Mr and Mrs Trump rest positive for Covid-19

[engineer_adrift]

I wonder if we can discuss this without vitriol?  I wonder what it means for the election, for governance over the next few weeks?  Will the 25th amendment come into play? 

Just when you thought this year could not get any crazier. ..,,

[Hegemony]

I think another big What If here is whether Biden caught it during the debate. There are so many ways this all could result in chaos, or I should say, even more chaos.

[financeguy]

I've seen a couple left wing outlets already bring up the possible major downside of saying the wrong thing about this. No matter what Trump's behavior leading to contracting the virus, it will only take one prominent lefty saying they're glad, he brought it on himself, etc. to cause a huge public backlash.

By the way, the answer to your question is undoubtedly "no."

[ergative]

Fivethirtyeight had a feature during the democratic primaries about what would happen if a candidate died after the nominating convention but before the election. Or even after the election! They were talking about it in the context of the leading candidates for both parties being elderly during a pandemic that disproportionately kills older people, and focusing on Biden rather than Trump--but of course the mechanics are the same for both nominees. Skip to 2.40 or so for the situation in which a candidate dies after being nominated but before the election (and then they move on to what if a candidate dies after the election.)

My reactions are as follows:

1. If Trump dies from this, who will Republicans put on the ballot? Pence? Pence is kind of a non-entity among the really enthusiastic Trump supporters. But on the other hand, he might win back the support of the Mitt Romneys who have decided to support Biden. Will that be enough to make a difference? Or if he gets really sick, it he might still be alive on election day (because Covid takes several weeks to kill you), but that would probably depress enthusiasm among his base.

2. Don't something like 20% of people not even show symptoms? Maybe he won't actually get sick at all.

[mamselle]

I do not wish anyone ill health or death. I hope they both recover, as I would hope that for anyone.

It struck me how, again, however, that parallels with Boris Johnson keep appearing.

M.

[writingprof]

I hope Trump and Biden don't die.  However, both Pence and Harris would be better alternatives, as I expect their debate to illustrate. 

[spork]

If Trump dies or is on a ventilator by election day, the national party committee selects Pence as Trump's replacement for the election.  The election proceeds using the existing ballots. Unbound GOP electors simply select Pence. Bound GOP electors either get some legal out to select Pence or there is a legal ruling that their votes for Trump in reality go to Pence. But none of this matters if Biden wins the electoral college. 

Whether Trump becomes symptomatic or not, infection gives him a psychological excuse for abandoning the pretense of competing in an election he is likely to lose. His campaign was interrupted through no fault of his own, if it wasn't for the China virus he would have won re-election.

[Ruralguy]

Since the ballots  would still say Trump, it would seem that everything could proceed as if he were alive, and then after the electors vote (assuming he wins, which is a huge assumption) , the 20th amendment  kicks in, and Pence is inaugurated.  Of course, the part would probably make some sort of statement completely backing Pence, though they would not be legally bound by any of this technically, until electors officially give results. Not federal law anyway.

[mahagonny]

I've seen a couple left wing outlets already bring up the possible major downside of saying the wrong thing about this. No matter what Trump's behavior leading to contracting the virus, it will only take one prominent lefty saying they're glad, he brought it on himself, etc. to cause a huge public backlash.

By the way, the answer to your question is undoubtedly "no."

I didn't want him to win, but I didn't want him get put out of business this way.

Watching FOX channel and Sean Hannity last night. He interviewed Trump remotely. It is absolutely true that Trump has disavowed KKK and white supremacy groups. He's on camera emphatically saying it.
Everyone should watch the news of the people they feel they don't with to see what the conversations are. We might be surprised.

[Ruralguy]

So long as he's healthy enough to talk and such, he'll probably do remote campaign events, etc. So, I doubt he's really totally out of commission unless he gets very sick.
Of course, he can't do anything live for at least two weeks, probably longer. If it looks like he's asymptomatic, then they probably will just delay events. If he starts to get sick, probably everything will be switched to completely remote for the rest of the election season.

[Caracal]

So long as he's healthy enough to talk and such, he'll probably do remote campaign events, etc. So, I doubt he's really totally out of commission unless he gets very sick.
Of course, he can't do anything live for at least two weeks, probably longer. If it looks like he's asymptomatic, then they probably will just delay events. If he starts to get sick, probably everything will be switched to completely remote for the rest of the election season.

Apparently he is symptomatic, but the report is that symptoms are cold like at the moment.

[writingprof]

It just occurs to me that a second debate is even less likely now.  Another small victory for COVID.

[Parasaurolophus]

He's not an especially healthy man, and clearly has co-morbidities. There's a good chance his illness will be fairly serious. And if I'm being honest, there's nothing but vitriol in my heart, thoughts, and prayers.

I think we can expect more whacko miracle cures tweeted out. We can expect him to bow out of the next debate, at the very least. And I expect calls to postpone the election to start getting very loud in some quarters in a week or so.

[ciao_yall]

No public appearances. His hair and makeup people can't get to him to foof him up until he is out of quarantine.

[Sun_Worshiper]

It will be interesting to see how the public takes it.  Will people become sympathetic and, if so, will his positives go up?  Or will they say something like "Trump didn't take the virus seriously and so it is his own fault"? 

In any case, it takes him out of the game for at least a few weeks, which may be good for him in a way (Trump's numbers usually go up when he stays out of the news) but also prevents him from kicking an already struggling campaign into higher gear.