4 plausible election scenarios after Trump's coronavirus diagnosis

What happens next?

President Trump.
(Image credit: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

When the president announced early this morning that he and first lady Melania Trump tested positive for the coronavirus, it immediately introduced the first real uncertainty into the 2020 election in months. A race that has been stubbornly stable since former Vice President Joe Biden opened up a lead in the high single-digits in June, immune to public health upheaval and economic calamity and widespread unrest, will now get its biggest test yet of the "nothing matters" theory of the 2020 election. While no one can say for certain what effect this unsettling bombshell will have on the race, we can think now through different possible scenarios and where they might lead us.

1. Trump falls seriously ill and cannot campaign.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
David Faris

David Faris is an associate professor of political science at Roosevelt University and the author of It's Time to Fight Dirty: How Democrats Can Build a Lasting Majority in American Politics. He is a frequent contributor to Informed Comment, and his work has appeared in the Chicago Sun-Times, The Christian Science Monitor, and Indy Week.