Trump's strategy of COVID denial is defeated by COVID
![President Trump and Mike Pence.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/PoWMqhaDMuGajU2Rc7eHEa-415-80.jpg)
Through last spring, Donald Trump was all over the map on COVID-19. First he moved to restrict travel from China to halt the spread of the virus. Then he downplayed the danger while knowing the risks full well. Then he relented and treated it seriously for several weeks. Finally, growing impatient and worried about the consequences of the pandemic on the economy and his prospects for re-election, he made a fateful decision. From mid-May on, the message from the White House has been constant and clear: The worst is over, it's time to open things up, let's get back to normal.
That was the authentically Trumpian response. As Andrew Sullivan writes in his weekly column, Trump "has spent years at war with reality: living in delusions, perpetuating fantasies, imagining hoaxes, constructing conspiracies, accruing debt, rewriting history constantly as self-serving myth." No wonder he thought he could will away the virus, too. But of course, the belief that one can remake the world in order to conform to one's needs and hopes is what children do. As Sullivan also notes, "at some point, reality was going to get personal in return."
And so it has — with Trump himself coming down with COVID-19 right as he heads into the final month of the presidential campaign. But not only him. Republicans throughout Washington and across the country have followed the president's lead, refusing to wear masks, mocking those who do, throwing parties, going to public events. This includes the large, maskless event held at the White House last weekend to announce the president's nomination of Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court. That may well be where Fr. John Jenkins, president of the University of Notre Dame, picked up the virus, along with Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), and possibly many others.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
![https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516-320-80.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.
But that was nearly a week ago. Since then, Trump traveled to Cleveland for the presidential debate on Tuesday, then to Minnesota for a rally on Wednesday, and finally to an indoor fundraiser in New Jersey on Thursday — the last of these after presidential adviser Hope Hicks had already tested positive. Trump himself tested positive later that night. As Jeff Greenfield put it in a tweet Friday morning, "the fact that Trump and Company knew of Hicks' condition and just pressed on with their plans is almost unfathomable, until you realize how much they had invested in downplaying the pandemic."
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
Damon Linker is a senior correspondent at TheWeek.com. He is also a former contributing editor at The New Republic and the author of The Theocons and The Religious Test.
-
Paraguay's dangerous dalliance with cryptocurrency
Under The Radar Overheating Paraguayans are pushing back over power outages caused by illegal miners
By Chas Newkey-Burden, The Week UK Published
-
The Week contest: Tattoo prediction
Puzzles and Quizzes
By The Week US Published
-
Escape seaside in Newport, Rhode Island
The Week Recommends For the quintessential New England experience, head to the Classic Coast
By Catherine Garcia, The Week US Published
-
ICJ ruling: will 'damning verdict' stop Netanyahu?
Talking Point The UN's top court has ruled Israel's occupation of Palestinian territories breaks international law
By Sorcha Bradley, The Week UK Published
-
How Biden's enablers may have delayed his bowing out
Talking Points Joe Biden's inner circle faces calls for a reckoning for allegedly shielding the president — and the public — from questions of aging and electoral viability
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
The Democrats 'resigned to a second Trump presidency'
Talking Points Did the assassination attempt end Biden's election chances?
By Joel Mathis, The Week US Published
-
Venezuela election: first vote in a decade offers hope to poverty-stricken nation
The Explainer Nicolás Maduro agreed to 'free and fair' vote but poor polling and threat of prosecution pushes disputed leader to desperate methods
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
How could J.D. Vance impact the special relationship?
Today's Big Question Trump's hawkish pick for VP said UK is the first 'truly Islamist country' with a nuclear weapon
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
Are down-ticket Democrats doomed?
Talking Points President Joe Biden's refusal to step back from his reelection campaign has some local Democrats wondering if their own races are in trouble — but not everyone is worried
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Biden, Trump urge calm after assassination attempt
Speed Reads A 20-year-old gunman grazed Trump's ear and fatally shot a rally attendee on Saturday
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
The Tamils stranded on 'secretive' British island in Indian Ocean
Under the Radar Migrants 'unlawfully detained' since 2021 shipwreck on UK-controlled Diego Garcia, site of important US military base
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published