Despite Trump's high-stakes 'Trump defeats COVID' gamble, 'the virus is now in charge of the campaign'
When President Trump was helicoptered to the hospital with COVID-19 on Friday, "some of his campaign advisers saw a potential opportunity," Maggie Haberman and Annie Karni report at The New York Times. If Trump recovered quickly "and then appeared sympathetic to the public in how he talked about his own experience and that of millions of other Americans, he could have something of a political reset" for his flagging campaign.
Instead, the Times notes, he told people not to fear the deadly virus, returned to the White House while still contagious, started selling "Donald J. Trump Defeats COVID" commemorative coins, and "framed the virus as something akin to a weekend at a spa."
Trump's theatrical hospital check-out and White House balcony scene "won him the TV news clip he's been dreaming of from his hospital bed," Sudeep Reddy and Myah Ward write at Politico, and what happens next is flushed with "Trumpian-level suspense." But Trump and his aides "know the virus is now in charge of the campaign," they add:
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Whatever happens with Trump's health and campaign, Politico says, "it's largely out of his hands now."
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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.
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