No economic stimulus unless you reelect me, says Trump

Everything is political of course. That goes without saying. But Trump's latest move on the economy front is so political that it has left the Democrats gasping. What he has done is to say there will be no more negotiations with the Democrats (ie Nancy Pelosi, his bete noir) to stimulate the economy to keep pace with the rising pandemic until after the November 3 election. In other words, and here it is: Vote to reelect me in November and you will get your stimulus package, trillions of dollars to keep you all alive and in work. But until then you're on your own, and it's all the Democrats' fault. At this terrible time in world history millions and millions of people are depending on government help in order to keep businesses and jobs afloat. A few months or weeks of no help and it can have fatal consequences. So for Trump to say there may be no stimulus package until after the election is like saying to the American people, don't worry you will get your money but I need a favour in return: guarantee you will vote for me. That fiery lady Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Democratic Representative for New York's 14th congressional district, went ballistic. Trump appeared to relent a bit by saying he would approve certain stimulus cheques. Someone must have pointed out that rather than American citizens voting for him they might do the opposite in anger and desperation. Three and a half weeks left before the election and Trump is still convinced they he will be able to turn around what now seems almost Mission Impossible, replacing Joe Biden's double-digit poll lead with a grand slam Republican victory. I'm not saying it won't happen but if the president plays politics with a stimulus package that everyone in the nation needs right now, not in four weeks time, I would say he's going down the wrong path to victory.

Trump's bravado is understandable but dangerous

From the moment this coronavirus pandemic hit the world, Donald Trump adopted what can only be called a Lone Ranger take-em-all-on approach. He refused to be cowed by the virus. America is great, America doesn't get beaten by a virus sent by the Chinese. And above all the president of the United States will lead the charge to prove that all this fuss has to be pushed to one side in the hell-for-leather plan to make America great again, the greatest power on Earth. That's the Trump philosophy in a nutshell when it comes to Covid-19. Slowly, bit by bit he has been forced to acknowledge that the pandemic was actually pretty serious but the administration was doing everything in its power to meet the challenge. Now here we are, seven or eight months later and there are 210,000 Americans dead from the virus and the president himself sick with the virus but claiming that he's fine and dandy and ready to be reelected. All this bravado from Walter Reed medical centre is par for the course. In his view he cannot under any circumstances give the impression that the virus is so serious that it might even incapacitate him and prevent him from being the president. Never mind the appalling thought (his thinking) of allowing someone else to take over even for a few days, or hours while he recovers. No, sir. This president is made of better stuff, he will survive, he will endure, he will fight, he WILL be president for years to come. I actually can understand all that. When you are a big man physically, like Trump, and you depend for your very existence on a sort of super omniscient confidence, as he does, it would be fatal to even hint that he might be a touch fragile right now. Can you ever imagine Trump telling the nation: "Sorry, folks, this virus has got to me, I feel terrible, I'm going to take to my bed for several weeks and let Mike Pence take over the reins for a bit." No, of couse not. His supporters believe he is immortal. There was some Trump supporter sounding off outside Walter Reed yesterday, saying he would be prepared to die for the president. I noticed the TV cameraman never actually focused on or interviewed the Trump fan but his voice was so loud the camera crew couldn't shut him out. This is what Trump is up against. He has created this godlike persona and thus can never admit to weakness. But how dangerous is this? Not just for him but for his supporters and for the nation as a whole. He says, "don't be afraid of the virus, look at me I've had it and I'm feeling better than I have for 20 years. It's great!" Sorry, Mr President, that may well be fine for you and you may be trying to stir the nation to be super immortals but for lesser folk life is still scary and uncertain and unpredictable, and for the families of 210,000 dead Covid victims, bravado from the Top Man just doesn't cut it.

That masked wave from Trump. Sane or insane?

The masked wave from the president of the United States inside his bullet-proof, bomb-proof, chemical weapons attack-proof, tank shell-proof, rocket-propelled grenade-proof but NOT Covid-proof limousine could become the defining image of the drama that has hit and overwhelmed the Washington Establishment following Trump testing positive for coronavirus and his swift departure by helicopter to Walter Reed medical centre in Bethesda. Of course we know why he did it. Having being very much aware of the crowds of supporters hanging around outside the hospital, he will have grabbed his chief of staff, Mark Meadows, spotted later with his face in his hands, and ordered him to get his car out front so he could pay due respect to the lovely fans. His Secret Service detail will have gone spare. "No, Mr President, please Mr President, not a sensible idea, we'll take the bullet for you but not Covid. Think of your poor driver, Fred, he has a wife and 14 kids." Then there were the doctors who must surely have advised, "It's really not recommended, Mr President. On medical grounds we cannot advise it." But the joy of being president is that you can overrule everyone. Provided he is not actually putting himself in harm's way in which case the Secret Service could then legitimately and constitutionally veto, what he says has to be done has to be done. Unless it can be shown that he is mentally incapacitated. But if that was the case we would be in a totally different ball game altogether. So out he goes all huddled up by the window of his mighty armoured vehicle and does his waving routine much to the delight of his supporters. Of course the message he wanted to convey was that he was tickety-boo and absolutely fine and pretty well Covid-free. But he is not Covid-free. He is so stuffed with anti-Covid treatment drugs it's surprising he can get out of bed. If any of his Secret Service detail or the driver go down with the virus after his little jaunt, then the repercussions will be huge. It was a gamble not just for him but for everyone who went with him. No wonder one of the doctors not dealing with Trump was quoted as saying it was "insanity". So the answer to the headline above is: it was insane. But not remotely surprising.

Trump could be out of the woods

Doctors are generally cautious individuals, and Donald Trump's doctors have been cautious from the beginning while trying to reassure the American public that their president is doing well. Today there seems to be a genuine note of optimism that things are looking so good that he might even leave the Walter Reed medical centre tomorrow. Mark Meadows, White House chief of staff who has played a somewhat Machiavellian role in this whole drama, dismissed the multitude of reports in newspapers and on TV that he would have to hand over power to Mike Pence. Meadows said there was never any question of Trump handing over power to anyone. I assume he meant now rather than after the November 3 election. Meadows was the one who appeared to dispute the personal presidential doctor's medical bulletin that Trump was doing fine. Meadows told reporters in what was supposed to be an "unofficial source" briefing that Trump had actually been very ill with a rapid drop in his blood/oxygen level. It now seems that that was correct because the doctor, Sean Conley, admitted in a question and answer session outside Walter Reed today that the president had had a problem with the so-called blood saturation level until it was corrected. Anyway, Trump's health crisis could be over quicker than anticipated, although this is what happened to Boris. All the signs looked good until he suddenly deteriorated and was put on oxygen for several days. Boris has never really been his true bouncy self ever since. Anyway, if we are to believe Trump's medical team, the president will soon be back campaigning. But presumably not at mass rallies with no one wearing masks. Surely those days are over. The next four weeks before the election are going to be more subdued. Right now, according to the latest poll, Biden is ten points ahead of Trump. That's a big margin. It's going to be fascinating to see how a recovering Trump faces up to that challege and tries to reverse it. It may be too late.

How ill is Trump?

Today has seen a mass of questions about Trump's health. The overall verdict from his personal doctor is that he is doing well and all his vital organs are functioning appropriately. But for obvious reasons it's in the country's interest for a positive spin to be put on the president's health. There were suggestions that he had needed an infusion of oxygen but then it was denied. He had not been put on oxygen. In Covid cases that include trouble with breathing it is quite normal for a patient to be fed oxygen. This is not the same as being put on a ventilator. That is a much more serious treatment. Boris Johnson's health deteriorated when he was taken to hospital after catching coronavirus annd was put on oxygen. The doctors at Walter Reed medical centre in Bethesda on the outskirts of Washington are giving so much to Trump right now that it wouldn't surprise me in the least if they decided, as a precaution, to feed him oxygen. It won't do him any harm. As it is they are stuffing him with every imaginable anti-virus drug, some of them still experimental which I would have thought has its risks. They have mentioned Remdesivir, another drug produced by the company Regeneron, zinc, aspirin and Vitamin D. All of which will make him even more lethargic. I'm sure they know what they're doing. Precisely when Trump got the virus is still not clear. What is clear is that a lot of people who have spent close time with the president in recent days are going down with the virus. None of them were wearing masks. Dr Anthony Fauci, the chief virus expert for the White House, will be going mad. He has been trying to get everyone to wear masks for months. Especially Trump. The one big surprise at the moment is that Trump has gone quiet. No tweeting, apart from one 20 minutes ago praising the dpctors and nurses. Have the doctors restricted his use of his phone to keep his heartbeat level? A silent Trump is not a good sign of his state of health. November 3 is exactly one month away!

Two of the five weeks left before November 3 Trump will be in self-isolation

These are truly unprecedented times. The president of the United States in quarantine for coronavirus. Even his worst enemy would wish him well and a full recovery if he actually goes down with the virus symptoms. It's crucial for a number of stupendously important reasons. The November presidential election has to be seen in the US and around the world as a fair and fully democratic event. Whoever wins, wins but in the right way and in accordance wiith the US constitution. Trump will continue to govern and campaign from inside the White House and will no doubt, as Boris Johnson did, get a sympathy vote as a consequence. But it would be bad for the democratic process if the next two TV debates are cancelled. OK the first one was disgraceful but I can't believe that either Trump or Biden believe it would be a good idea to repeat the slanging match in the next two debates. They need to be seen to be responsible grown-ups who can speek their minds without showing disrespect for each other. Trump interrupted Biden on far more occasions but Biden resorted to abuse just as much as Trump did. The pandemic has now taken a hold of the White House which is both alarming and frightening. All sorts of questions have yet to be answered. But most importantly Trump and his wife need to come out of the quarantine healthy and virus-free so that the election can go ahead as required by the constitution. And if he loses, he has to leave the White House as the rules dictate and allow Biden to become president on January 20 2021.

Trump says Joe Biden is too weak to run the country

The first presidential TV debate between Trump and Biden was neither presidential nor entertaining nor watchable nor, hopefully, repeatable in the planned next two confrontations. They say the rules are going to be changed, but unless the moderator is allowed to put sticking plaster over Trump's mouth I can't see how a rule change will stop Trump from interrupting when and how he likes. Still, my theme for today is not the disgraceful set-to between the two men hoping to lead the US in the next four years but Trump's comment at a rally in Minnesota the following day in front of adoring, yes adoring, supporters. He said Joe Biden was too weak to be leader of the United States. His adoring crowd seemed to share his view. The fact is that Biden does not come across as a toughie. He is not a brawler like Trump, he's not rude and bad-mouthing. His strongest line when trying to get a word in edgeways during the TV debate was:"Shut up man." But it was said in an exasperated way, not an angry way. He didn't shout it. He just said it in a slightly diffident way. It was more of an appeal to the moderator than a direct order to the president to shut his mouth. Perhaps if he had bellowed "Shut the f... up" he might have got somewhere. But this is Joe Biden, Mr Decent Guy. So is Trump right? Is Biden just too nice and weak to lead the United States of America? Some author once wrote that to be president of the USA you have to look like the president of the USA. I don't think there's a stereotype persona for the job but I think there is something in that. If you don't look the part in America, you won't be any good. It's more Hollywood than politics. But this is America. It's why Al Gore never made it and Ros Perot and Spirow Agnew for heaven's sake. Trump's supporters think he looks the part, big fella, long arms down by his side, oversized suit, big mouth, big hairstyle, orange face, all the ingredients you need to stand head and shoulders above everyone else. Biden, by contrast, looks and sounds mild. He couldn't drown out Trump on Tuesday night because Trump was louder and more insulting and more in everyone's face, especially Biden's. According to Trump you can't run the most powerful nation on Earth by sounding meek and mild. Oh my God, he might be right!