Early in the morning of Friday, October 2nd, Donald Trump tweeted out that he and his wife tested positive for COVID-19. The announcement came after he tweeted that his advisor Hope Hicks tested positive for the virus as well. President Trump and the First Lady Melania have started self-quarantining in order to reduce the spread of the virus. Mark Meadows, the White House Chief of Staff stated that President was “feeling mild symptoms” and “energetic” when asked by reporters
The announcement brought harm to Trump's campaign as the president will no longer be able to travel for at least fourteen days. The Trump campaign has taken action by canceling events or moving them online in order for the candidate to still speak with his supporters. Trump’s campaign manager, Bill Stepien said, “all previously announced campaign events involving the President’s participation are in the process of being moved to virtual events or are being temporarily postponed.” Events involving the president’s family are also being temporarily postponed. The future events of Trump’s presidential campaign will be decided on a case by case basis, after he has finished quarantining.
On the bright side of the Trump campaign, Vice President Pence and his wife have tested negative for the virus. Democratic nominees for both president and vice president have tested negative, along with their families. All three can continue their campaign events. This opens the door for two weeks of uncontested campaigning by Biden.
The Commission on Presidential Debates still plans to move ahead with scheduled debates whether it is between the candidates for president or the candidates for vice president. The vice presidential debate at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City is still scheduled to happen in person next Tuesday. Jason Perry, the chairman of the debate screening committee at the University of Utah, said this about the vice presidential debate, “We are working closely with the Commission on Presidential Debates and with our health professionals to ensure the VP debate is safe for all participants. We are still moving forward.”
The future of Trump's campaign and the presidential debate may be different if Trump develops more dangerous symptoms. Will Trump's inability to travel and hold in person rallies give Biden any advantage or is the race to remain the same?
Washington Post - Live updates: Trump postponing campaign events after positive test; Biden tests negative for coronavirus
CNBC - Trump campaign events to be virtual or postponed after president tests positive for Covid-19
USA today - Trump's COVID-19 diagnosis postpones campaign events; Biden tests negative: live updates
13 comments:
I think the greatest impact a positive coronavirus test will have on President Trump's campaign is the media's reaction. The health of the US president is extremely newsworthy, and will thrust the subject of the pandemic, and how it is being/was handled, into the spotlight. Although coronavirus and its respective fallout are still very much at the top of voters' minds, Trump himself has repeatedly assured them that the end of the pandemic, and possibly a vaccine, would be just around the corner. Falling ill with the virus exacerbates an already worried public, and dampens the Trump campaign's optimism.
President Trump's positive coronavirus test raises a lot of questions for me. Is it real, or just a publicity stunt, where the media will inadvertently publicize and fuel his campaign? Will he get sympathy votes? If it is real, and something unfortunate happens, will Pence become the next president, or will Biden automatically win? I guess these next few weeks will be more critical than we ever could have expected.
Because Trump has consistently (and publicly, I might add) flouted basic safety and health guidelines and has been extremely extremely vocal in downplaying the severity and gravity of this pandemic, I have to say I’m not shocked that he managed to contract the virus. What troubles me is that despite knowing that Hope Hicks (who he has been in close contact with regularly) tested positive, he still went ahead and conducted a fundraiser in New Jersey, without enforcement of masks, putting everyone there at risk. Another issue is that it seems like those around Trump are so afraid of looking biased or being ridiculed by him that they ignore conclusive, scientific evidence or choose not to enforce safety policy—people won’t even protect themselves, at the bare minimum, out of stubbornness or fear, whatever it may be, because Trump has transformed the wearing of masks into a partisan issue. One of Trump’s most prominent criticisms thus far has been his handling of the pandemic, and one can only hope that this experience prompts him to treat the virus and its impacts seriously.
Building off of Josh, Varsha and Niyati’s points, I also believe that the media’s portrayal of the President’s recovery is crucial in the campaign setting. Throughout his campaign, President Trump has repeatedly deemphasized the severity of the virus, holding large, in-person events, such as rallies and fundraisers.
As Trump’s positive test was revealed early Friday morning, many questions have been raised concerning the condition of the President, as well as those he has been in contact with. Given the already extremely stressful circumstances many Americans face, many would likely expect the White House to be transparent in the actions they plan to take. However, in a briefing earlier this morning, Dr. Sean Conley delivered a confusing report that withheld critical details regarding Trump’s condition, dodging questions such as the last time the President had tested negative for Covid-19. This seemingly overly promising report contradicted that of “a source familiar with the president's health,” who stated that the "the President's vitals over the last 24 hours were very concerning, [and that] the next 48 hours [would] be critical in terms of his care” (Gringlas). Instead of providing honest information, the conflicting messages further the American people’s questioning of transparency from the White House, which I do believe will significantly impact the campaign.
https://www.npr.org/sections/latest-updates-trump-covid-19-results/2020/10/03/919869461/watch-live-white-house-doctor-briefs-on-president-trumps-condition
To build off of Joshua's point, the portrayal of President Trump's recovery on the media is already setting the tone for his campaign. For instance, each media source portrays this news in a starkly different light. For instance, while sources such as CNN describe President Trump in a critical condition and raise suspicions and concern on the truth of his current condition with reports (such as this: https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-news/trump-covid-19-updates-saturday/h_1c9184f87a369cbaf032f8d7c33e26bc) others such as Fox News describe his conditions as normal and constantly improving (such as this: https://www.foxnews.com/politics/president-trump-releases-update-says-hes-feeling-much-better-after-hospitalization). These examples illustrate how each media source is portraying Trump's condition differently. With the details of his recovery currently up in the air, a huge question is: How is the public taking this news and how does this effect his campaign? As Varsha stated, one must wonder: will he get sympathy votes? There are currently numerous questions that are waiting to be answered.
To build off of Joshua's point, the portrayal of President Trump's recovery on the media is already setting the tone for his campaign. For instance, each media source portrays this news in a starkly different light. For instance, while sources such as CNN describe President Trump in a critical condition and raise suspicions and concern on the truth of his current condition with reports (such as this: https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-news/trump-covid-19-updates-saturday/h_1c9184f87a369cbaf032f8d7c33e26bc) others such as Fox News describe his conditions as normal and constantly improving (such as this: https://www.foxnews.com/politics/president-trump-releases-update-says-hes-feeling-much-better-after-hospitalization). These examples illustrate how each media source is portraying Trump's condition differently. With the details of his recovery currently up in the air, a huge question is: How is the public taking this news and how does this effect his campaign? As Varsha stated, one must wonder: will he get sympathy votes? There are currently numerous questions that are waiting to be answered.
Looking back on this news now, as Trump appears to be on his way to a full recovery, I find Stepien's statement that “all previously announced campaign events involving the President’s participation are in the process of being moved to virtual events or are being temporarily postponed” interesting. Max has posed the issue of whether Trump's current state will impact his campaign, and Stepien's statement on its own would certainly make it seem as though Trump may be forced to take some hits to his campaign in order to protect the safety of his people. However, despite what Stepien said, Trump has since left the hospital briefly to wave at "well-wishers" and made a show of taking his mask off as he returned to the White House. While these may not be the big campaign events that Stepien was referencing in his statement, Trump has still be able to gain positive publicity that somehow still downplays the Coronavirus even while hospitalized. I noticed many of my classmate's responses hoped that the President would finally recognize the severity of the virus after his own contraction of it, and it is concerning to see that Trump has managed to find a way to play it off.
Here are a couple articles I looked at and referenced in my comment:
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2020/10/04/us/trump-vs-biden
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-walter-reed-discharge-mask/2020/10/05/91edbe9a-071a-11eb-859b-f9c27abe638d_story.html
Adding onto Joshua's point regarding media coverage, Trump's diagnosis posed a perfect distraction for everything else going on. In times like this, news changes quickly, often times forgetting to hone in on other important news topics. A week prior to Trumps announcement the NYT came out with an article claiming that Trump spent a total of $750 on income taxes, causing outrage across the US. However, it seemed that this news became water under the bridge once the COVID Rose Garden super spreader event came into public view. I also think it is interesting to note that Trump's rhetoric when addressing his symptoms and recovery were very similar to the false statements that he had been making in the past regarding death rates and other COVID topics. His recovery showed a lot of his supporters that it really "wasn't that bad" even though he failed to mention the fact that he received an experimental antibody drug that is not accessible to the public.
President Trump contacting the coronavirus may have some serious effects on his campaign. It is ironic that he tested positive for the virus after pointing out Biden was wearing one during the debate, while he and his wife purposefully went maskless. After the test, it seems that President Trump has remained positive and is updating his Twitter regularly, hoping to placate some of the worries his supporters might have about his capabilities. I believe that this may have implications on the trust of his voters, or the Republicans who support him, as they might have been blindsided by it before. The Democratic party may also try to exploit this situation to point out flaws in the way President Trump has handled the coronavirus.
President Trump's positive COVID test result did have several repercussions. It happened at a very convenient time, after a debate that went very poorly and didn't show very prominent outcomes for the nation's future.
This positive test could impact people and make them think that the disease is indeed a hoax, since president Trump presented himself as completely fine and that can make people think that it isn't a big deal since a 74 year old man didn't get affected very badly. People won't take into consideration how he is having the highest quality care that is available in the country, and this can lead to people taking even less precautions towards COVID since they don't see it as a real threat anymore.
It can also impact him poorly since he has been someone who has been advocating for hydroxychloroquine as a cure for COVID, even though he has not scientific evidence backing up his claim. This can make him come off as hypocritical since he still needed to go to the hospital even while taking the supposedly miracle drug. It can also reflect poorly on how he said that he was being safe, and that he was in under no risk of catching the disease.
While it can be argued that Trump contracting the virus will hurt his campaign, I have the feeling it will do the opposite. If he is able to recover quickly without any real complications, he will use himself as an example to show that the virus isn't a big deal. He and his supporters will say that even he, as a 70-year-old overweight man, he was able to easily recover from the virus. They will use this as the main argument for Democrats overplaying the virus and that states should begin to re-open. So while do see this as possibly hurting his campaign, at the same time I feel it will do more good than harm.
Post a Comment