The Biggest October Surprise Ever
Now that DJT has contracted COVID-19, reality has taken some strange twists. If DJT becomes incapacitated, he would have to turn the presidency over to Pence, who would become acting president,…unless or until Pence comes down with it. At that point, Nancy Pelosi becomes Acting President. This would give her the power to rescind all of Trump’s executive orders and withdraw his Supreme Court nomination. so we know that the Republicans will move heaven and earth to prevent that from happening.
SHOULD WE POSTPONE THE ELECTION?
If he really is sick, and that sickness becomes disabling, it is feasible that Trump might demand that we postpone the election because he is not going to be able to campaign. After all,, he has already said that he wants a “Mulligan” on his first term because the media and the Democrats have been so mean to him.
There is no mechanism other than a declared national emergency that would allow the postponement of a presidential election, and Trump’s incapacitation doesn’t constitute an emergency for anyone other than Donald Trump unless he tries to make the case that the epidemic is so devastating that the election can’t be held. That would wind up in the Supreme Court, but it would probably wind up there BEFORE Trump’s third nominee is seated if that ever actually happens.
IS HE FAKING IT?
Another argument has surfaced, suggesting that he isn’t sick at all. that this a ploy to offset his dismal debate performance and falling poll numbers, and that he will emerge victorious in a few days having received a secret new treatment that no one knew about….or some combination of treatments that we do know about but are not usually given.
Trump loves to go out on the campaign trail. He loves rallies and fundraisers. He is addicted to the adulation. It is hard to imagine him voluntarily giving that up. It is also hard to imagine him giving up two more presidential debates…unless he realizes that he can’t beat Biden in a fairly moderated debate and was looking for a way out of debates two and three.
The “miraculous recovery” gambit won’t fly because he would have to answer a few embarrassing questions, no, even more embarrassing than the questions he usually dodges.
- How did he get a miraculous new treatment we didn’t know anything about?
- Why did he take a treatment that does not have FDA approval?\
- Why did he receive a treatment no one else is getting?
- Why isn’t anyone else getting the treatment he got?
WHAT HAPPENS IF DJT DIES BEFORE THE ELECTION?
At this point, it is too late for the Republican party to hold a new convention, with new primaries, to select a new presidential candidate. The Republican National Committee would nominate a replacement for DJT, but Donald Trump would remain on the ballot. During the Electoral College process, the Electors who were pledged to Donald Trump would be asked to cast their votes for the new candidate, regardless of Faithless Elector laws in various states.
If the Republicans win the electoral college vote, but the Electors cannot agree on a replacement candidate, the election gets thrown into The House of Representatives, where each state gets one vote. The Republicans control 26 Congressional delegations and will therefore be able to appoint the Republican candidate who replaces Trunp as the next president.
This is the precise situation for which the Electoral College was conceived, and the reason why we really can’t do without it unless we pass a Constitutional amendment mandating that the popular vote determines the winner in presidential races.
Don’t hold your breath on that one.
10/02/2020 @ 4:00 pm
Not only am I certain that Trump is not faking his infection, I believe that he is experiencing deeper symptoms than he is admitting to. The language has been cagey since the first announcement, which would not be necessary if he were feeling fine. Trump would get on television or phone in an interview somewhere to show his strength, if he could.
Trump favors youth and vigor as his image, even to an irrational extent. He has stated that he feels like he is in his 30s. He hides that he wears reading glasses, which almost everyone his age does. He goes to ridiculous extremes to avoid showing hair loss. He goes into his daily briefings and lectures the intelligence pros rather than listen to what they have prepared for him. He’s deeply insecure, and becoming ill, to him, shows weakness. He’d never use a strategy that involves showing weakness.
I actually have to fight myself to wish him health, but in the end, I actually do. The fact that he was infected makes all the point that needs to be made. His invulnerability is false, and our continuing vulnerability is real. At this point, one infected body is as bad as any other, and I hope that the virus is eradicated. It is admittedly hard work to get there mentally, though.
10/02/2020 @ 4:11 pm
You make a good point about the absence of Trump in the media, but since I don’t indulge in mass media unless something like this happens, I am not aware of the extent of his absence because I wasn’t aware of the scope and extent of his presence. Being a Jew, I don’t subscribe to the turning of the other cheek. I go with eye for an eye, and Trump has the blood of 200,000 dead Americans on his hands, people who died because he decided to play games with a lethal virus and human lives. Whenever someone says that it is bad joss to wish someone ill, I ask, “What about Adolf Hitler? Would you not wish him ill?” At least Hitler liked dogs. Do you know why Trump hates dogs? Because dogs hate Trump.
10/02/2020 @ 4:27 pm
I am with you completely, Alan. Here is where I draw a distinction. If Trump were lying down in a street, and I saw a truck moving toward him, and I had time to warn or remove him…I’d let him be crushed into juice. I would scoop some juice and make t-shirts. That’s an isolated event, and the injury has no chance of spreading. The difference about the virus just feels like we are all part of the same body. I am not suggesting it, just expressing that somehow I differentiate in my head because it could be happening to anyone.
As an update to my previous comment, the WH just made another statement about 4:15. First, they are drawing a distinction between Melania’s symptoms and Donald’s. She has “only a cough.” Donald is “feeling fatigued”, they are searching for therapeutics, “Remdesivir” has been mentioned, and they are looking for a strategy going forward for his treatment. To me, the fact that he is feeling fatigued in an indication that his oxygen level is low, or dropping. That is the danger zone with this condition. When it drops low enough, they put you on a ventilator. Also, once that fatigue sets in, he may heal quickly, or he may heal and remain fatigued long after he is out of immediate danger. Trump is beyond the “light” symptoms that they claim. He is approaching serious.
10/02/2020 @ 5:18 pm
Next update. As of 5:15, the WH just announced that Trump is headed to Walter Reed Hospital. This was recommended by the president’s doctors. They made no mention of whether or not he is being admitted, (although I assume he will be), but, we can assume that his symptoms are not “mild”.
10/02/2020 @ 4:24 pm
This morning my cousin referred to the reaction as
The schadenfreude heard round the world.
I don’t wish suffering on Trump because his suffering doesn’t buy me anything per se and because as a Jew I don’t value suffering – why we spill wine over the plagues at Passover. However, it’s extremely important that millions of idiots don’t keep viewing this as a hoax and I can’t think of a better way of stopping them that with this news. Yes, idiots, it’s time for masks. We really do need them. We always did. He was always lying to you and look where it got him.
10/02/2020 @ 4:37 pm
That’s such a great way to put it. That immediately brought this scene from “A League of Their Own.” I think everyone could relate to Tom Hanks in this scene. Trump is the little kid in this scene.
10/02/2020 @ 5:36 pm
I’m watching to see if it’s visible under the helicopter that he walks to it or is taken on a stretcher. For now the chyron is blocking the view, before the camera was aimed too high..
I’d just really love the schadenfreude of Nancy Pelosi being the first female president.
10/02/2020 @ 11:09 pm
You and me both.
10/03/2020 @ 9:16 am
It’s 6:15 am PDT 10/03/20 and I haven’t seen headlines yet.
Tired of hearing talking heads tell us all Americans hope for a speedy recovery. I didn’t ask anyone to speak for me.
He declared biological war on citizens when he should have declared war on the virus which he and his team have used to manipulate the election.
I’ll save my sympathy for the bus drivers, school teachers and front line workers who didn’t make it back home.
If he succumbs on the battlefield he chose so be it.
10/03/2020 @ 9:32 am
I find it amusing that ” the turn the other cheek” crowd was wishing him into prison for the rest of his life on Monday of this week, but now they want to wish him a speedy recovery because that’s what you are supposed to do. Fuck that. I want him out of the White House. I would prefer for him to be voted out, but if they have to take him out feet first, that’s fine with me tool. I wish all of Trump’s crew ill, and I am not ashamed of it. They wouldn’t throw me a line if I were drowning because I would only be drowning because I wasn’t a good swimmer, and I wouldn’t piss on them if they were on fire because piss has a monetary value and Trump doesn’t.
10/04/2020 @ 4:03 pm
Like
10/03/2020 @ 11:26 am
He’s already gotten treatment not available to the public, an experimental one out of England.
10/03/2020 @ 12:35 pm
So, I’ve heard. He took an unproven regimen. Isn’t there a regulation that says the president cannot serve as a guinea pig during his reign, excuse me, his term in office? If there isn’t there should be.
10/04/2020 @ 4:11 am
At risk of waxen’ ‘old school OS’ conversational, Beulah, the American Beauties, and I post haste extend well wishes to POTUS & FLOTUS as well as all C-19 victims. I’ve been ‘arms length’ from breaking (surreal!) news as I am trying to ‘meal prep forward’ here at Shelter 23. My timers keep awakening dorm residents, but our goal is to high-noon a scrumptious Sabbath feast of salmon, wood-fired veggies & decanters of cranberry/pomegranate.
Earlier before lights out Director PA’d Google Scholar’s definition of ‘fomite’ and effective at sunrise he’s dictated astringent drops in all masks…no kidding the other shoe has dropped…and apropos causality—my reflection is that President Trump assuredly hath a penchant for a gambler’s modus operandi (if casino proprietorship is factored). Hence (weirdly rhymes with Pence) from time to time in terms of self-satisfaction, his thought/verbalization eclecticism blurts hazardous unreasonable maxims…possibly for that iota of thrill/gratification when pitched dice are midway in the air above the green felt. Dangerous in this house of cards with ‘unintended consequence’. Sure ~ ramifications resonate. However I do not see a nuclear submarine race every time our transparency riptides HURCON prognostications along with dystopian level polarization.
10/04/2020 @ 9:48 am
So you’re theorizing that we have a Gambler In Chief
10/04/2020 @ 10:03 am
Kosher: He has owned three or four casinos and lost his shirt on all of them. Of course Trump’s a gambler. He’s the king of the high rollers. I wonder how much Bernie Made-Off took him for.
10/04/2020 @ 9:59 am
Can I have some of whatever you are smoking, drinking or ingesting?
10/04/2020 @ 10:00 am
Ah ha, Now I see the problem that Ronald is referring to. My comment above was meant for JP Hart , not Kosher. but it follows Kosher’s comment. I will have to look into this to see how it can be accomplished.