The conspiracy theorizing about Trump's diagnosis has already begun

Early in the coronavirus pandemic, the wives of the prime ministers of Canada and Spain were diagnosed with COVID-19 in close succession. Their husbands were not, which raised the question of political "immunity": Would the public be told if a head of government was infected?

President Trump's COVID-19 diagnosis answers that question for Americans. Unfortunately, that won't keep this diagnosis from being a font of conspiracy theories and misinformation.

If Trump never becomes gravely ill — as is entirely possible — his supporters who already believe COVID-19 is a "hoax" or "mild flu" will see proof of their assumption in his experience. After all, Trump is 74 and has at least one comorbidity (obesity). If he can skate through this infection, pandemic truthers will reason, anyone can. Deaths can be discounted and masks discarded.

Subscribe to The Week

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

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

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

At the other end of the spectrum, critics of the president have already suggested he may be faking the diagnosis to win sympathy and easily "recover." Such a stunt, the conspiracy theorists say, would reinforce Trump's push to re-open the economy because the risk of further contagion is acceptably low. Faking the results would be a handy distraction from negative stories about Trump, diagnosis skeptics add, like his debate performance Tuesday and the exposé of his tax returns published Sunday.

Neither of these narratives holds up under scrutiny. Trump still could develop a serious case, and plenty of elderly people with comorbidities have escaped with relatively mild symptoms. The single data point of Trump's infection will prove nothing at all. And faking test results, besides requiring finesse and discretion not in evidence in this administration, doesn't fit with Trump's manly man narrative.

He'd be more likely to hide an infection, tweeting boasts of his immense immune system between racking coughs, than claim an illness he doesn't have.