Andrew Bolt: coronavirus might not kill Donald Trump, but his campaign might not survive
US President Donald Trump played a mask-less game with coronavirus and lost. His bravado prevented him from being cautious and it has derailed his campaign, but there’s a way he can come back from this, writes Andrew Bolt.
Andrew Bolt
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Donald Trump bet against the virus and lost, big time, in the White House Map Room.
There he was, huddled with about eight mask-less advisors, to prep for last Wednesday’s debate against Joe Biden.
And by Thursday, the first began to cough.
Now more than half those in that room are sick.
Note that, as gloating news reports abuse Trump for having held outdoor rallies with hundreds of mask-less supporters, or for having sneered at Biden for wearing a mask even when “speaking 200 feet away” from anyone.
Note it, too, as you watch footage of Victorian police wrestling a maskless woman to the sand at Altona Beach on a glorious spring day.
See, Trump was right. This is basically an indoor disease.
But, boy, Trump was wrong not to remember that at his prep sessions, which former governor Chris Christie said were done without masks.
Now at least five of the nine people in that Map Room are sick — Trump, Christie, campaign manager Bill Stepien, and White House officials Hope Hicks and Kellyanne Conway.
The danger was so obvious, given how many people each one in the room must meet, that you have to wonder why Trump risked everything by not insisting on masks, despite their limited effectiveness.
It’s not just that his age (74), gender and obesity put him in among the highest risk categories for this virus.
But the price of getting sick was exactly what we now see: the media jeering at Trump getting a virus he once played down; enemies falsely blaming him for 200,000 virus deaths in the US; and a campaign derailed.
What a strange character he must have.
Bravado above caution, confidence above discretion.
Still, he wouldn’t have crashed through and achieved so much if that wasn’t the kind of alpha male he is.
But now he must pay. This virus may not kill Trump — he said on Saturday he was “feeling fine” — but it’s probably killed his campaign.
Or has it? By yet again hijacking the spotlight, Trump could just possibly pull off another election miracle, but only if he recovers fast and walks out of hospital as the Man They Could Not Kill, saying: I told you not to panic about this virus.
A very long shot, I know.
And the virus may yet have the last word.