Fear and Loathing, a Rat Flu Odyssey

[Ted Striker]

Wow. This thread is saltier than the poli-ass one.

[rideit]

Overheard:

”Trump has covid.”

”Oh my God, that’s so sad, that poor virus.”
.

[bobz]

Isn’t the best (reasonable) case scenario: trump and pence get long term icu admittance for the next several months and fancy Nancy leads until the January inauguration?

I won't shed a tear for that guy no matter what happens to him, but my wish is that he recovers and lives on.

My feeling about this election is that a game-change is the last thing we need. When you're ahead, you want maintain stride, not mix things up. A post-Trump GOP isn't something I want messing with present predictions for November.

And if things don't just turn bad for Trump's health, but if there ends up being ambiguity about who the electors should pick versus who people voted for (and lots of people will have voted by only a week or so from now), well remember who runs the DOJ and has a SCOTUS majority and a Senate majority (plus, actually, a House state delegation majority); legal chaos will not favor Joe Biden.

[jono]

Wow. This thread is saltier than the poli-ass one.

There's only one thread.

[frorider]

White House developed special intubator in an abundance of caution:

[goldenboy]

Notre Dame pres tests positive after going maskless at Amy Coney Island's nomination.

And Lee. So a super spreader event like we were talking about before Trump got it?

[ötzi]

I really hope Trump lives. How else can he rot in jail?

[splat]

Next on Survivor. The Race For America. October Suprises as Presidential Pageant Goes Off The Rails.

[Rideski]

I would echo the various comments above that if he recovers in gallant stride it would be worst case. Country would be in full division, open it up because we’ll all recover (paying no mind to him having the best health care on the planet) versus people paying attention to facts.
I wish he either didn’t get it and lost, or now that he did, it hurts at least a little. Maybe a sacrificial lamb in his circle. Kusher hasn’t been mentioned yet.
Anything to open the sheeples’ eyes.

[jono]

Isn’t the best (reasonable) case scenario: trump and pence get long term icu admittance for the next several months and fancy Nancy leads until the January inauguration?

For the DNC, I'm sure there are a lot of interesting scenarios. I was just thinking in terms of the pandemic. Hard to balance politics against someone's life or health, but balancing one person against a whole bunch of others seems a bit simpler.

[splat]

The antibodies might not do it all, but combined with a vaccine in trial, he should recover just fine.

[BobMc]

Doesn’t a vaccine keep you from getting it rather than saving you afterwards?

Meanwhile, neighbors a few doors down are having a large and loud party. Go Utah!

[splat]

It can accellerate response in an infected person from what I've heard.

[BobMc]

As you know, I’m far from a doctor, but that doesn’t sound right to me. :shrug:

[splat]

I know what you mean. It seems contrary to common knowledge.

[PNWbrit]

As you know, I’m far from a doctor, but that doesn’t sound right to me. :shrug:

You're discussing vaccines with someone who paid through the nose for one cooked up at home by some quack who does home deliveries?

[CarlMega]

Today, the POTUS, FLOTUS, the GOP Chair, 2 Senators, Hope Hicks, 3 WH reporters, a WH press aide, the Notre Dame president, & 11 people involved in debate set-up have now tested positive.

This is more positive cases than the continent of Australia had today (17)

^rockin it!

[BobMc]

I’m well aware of Splat’s medical credentials. I also love the dude.

[old goat]

If Trump is sick but alive and wins the election Pence is acting President until Trump recovers. If he dies Pence becomes President and the Senate has to confirm a new VP. If Trump dies before the election I believe it's too late in all 50 states to substitute a name on the ballot. If he were to win posthumously I would expect the states he carried to unbind their electors (29 states bind their electors to the winner of the popular vote in that state) and the Republican electors would vote for a consensus candidate. I'm thinking Kanye. Or maybe the first scenario would apply--Pence moves up to Pres and nominates a Veep. It would depend on how the RNC feels about President Pence.

[The SnowShow]

Worse case scenario: this Regenaron cocktail works, cures Trump fast, then he hits the warpath touting it and wins the election as being the one who brought it to the American people.

[old goat]

Best case scenario. Trump has permanent brain damage and turns into an empathetic, hard-working, brilliant, tolerant, just, and universally loved president.

[ill-advised strategy]

Okay... had this been discussed?

QAnon followers elated at Trump Covid news

Followers of QAnon, the baseless conspiracy theory that posits the president is leading a secret war against a deep-state cabal of Satanic pedophiles, reacted to news of Trump’s Covid-19 infection with near-universal celebration.

On QAnon forums and Facebook groups, people traded conspiracy theories about Trump’s diagnosis, believing it to be part of an elaborate plan to isolate the leader while violent retribution is taken against believed evil-doers, a time known within the conspiracy theory as “the storm.”

QAnon believers also hold that the coronavirus, which has killed over 200,000 Americans, is a “hoax,” engineered to hurt the president. They have rallied around ineffective treatments like hydroxychloroquine and have refused to wear masks or get a vaccine when one becomes available.

Notable QAnon influencers spent early Friday attempting to "decode" the president's tweet announcing he had the disease and trying to deduce clues from the statement's use of capital letters. The official "Q" account, which followers believe to be a secret government insider giving them hints about the president's plan, has not posted since the president's announcement.

QAnon was among the top trending searches on Google Friday morning.

I myself am a follower of the KQanon....taking all the secret cues as to all those folksy-ass WallaWallaiian goin’s on a-happenin.

[uglymoney]

I myself am a follower of the KQanon....taking all the secret cues as to all those folksy-ass WallaWallaiian goin’s on a-happenin.

Good article here on the various right wing cult sect reactions.

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/1...p-covid-425624

In the conspiracy swamps of QAnon social media, there was, oddly, a sense of elation: Trump’s infection was, in their opinion, another sign that Trump’s plan to purge the government of pedophiles was about to reach a culmination.

QAnon is a set of online-based beliefs that, at its core, claims a top tier of Satan-worshiping elites are running a secret pedophile ring out of Washington, D.C., and that Trump is the vanguard of an upcoming “Storm” that will lead to mass arrests and executions of these officials.

And on Friday, according to various QAnon theorists, Trump had left a secret message to his followers in his announcement on Twitter that he had tested positive for Covid-19. Some suggested that his use of the word “together” was, in fact, code for “to get her,” a reference to attacks on his 2016 rival, Hillary Clinton. Others thought Trump’s quarantining was part of a broader plan to isolate the president from potential violence associated with the upcoming election.

Kristin Doerer, the managing editor of Right Wing Watch, which monitors extremism and conservative media, predicted that without direct word from Trump, there would be no coherent messaging taking place in the base.

“I think he's probably going to want to show his face, I think that's what would really reassure his base — him showing his face and feeling healthy,” she said in an interview. “I think what a lot of the right wing activists and politicians are trying to do right now, they're trying to figure out their messaging and just kind of see what sticks best with their audience.”

Stranahan summarized the simplest message: “Send prayers and good thoughts, and talk about how vile the Democrats are.”

[frorider]

President Donald Trump was not tested for the coronavirus by the Cleveland Clinic prior to the first presidential debate on Tuesday night, according to moderator and Fox News anchor Chris Wallace.

During a Fox segment on Friday, Wallace said that Trump arrived too late to the Health Education Campus of Case Western Reserve University and the Cleveland Clinic to be tested. “For them to get tested, there wouldn’t have been enough time to have the test and have the debate at 9 that night,” he said. “They didn’t show up until 3, 4, 5 in the afternoon. Yeah, there was an honor system when it came to the people that came into the hall from the two campaigns.”

‘Honor system’ doesn’t work too well with this guy

[bobz]

If Trump is sick but alive and wins the election Pence is acting President until Trump recovers. If he dies Pence becomes President and the Senate has to confirm a new VP. If Trump dies before the election I believe it's too late in all 50 states to substitute a name on the ballot. If he were to win posthumously I would expect the states he carried to unbind their electors (29 states bind their electors to the winner of the popular vote in that state) and the Republican electors would vote for a consensus candidate. I'm thinking Kanye. Or maybe the first scenario would apply--Pence moves up to Pres and nominates a Veep. It would depend on how the RNC feels about President Pence.

Yeah, that's what people would assume should happen, and I hope it turns out to be that straightforward if the applicable events come to pass. But the Constitution is shockingly non-committal about how any given state's electors should be chosen, differing state laws offering various constraints or not, and there's a whatever-it-takes ethic in certain political quarters. Sorry, a mid-election death or incapacitation (like, at any time between widespread early voting which is about to happen, and the date when electors do the real election) potentially opens some doors that I'd rather see kept closed.