The President is Not Well

While praying for his recovery, please complete your prayer: Dear God, I pray that Donald Trump fully recovers from the China virus so he can keep killing tens of thousands of people, separating innocent families, putting children in concentration camps, and forcing girls to bear the children of their rapists. Amen.

Eugene Rodriguez, teacher, classical guitarist, Facebook

I can't help but wonder how many 74-year-old men are sitting alone in small apartments right now, on day two of Tylenol Cold & Flu, hoping their cough isn't getting worse, looking in the bathroom mirror and trying not to worry. Maybe making late phone calls to progeny they love, just in case. "How's everything? No, nothing wrong...a little under the weather. No, not THAT...just allergies, maybe. Don't worry."

No phalanx of doctors, no supplemental oxygen, no Fox News, no experimental drugs. Maybe gasping by Wednesday or Thursday next, and gone for good by the weekend. The infected but asymptomatic candidates hold rallies and talk about opening schools and shoe stores, people head out to bars, and politically motivated preachers urge people to throw their masks away because Jesus never wore one.

I hate this, with all my heart, and I'm tired of the people who think this is about not living in fear, and someone else's problem. I don't know when we completely gave up on trying to be good.

Bob Bickford, novelist, father, expatriate, Facebook

But even the president of the United States

Sometimes must have to stand naked

Bob Dylan (quoted by someone on Twitter)

With echoes of Alexander Haig in 1981, I’m starting to imagine the headline: “Putin Says I’m in Control Here.”

Julian Zelizer, professor of history and public affairs, Princeton University, Twitter

Maybe it’s a flaw of Trump... he didn’t hide from the virus. The reason he didn’t hide from the virus is he didn’t want America to hide from the virus. If he was going to ask America to get back to work, right? To get back to work, and experience a risk, he was going to do the same thing, he was going to walk out there on that battlefield with you, and not sit somewhere in a basement and tell you how you have to get back to work, but not go out himself.

So I think he put himself on the line, and the flaw being that as an optimist, as somebody who is trying to convey a message that we are going to get through this, and things are going to be better, he had to walk that walk, he had to do that. He could’ve scared the crap out of everybody, but he refused—and it goes back to his original point about trying to make sure that the positive attitude is maintained, along with a sense of concern. So he took the risk, he got the virus, but he was doing it for us.

Greg Gutfeld, former lad magazine editor (Stuff, Maxim) on Fox's The Five

The horse is loose outside the hospital.

Benjamin Dreyer, author, grammar geek

I'm not worried about Biden winning. I'm worried about the next month and the next 4 months. I'll feel a lot safer when Trump is either dead or off the drugs.

Bruce Bauman, novelist, private correspondence

The men in white coats at Walter Reed. Vanity Fair's Gabriel Sherman reports that Don, Jr. is pushing for an intervention after Trump's unsanctioned joyride: “Don Jr. thinks Trump is acting crazy,” one of the sources told me. The stunt outraged medical experts, including an attending physician.

Saturday October 3

72 hours . The doctor at Walter Reed, a young or lightly botoxed prevaricator who by dodging the question about steroids confirmed that the patient is on steroids , said the patient was diagnosed 72 hours ago.

So that’s not Friday morning cos that’s 24 hours ago.

And Thursday morning is 48 hours ago.

But Wednesday morning Is 72 hours ago.

Gosh, that was the day after the debate.

Bless his heart. He soldiered on even when he was contagious.

Ohio, Minnesota , New Jersey.

I must not give into rage, rage feeds his rage .

Bless his heart.

Joan Juliet Buck, novelist, former editor French Vogue, Facebook

It’s been exactly seven weeks since I came down with #COVID19. I am no longer sick, still not at 100%, but getting there, slowly but surely.

I am half the president’s age, am a healthy weight, and was in excellent physical and cardiovascular shape going in.

Julia Ioffe, GQ contributor, Twitter

But did you try posing for photos where you sign random sheets of paper?

Matthew Yglesias, Vox, responding to Ioffe on Twitter

Ioffe, responding, Twitter

Alas. Nor did I get experimental treatments or voluntarily check myself into a hospital.

Aspiringtoshoshin, responding, Twitter

So would you describe your (pre)caution as meager or proportional? Because it clearly wasn’t “abundant.” /s

The GOP is a pathogen attacking this republic. It needs to die.

Yes, I tweeted this before going to bed last night. Metaphor, you giddy fucks. Metaphor. I want Donald Trump to live to lose this election, the Senate that shields his crimes, and eventually, after careful investigations all conclude, his fortune, if not his liberty.

David Simon, writer and producer "The Wire," former Baltimore Sun reporter, Twitter

Chris Christie says that people just need to get over the fact that some will have to die for the Trump administration's re-open targets to be met.

Now he checks himself into a hospital, whereas the Trump administration standards allow only the most serious cases to do so and indeed dozens of people died in the corridors of hospitals in futile efforts to get treatment. To call this hypocrisy is a gross understatement.

Scott Horton, lawyer, Harper’s contributor, author, Lords of Secrecy, Facebook

I realize that by celebrating every gratifying new notch carved by the ongoing Republican Covid revelations, I’m not just flirting with Karma but ravishing her beneath the staircase of my psyche. I’m sorry. I’m probably going to catch a KTD and deserve it. Noble Steve apologizes for Dark Steve.

Steve Erickson, novelist, Facebook

Amy Coney Barret's nomination celebration will go down in history as the gender reveal party that burned down the Republican party.

Frank Lesser, The Colbert Report, author of Sad Monsters, Twitter

850 Americans died of COVID-19 yesterday.

None got the special “antibody cocktail.”

Stephen King (well, Stephen King) Twitter

This evening was the closest I've ever come, I think, to understanding the helplessness that a battered woman feels. Trump was, as ever, shocking but not surprising. He pummeled Biden, outrageously. He showed himself to be the disgraceful lying bully that we know him to be.

As a man, I was hoping that Biden would land a haymaker and knock him out. I was disappointed that he didn't. But it's hard to score well — or at all — in a debate when your opponent is on an epic screeching rant. My wife walked out after twenty minutes, cursing Chris Wallace, who was battered as badly as Biden.

I can not imagine very many women watching this and saying: now there's a guy I want to spend time with. I cannot imagine Trump winning many votes as a result of this, although Biden didn't reassure wavering voters — the handful that exist — that he was savvy or strong.

I disagreed with Nancy Pelosi and those who said Biden shouldn't even debate this guy. They have a stronger case now (although I don't think Biden can stand down, at this point). This was a horrible night for our country.

Joe Klein, reporter, novelist, on the debate, Facebook

Believe nothing from this White House.

Connie Schultz, newspaper columnist, novelist, Twitter

Knocking’ On Heaven’s Door ::: Bob Dylan

Would You Believe It - I Have A Cold ::: Huey Piano Smith & The Clowns

TB Sheets ::: Van Morrison

Diamonds At Her Feet ::: Muddy Waters

Nobody’s Fault But Mine ::: Paul Butterfield’s Better Days

Barnyard Story ::: Procol Harum

Parasite ::: Nick Drake

See That My Grave Is Kept Clean ::: Lou Reed