For the first time, Trump faces the consequences of his actions
President Trump has COVID-19. It's hard to imagine someone who has asked for it more than him — he's held multiple in-person, indoor rallies, he's attempted to bully states into ending their containment efforts, he mocked Joe Biden for wearing a mask (and largely refused to wear one in public himself), and on and on.
This may be the first time Trump has ever experienced any kind of serious, obvious consequence for his actions. He successfully avoided hundreds of millions of dollars in estate taxes on a massive inheritance from his father. When he had almost squandered the entire thing on failed casino and real estate projects, NBC rescued him with The Apprentice. When the money from that was drying up, he made a ludicrous bid for the presidency, happened to draw an extraordinarily unpopular opponent, and squeaked out a victory on a razor-thin margin. He seems to have the devil's own luck.
However, Trump is after all just a human being. And while media executives and political parties can quietly bail out a comically inept businessman, the coronavirus will simply infect any available host. Given his age and weight, he now faces a significant chance of severe illness or even death.
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Hopefully he will start taking the pandemic more seriously. I wouldn't bet on it, though.
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Ryan Cooper is a national correspondent at TheWeek.com. His work has appeared in the Washington Monthly, The New Republic, and the Washington Post.
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