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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

to not believe Trump has Covid?

397 replies

GeorgeDavidson · 02/10/2020 09:05

Well, MN, does he or doesn't he?

YANBU - no, he doesn't have it
YABU - yes he probably does, why would they lie?

Is this just some ploy to miss next debates and make him look 'tough' when he sails through it without getting ill?

OP posts:
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GeorgeDavidson · 02/10/2020 11:20

'Mr. Pence will appoint a new Vice President. He's much nicer than Trump,'

Do you think that because Trump has set the bar so low? He's a homophobic bigot and has built a career on that.

OP posts:
Mittens030869 · 02/10/2020 11:21

@Notfeelinggreattoday

I take your point about BoJo going into hospital at an earlier stage than Jo Public. I suspect that there were also concerns that he might die alone in the upstairs flat of 11 Downing Street if he were to deteriorate rapidly, which does happen with this virus.

For me, it was galling simply because I was very ill at the time, as were a lot of other people, and had a torrid time trying to get help through NHS 111.

Wheresthebeach · 02/10/2020 11:21

So I gather from the announcement wording that they aren't showing symptoms?

SchadenfreudePersonified · 02/10/2020 11:21

die and leave his children (and one is just 14) orphans

they're sadly on the bones of their backsides, are they?

And do you think he's much of a hands-on father (well, he is with Ivanka, I suppose . . . )?

Heffalooomia · 02/10/2020 11:22

Everything about him is fake

DameFanny · 02/10/2020 11:25

@CitizenFame

I don’t know but I wouldn’t like to speculate on someone’s health. The last time I did that on a forum it ended up with the person dying.
Speculate, please Grin
Mittens030869 · 02/10/2020 11:26

@Wheresthebeach

They're apparently not showing symptoms yet (though there are suggestions that this isn't the case with Melania), but that's because he was tested very early, before symptoms began to show. Trump is 74 and medically obese, so he is potentially at risk of more serious illness, like Boris Johnson was.

SchadenfreudePersonified · 02/10/2020 11:26

When he greets Melania after the Debate he gives her such a cold response. Wonder if one or other of them already knew they had it at that point..

She loathes him. Just watch her body language every time you see them together.

And he doesn't give a monkey's about her. If he could afford to dump her, he would.

SunbathingDragon · 02/10/2020 11:27

@TastelessBracelets

He'll get out of some of the electioneering work now won't he.

And on the off chance he does have it, I bet his wife doesn't but they have to say she has otherwise it'll look like she's not been within 2 metres of him.

If they both really tested positive at the same time, then they both caught it off somebody else a few days ago. No need for Melania to have been anywhere near him.

I would hope they are telling the truth and have it. I despise him and disagree with almost everything I have heard him say, but I hope he recovers (although ideally stays out of politics and the public eye from now).

PerveenMistry · 02/10/2020 11:27

@cooperage

My instinct is that he hasn't got it. He's getting desperate and as Trump always does, he'll try any tactic to win.

In this case the sympathy vote, combined with the "told you it was just a sniffle (for strong white men like me)" when he reappears having magically shrugged it off.

Yep.
Shakespearsister · 02/10/2020 11:28

Is this an extension of the Boris is lying about having Covid thread ?.

SunbathingDragon · 02/10/2020 11:29

@Wheresthebeach

So I gather from the announcement wording that they aren't showing symptoms?
Agreed but covid has a habit of being mild/manageably moderate, looking as if it’s going away and then coming back with a vengeance and causing hospital admission around the 10th or so day. Trump has to be high risk purely on his age and weight, let alone any underlying health conditions. How he feels right now isn’t necessarily how he will feel in a fortnight.
DameFanny · 02/10/2020 11:30

"Slightly off topic but I do like Melania's answer in an interview if asked if she would be with him if he wasn't rich: 'Would he be with me if I wasn't beautiful?'"

Yebbut she stole that too - it's Marilyn Monroe's clinching argument in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes

LadyCatStark · 02/10/2020 11:31

I’m not sure. I don’t think he’s self-aware enough to realise that he did badly in the debate. I’m sure it was the greatest debate that ever there was in his mind.

safariboot · 02/10/2020 11:33

I think he's got it. And I hope for America's sake he gets seriously ill. If Trump gets a mild case, he's incapable of understanding that his experience is universal. He's also the sort to make a value judgement on those who got severe cases or died, he'll say they were "weak".

Trump thinks he won the debate and in a way I agree with him. Trump looked bad but he always does and his fanbase don't care. Trump made Biden look just as bad and Biden's base and the swing voters do care. Biden wrestled with a pig.

turnitonagain · 02/10/2020 11:33

@RafaIsTheKingOfClay

I think he probably does. While it would benefit him to miss the debates he has big issues with illness being a sign of weakness. I don’t think he has enough insight to realise why missing the debate is a good idea and admitting to having the virus would be a step to far. He could have said he had to quarantine because he’d been in contact with hope hicks and that would have got him out of the debate.

If he doesn’t have it I doubt he’ll be able to keep the pretence up for long.

Agree with this. He doesn’t have empathy for people who are sick and suffering so I doubt he would imagine the public will have any for him.

They were going to have to be in quarantine no matter what so I think they’ve announced it before it leaks.

BlusteryShowers · 02/10/2020 11:34

I do believe it simply because I criticise others for the pervasive conspiracy theorising of the post truth era.

I'm no Trump supporter, but I don't think it's dignified to wish ill health on the head of state of our allies.

Hingeandbracket · 02/10/2020 11:34

What would happen if both Trump and Biden died of covid before the election?

VeganCow · 02/10/2020 11:35

@thepeopleversuswork

I'm sure he does.

It's not in his interests to say he has it if he doesn't. He's spent most of the last six months telling people it's just flu and he's meant to be the world's strongest man so it shoots a hole in his story.

Also he'll be out of action in a best case scenario for a fortnight when he's meant to be on the campaign trail.

agree
SunbathingDragon · 02/10/2020 11:36

@BlusteryShowers

I do believe it simply because I criticise others for the pervasive conspiracy theorising of the post truth era.

I'm no Trump supporter, but I don't think it's dignified to wish ill health on the head of state of our allies.

Agreed.
Witchend · 02/10/2020 11:40

@Mittens030869

There's no way it benefits Trump to lie about having COVID. His whole handling of the pandemic has been a disaster, so the last thing he would want is for the spotlight to come back on it.

It just shows such bad judgement on his part, especially his cavalier attitude to mask wearing and havoc rallies indoors.

I think it does benefit him.

If he's showing badly at live debates, it benefits him by not being allowed to be there, so he can say "I would have been there but was doing my duty by not being there" rather than "actually we thought my representative would do a better job"

It will get him sympathy votes. "Oh the poor president, he worked so hard, it wasn't his fault."

If he has it apparently mildly it gives him cause for saying "see I was right, it's only a mild illness, we don't need to take measures"
Or
"I'm so strong and healthy of course I had it mildly. Anyone as healthist as me is fine."

He'll blame others rather than his own judgement and his followers will lap it up.

And that's before you get him blaming China for deliberately effecting him to derail the election, etc.

I notice he hasn't volunteered to be on the testing for injecting disinfectant.

nosswith · 02/10/2020 11:42

I don't think it is a ploy, but it probably helps his chances of re-election, either from sympathy or of having to avoid scrutiny.

TheEC · 02/10/2020 11:43

I think he has it but I wouldn’t say he has no reason to lie

turnitonagain · 02/10/2020 11:49

If he's showing badly at live debates, it benefits him by not being allowed to be there, so he can say "I would have been there but was doing my duty by not being there" rather than "actually we thought my representative would do a better job"

But he’s out of the next debate regardless because he has to quarantine for 14 days due to close contact.

I also am quite sure he thinks he did great in the debate.

EternalOptimist7 · 02/10/2020 11:51

DD11 came into the kitchen & said “ Good news - Trump’s got Covid! That’ll pay him back for all those people he didn’t help”. Out of the mouths of babes.....I wouldn’t wish it on anyone but maybe karma has paid a call here