What will be Trump's playbook be so he can maximize buzz and most benefit from his Covid episode?

I think if he gets through it without much incident he won’t have to say much of anything. His groupies and White Nationalist group will be all over social media saying, “see, most people survive.” Those same groups will be saying no need for masks and testing, because even with testing and everything the president has at his disposal he still caught it. Some will even question if the president had covid at all.

Trump will do his typical doublespeak. He will say, “I beat it!” Or, some other boast. Maybe say “sleepy Joe would not be able to fight it like him.” Maybe even get clever and say “now I’m immune and less risk of getting sick than Joe.” He’ll also talk up Remdesivir and stock will rally.

If he actually gets near death he will say, “It was scary, but the great doctors of our military saved my life, and great drugs like Remdesivir saved my life. My wife who is younger and beautiful had very mild symptoms, but I had a tougher time, but I’m great now!”

It really matters what happens.

I heard Chris Christie is hospitalized. The no-maskers won’t care if he gets very ill, because he’s very overweight. As far as I know Christie isn’t severely ill yet, but that might be old information.

Hope he doesn’t boast . . . . . . . . . . . . about all the sick and dead in the White House staff. Numbers of positive tests, someone could be dead in two or three weeks.

He will try and blame it, somehow, on Biden.

Should be? I don’t think should is an operative concept in his system. I think it will be whatever seems most advantageous and expedient to him in a given moment. Inconsistency is of no concern to him. His cynicism is bottomless.

So it could be an excuse for losing an election or for acting delirious at a debate, or a reason to claim superpowers, or leverage against anyone who lied or dissembled for him, or a device for raising rage among his partisans, or a claim for dismissal of criticisms against him, or, who knows, a bargaining chip with some unknown power: “You’ve just swallowed poison, and I have the antidote right here in this little vial—see? It worked on me.”

All that matters is how he can use it and profit from it at the time. The rest isn’t real.

My cynicism is getting a pretty firm grip too.

Instead of coming off like a king, he’ll come off like “God.”

He’s already saying Covid isn’t too bad, don’t be afraid.

It’s the nightmare I thought it would be.

Edit: here is the quote from Trump according to a friend. It was a Tweet.

I will be leaving the great Walter Reed Medical Center today at 6:30 P.M. Feeling really good! Don’t be afraid of Covid. Don’t let it dominate your life. We have developed, under the Trump Administration, some really great drugs & knowledge. I feel better than I did 20 years ago.”

@kritiper Yup. Was checking out comments on Fox News and there were comments about “God saving him” because “he’s the most important person walking this earth” and “he was anointed”.

Spinning this one up won’t be a tough pull or delicate proposition. For true believers— the unwashed Trump base, no evidence on the consequences of stupidity will suffice in dampening devotion to the clown. Trump himself will of course openly gloat on his superior ability to overpower the virus and minimize the disease to whatever extent possible.