I'll never forget the moment that I heard that Donald Trump had Covid. And how although I'm an atheist, I prayed that it would be fatal.
And I'll always remember how bitterly disappointed I was that he didn't die.
How could the orange monster have survived? How could he shrug it off as nothing more than a bad cold?
When his age combined with his unhealthy lifestyle should have made him particularly vulnerable.
But now I realize that I should have prayed harder, for it turns out he was sicker than he acknowledged.
President Donald J. Trump was sicker with Covid-19 in October than publicly acknowledged at the time, with extremely depressed blood oxygen levels at one point and a lung problem associated with pneumonia caused by the coronavirus, according to four people familiar with his condition.
The people familiar with Mr. Trump’s health said he was found to have lung infiltrates, which occur when the lungs are inflamed and contain substances such as fluid or bacteria. Their presence, especially when a patient is exhibiting other symptoms, can be a sign of an acute case of the disease.
Mr. Trump’s blood oxygen level alone was cause for extreme concern, dipping into the 80s, according to the people familiar with his evaluation. The disease is considered severe when the blood oxygen level falls to the low 90s.
And he lied about it.
Made it seem like it was nothing, so he could claim he was like Superman.
President Trump considered staging his own Clark Kent moment as he exited last week from Walter Reed National Military Medical Center by ripping open a button-down to reveal a Superman T-shirt underneath, according to The New York Times.
And his White House doctors played along with it all, even though at times they looked like idiots.
In news conferences outside the hospital that weekend, Dr. Conley offered data that made it appear his patient was recovering quickly. He noted that Mr. Trump had fared well on a spirometry test, which measures lung capacity. “He’s maxing it out,” Dr. Conley said. “He’s doing great.”
Medical experts say a spirometry test is virtually meaningless with Covid-19 patients.
And even though Trump was sending out a fatal message:
Relax, Covid ain't that bad.
Even if you're gasping like a fish out of water.
Mr. Trump appeared to still be struggling with the disease when he returned to the White House, where he stationed himself on a balcony in a choreographed scene, tearing his mask off and saluting his helicopter. Doctors at the time noted how Mr. Trump used his neck muscles to help him breathe in those moments, a classic sign that someone’s lungs are not taking in enough oxygen.
It was madness. A depraved old man trying to pretend Covid is nothing, while hundreds of thousands of Americans dropped dead around him.
A recent report in the Lancet estimated that about 40% of those cases could have been prevented if Trump hadn't dismissed the threat, and discouraged action as the infection spread.
And of course had he died of Covid, there would have been no assault on the Capitol.
And the good news? Trump is not out of the woods yet. People who have had Covid can be hit by serious long-term effects.
Some of them fatal.
So like it or not, Trump could still end up sending a powerful public heath message...
If you don't take Covid seriously, it can and will kill you.
And wouldn't that be a happy ending?
11 comments:
If Trump has died of Covid, we may have had President Pence starting his first term in office. With Trump's demise in mid-October, the GOP would have had no choice but to run with Pence. Without anti-Trump sentiment driving record Dem turnout, the GOP may have been able to eke out another electoral college win, or at least got some states close enough to allow the Supreme Court to pull another Bush v Gore. Things could have turned out differently across the board with the Orange Dotard out of the picture.
I'm guessing that if trump had the same level of care as the average US citizen he would most certainly be full of embalming fluid now as opposed to fried chicken. However, his presidential health care plan helped him survive to wreak havoc another day and wreak havoc he did. Whether it was his super spreader events or his complete failure to simply urge his supporters to wear masks, he was in fact worse than the virus itself. One can only hope he is a covid long hauler who gets to experience the suffering he's brought on America. Poetic justice it would be and speaking of justice, the senate impeachment farce is now over and dark clouds are looming for Fat Donnie. The real world charges awaiting him are coming and they will hit like a ton of bricks. He will undoubtedly have Georgia on his mind, along with New York and the justice department. Except this time it wont be rigged.
JD
The bad karma collector-in-chief certainly dodged a fit Covid ending but all is not lost. There is still hope for an epitaph such as ; virtual zombies storm the Mar-a-Lago estate to offer up their virtual leader as a real sacrifice to the media gods. Karma is still a powerful force but rather than let nature run its course the new Cons seem to go out of their way to paint a picture of their fallen leaders triumphantly wandering off to spend more time with their family and being richly rewarded for acting as advisers to the next generation of Cons. I much prefer the ending where they die grovelling in a burnt out bunker but I guess they figured out political villainy needs the perception of being rewarded otherwise people would stop doing it. We really need lady liberty to smile when this sordid story ends.
RT
Now that Congress has thoroughly desecrated the impeachment clause, it will be interesting to see what the justice system does to this extreme low life. I'm more in the camp that it will be Mother Nature who takes care of this scourge. Long haul covid not out of the picture, a fiery temper, extremely poor diet and genetics will ensure he does not occupy the Oval Office ever again. Let nature take its course and take him out. BC Waterboy
So I wonder how things would look if the mob got hold of Pence on January 6. I wonder how the impeachment trial would have gone. Would the Kentucky gobbler McConnell and Carolina reaper Graham have been supporting the Cheeto now and declaring his impeachment as unconstitional?
Perhaps the Dems wanted to keep him in the running or they are just incompetent but the meme producing story they missed was Trump reveling in joy at the televised images of the crowd storming the capital building chanting hang Pence, his loyal servant for not grovelling before the masters feet in the final hour.
RT
Hi anon@8:53PM...I suppose it’s possible that had Trump died, his supporters would have come out to vote for Pence to keep Trump’s legacy alive. And I also suppose that progressives might not have been as motivated to vote against Pence as they would have been aganst the orange oaf. But Pence is such a fanatical SoCon he could have motivated a lot of progressives to try to make sure he would never be president..l
Hi JD....I might be able to forgive or forget a few of Trump’s many crimes, but the way he turned his back on a massive pandemic even though he himself got sick, is something that absolutely horrifies me. I can’t understand it and I never will. The look on his face as he removes his mask is the arrogance of fascism. It’s against my nature to wish death on anyone, but if Trump will not be punished by the courts, then let Covid punish him in some way. to make up for all the lives he helped end with his brutish ignorance...
Hi RT....if you put it that way, I too would rather see Trump in his bunker screaming into a phone “is America burning?” Or being dragged out of his Mar-A-Lago palace tn handcuffs. But I am willing to see him shrivel up like Citizen Kane in his lonely mausoleum. Keith Oberland wrote a piece in the Times the other day, and suggested it was time to forget Trump, but until I am assured that he is truly done, that I cannot do for his cult lives on and threatens his country as well as ours...l
Hi B.C. water boy....I share your view that Trump will be brought down by natural causes. His unhealthy lifestyle, the bitter disappointment of ending up a one-term loser, and his many court cases will probably sap what little energy he has left. I’ve been reading the comments at places like Breitbart, and his star is definitely fading. I just hope that he will stay alive long enough to help destroy the Republican Party. Some of his MAGA maggots are now talking about creating the Patriot Party, and of course I’m encouraging them as much as I can...😉
Hi anon@11:27 AM....I must admit that I felt for Pence when I saw those Trump terrorists screaming for his blood. May Godzilla forgive me. But if he had been attacked, and had the secret service been forced to open fire on the mob, it would have changed everything. It would have been an even darker show, and one that very well could have triggered a civil war.
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