There are some instant conspiracy theories about the Trump COVID mishigas. I get it. They lie about purt near everything. This is not one of those times.
Team Trump’s lies typically fall into two categories: self-serving lies and self-aggrandizing lies. This is neither. Plus, once they learned about Hope Hicks, their initial impulse was to cover it up. Once the Hicks cat was out of the bag, they had to try something new: telling the truth.
The revelation that President* Pennywise has COVID makes him look like what he is: a fucking moron. He’s been proven wrong in the most dramatic fashion imaginable.
If he gets sick enough, there’s a decent chance that they will seize on this as a pretext to duck future debates, which would be good for the country. I’ve always thought that when things got too hard, Trump would bail. It’s what he’s done his entire life. Scratch a fake tough guy like Trump and they’ll flee. He’s a coward.
I posited an alternative scenario in mid-August. It could be called the resign and pardon scenario. I thought it would happen post-election, but the ground has shifted since then. As I said on Wednesday, Trump knows he’s losing. Contracting the virus could be his excuse to bail and let Pence lose the election instead of him. A pardon would have to be involved, which would doom Pence as it did the infinitely more popular Jerry Ford in 1976.
The pardon and resign scenario has the added benefit of sparing the country a post-election shit show. No one is going to the barricades for Mike Liar Liar Pence On Fire.
Could I be wrong about the resign and pardon scenario? Yes. I’ve been wrong before and will be again. It’s part of being a pundit.
Repeat after me: Donald Trump is a pussy. He should grab himself.
The last word goes to Eric Clapton DBA Derek & The Dominoes:
UPDATE: Joe and Jill Biden have tested negative. As expected, the White House has resumed lying. So it goes.