone you love and say that someone's severely ill, and it's immediately understood to be the best news

He's actually up to 14 hours now.

ok so my newest theory is he's already dead

I really wonder what this quarantine is like. I can't imagine choad willingly not tweeting through this. He's either sicker than they are saying, or they took his phone away from him in the interest of national security.

Did even his ghost-tweeters catch the 'ronus?

my newest theory is he's already dead

When FOX News puts up a static screen showing a picture of the White House and plays somber music for hours on end, we'll know.

seemed like a Pynchon set piece, but "Senator Mike Crapo" just seals the deal.

lol

" a disease whose impact ranges unpredictably from no symptoms at all to rapid death, according to experts and research."

sounds good. keep me posted.

lol

rather go vegan than vote Romney?

lol

I guess he was supposed to be on some call 12:30 or something, but they replaced him with Pence? My wife's theory is that he is just napping, which is not a bad theory.

She woke me up with the news. I've kind of been happy all day in a way I haven't been in a week or so, I honestly wonder if that's what's doing it.

we won't officially know until the pearl-clutching about the massive weeklong global party that spontaneously erupts upon news of his death

xp

What this whole experience has taught me is that you should, in fact, count your chickens before they're hatched. It's wayyy more fun than the alternative.

When he dies a whole lot of flags will be at full mast, if you get my drift.

boners

There will be a global spike in COVID cases because people will not be able to resist running into the streets and hugging everyone they see

lol, all the neighborhood Facebook groups will be asking, were those gun shots, fireworks, or just people celebrating that Trump is dead?

as a soldier in the war on Christmas I just want to

Trump hasn't tweeted in 12 hours. Notably neither have I because I got suspended for the day for telling him to die.

"I've kind of been happy all day in a way I haven't been in a week or so" me too! I was on the brink of suicidal depression for two weeks until today

I really wonder what this quarantine is like. I can't imagine choad willingly not tweeting through this. He's either sicker than they are saying, or they took his phone away from him in the interest of national security.

good shit doesn't happen in this hellworld but lets not forget that 1) they almost certainly covered up a heart attack in 2019, 2) they fucking hid Melania for like 2 weeks, and 3) they absolutely planned to cover this up until some pesky reporter leaked that Hope was positive

and as a soldier in the War on Christmas just want to throw a begrudging shoutout to Melania

He's going to nuke Denmark in a fever dream... they should have sold Greenland, they brought this on themselves.

Between his mouth and his toilet habits, just imagine how disgusting his phone must be. They're probably in the process of burying that thing in the desert with all the nuclear waste.

right, Melania purportedly had a kidney thing, which also increases her chances. Honestly I don't hate her nearly to the degree I hate her husband so I don't really wish death on her the way I do DJT, and his children.

still, I'd take it.

I mean she is absolutely as horrible as the rest of them

anyone who hates christmas is cool with me

Yeah, did ye not see the audio released of her yesterday? Kids in cages, “give me a fucking break”, wasn’t it? Also recall her going on TV to push birther conspiracies.

Kids in cages, “give me a fucking break”, wasn’t it?

B-BUT OBAMA!!!!!

I don't think this is fake anymore. If it was, he'd be giving constant twitter updates on how he's battling the puny virus, and that his symptoms are already fading, ala Bolsonaro.

Yeah, have we discussed Melania's Christmas cheer anywhere? Because it's completely nuts.

I think we started to and then they all got hit by the plague bat

We live in a timeline where it's only like the 50th most notable story in the news cycle right now.

I'm beginning to wonder whether someone other than Trump tweeted the announcement maybe because Trump himself was in no condition to do so.

Melania's rant was posted somewhere yesterday afternoon, but has since been swallowed by other conversational interests.

if there's no word or sign of him throughout the weekend, assume the best.

I like the way you think.

2xp

I mean the text of the tweet itself was clearly not him

Relevant:

TIL the opposite of doomscrolling is schadensurfing

— N’Gai Croal (@ncroal) October 2, 2020

The announcement tweet was much more grammatically and syntactically subdued than anything Trump would write on his own. More like an official communique.

If it was genuine, it's be: "Do-Nothing Democrats and CNN might be Pleased to find out that Melania and I have the loser Chinese Virus, but they won't hear it from me! The Wall is almost finished, MAGA!"

I know people hate this genre of statement but it does make me happy to know that this is almost certainly the worst week of Trump's life. get exposed as a broke tax cheat, completely bomb a debate performance, "accidentally" make a nod to the Nazis AGAIN, have tapes of your wife saying nasty shit, then the both of you contract the deadly disease that you've been handwaving away for months? and it's only Friday??!?

There was a statement from Meadows that something about how "we" decided to release a statement. So.

So, tomorrow he has a catastrophic anal prolapse?

I've never felt more rayliottalaughing.gif than I do today

‘catastrophic’

Comforting when your doctor doesn't know how to spell "comorbidities." https://t.co/pjQneIhCvs

— James Surowiecki (@JamesSurowiecki) October 2, 2020

"mild symptoms" = coughing blood, uncontrollably weeping

BREAKING UPDATE — Trump has notified FOX35 that he won’t hold a Rally tonight https://t.co/3OR8DEfPi8

— FJ News Reporter (@FJNewsReporter) October 2, 2020

not even doing a virtual rally

there's a nonzero chance he's dead

xpost "Asymptotic" as well.

guys I think the pivot is finally happening

The pivot to death?

You can be asymptotic and symptomatic at the same time.

xps

They are rapidly approaching symptom-free but will never reach it

the pivot to Infrastructure Week

Was Ronny Jackson the Dr. Feelgood that was handing out pills like Sweetarts?

Apologies if this was already posted:

https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/519360-pence-subbed-in-for-trump-on-call-with-governors-after-presidents

A mild no-show.

I don't know if my brain can handle anymore dopamine today.

any more

Isn't Pence the task force leader anyway?

I don't know if my brain can handle anymore dopamine today.

― Quiet Storm Thorgerson (PBKR), Friday, October 2, 2020 3:54 PM (two minutes ago)

https://thehill.com/homenews/media/519387-fox-news-anchors-executives-to-be-tested-after-potential-covid-19-exposure-at

Guys, I just realized that Trump's insistence on presenting physically as a horrific, shambling mockery of a human being has been strategic all along, allowing for his staff to hastily assemble a crude dummy from whatever leftovers happen to be floating around the WH at a given time (a hefty quantity of ham topped with a fistful of bean sprouts, for example), stuff it in an ill-fitting suit, and wheel it before an unsuspecting public that's used to seeing a president that's made of day-old meat products. The untrained eye might never penetrate the charade.

there's a nonzero chance he's dead

― frogbs, Friday, October 2, 2020 3:41 PM (eighteen minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

Can you die of covid within one day?

If he had a heart attack or something, sure.

You can die of anything within a day.

Giuliani negative. You can't have 'em all.

We can be certain that somewhere in DC and various other power centers, hundreds of Republican power brokers and consultants, broken into smaller working groups, are grimly war-gaming a couple dozen scenarios to discover how this all can be managed in such a way as to ensure their continuation in power.

What the hell? https://t.co/zPdOa51OSp

— Chris Hayes (@chrislhayes) October 2, 2020

"Giulian Negative" sounds like a diagnosis itself. Like, "I got real drunk at a party last month and slept with someone I shouldn't have, so thank God I just found out I am Giuliani negative."

Can you die of covid within one day?

if anyone could I would venture to say it's a man who believes exercise drains the body's finite energy stores

So Randy Jackson is former WH physician... but it seems they've deputized him as a spin doctor.

I mean:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9Kp_eHMQ7s

2xp

"They are rapidly approaching symptom-free but will never reach it"

This is fucking world class ILX-ing, DJP. My respects.

okay so I turned on the news and yes people are very much wondering where the President is right now

The president's symptoms are said to include a cough, nasal congestion, low-grade fever https://t.co/gCS9KKn9Us

— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) October 2, 2020

Trump's absence from the governor's call is sure to raise questions, however, about whether he will be able to carry out his usual duties without issue.

WHAT FUCKING "USUAL DUTIES"? All he does is sit on the can and tweet stuff he sees on Fox News. OK, to be fair, he seems to not be doing that today, so I guess he's not carrying out his usual duties.

When he kicks the bucket people are going to look at those unused rally tickets like people looked at Skynyrd tickets after the plane crash.

I turned on the news and yes people are very much wondering where the President is right now

are those the same 'yes people' he regularly hires to lick his, uh, how about we say boots?

said to include

good old maggie dutifully acting as the unfiltered conduit for whatever the administration says, because what else does a reporter do but parrot news releases?

yeah it was surreal watching CNN people freaking out about how the government is going to continue to function as though it was fucking functioning at all in the first place. two weeks ago Trump said at a press conference that he watched 9 hours of TV last night

Ronny Jackson's tweet certainly doesn't align with other reports of him absolutely having symptoms.

I really kind of want to hurl when I imagine Trump with nasal congestion. You know he's one of those guys who can't be bothered to actually go get a tissue and blow his nose, he just sits there looking glum and occasionally making NOISES

this is how you do it

My statement on Trump’s COVID-19 positive diagnosis: pic.twitter.com/03VF1oGF8a

— Rep. Ilhan Omar (@Ilhan) October 2, 2020

well so much for the sympathy angle

Chris Wallace just said on Fox that Trump arrived too late in Cleveland to have been tested by the clinic and that there was an "honor system" for the candidates to have arrived after already testing negative. pic.twitter.com/8jGZGWJjPT

— Andrew Kirell (@AndrewKirell) October 2, 2020

it's absolutely gonna come out that they new he was positive during the debate

I just want to point out that "duties" is a typo, it's supposed to be "doodies"

I'm disappointed that this news couldn't have come out on another day, one when I wasn't having a profoundly shitty day for so many other reasons. I wish I could be enjoying this more.

polyclonal antibodies sounds fancy

I just want to point out that "duties" is a typo, it's supposed to be "doodies"

He doesn't carry them out, though, he has people for that

Kudlow: LPrez has “very moderate case”

That's louder than 'mild,' innit?

extremely moderate right down the middle the most normal case possible

Be that as it may, there is absolutely no reason whatsoever to trust what these snakes and their handlers have to say on this and everything else.

Friend who works with Scaramuci said that Mooch spoke with Hicks this morning.

She said that Trump showed symptoms before her, and that she's being used as a scapegoat

— (((ben))) 🏳️‍🌈 (@BenResists) October 2, 2020

uncollaborated but the Mooch is the only straight shooter in that entire orbit so I'd believe him

I don't think people think Hicks infected Trump, I thought the running assumption based on time of onset was someone else infected them both (for some reason I'm inclined to go with Father Jenkins)

Look, is he symptomic or asymptomic?!?

theres def a super spreader in their orbit

He's symphonic.

Per @PressSec, @realDonaldTrump has received an experimental COVID treatment that is still in trials and not available to most Americans. pic.twitter.com/StTnM1KeIK

— Andrew Feinberg (@AndrewFeinberg) October 2, 2020

wait a second why are they using experimental treatments on him

Hopefully the treatment is submerging him in a vat of clorox.

I'm cool with using Donnie as a guinea pig tbh.

I wrote a little bit here about the race for monoclonal antibodies -- like the one Trump is now receiving: https://t.co/JKwHE6krZH

— Paul Sonne (@PaulSonne) October 2, 2020

a vote for Clorox

goddammit Brocc

I prefer the polyclonal with a splash of bitter and lemon zest.

custos?

The experimental treatment is prayer, they've been working on that one for a while.

But it only works in conjunction with thoughts.

Well then they're fucked.

This is so awesome

very "normal" where experimental treatment is only available for the worst person alive who is also president

honestly I didn't know how I'd react with this kind of news and apparently the answer is pure joy

His presidency was designed as an experiment from the very start.

Paul Sonne
@PaulSonne
I wrote a little bit here about the race for monoclonal antibodies -- like the one Trump is now receiving

THEY'RE CLONING TRUMP?!?!?!?!

NEW: White House doctor confirms that President Trump is being treated with an 8 gram dose of Regeneron's polyclonal antibody cocktail as well as a series of vitamins. Says he's "fatigued but in good spirits." pic.twitter.com/3iLyq3DYXj

— Lewis Goodall (@lewis_goodall) October 2, 2020

BREAKING: Ghost of Herman Cain heard wandering the West Wing halls, emitting a mournful belly laugh and singing "Waltzing Mathilda"