Patient Zero
THE PRESIDENT STOOD TRIUMPHANT ON THE WHITE HOUSE balcony, having persuaded his doctors to submit to his will. He had spent his days at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center pushing them to let him out, medical advice be damned. Donald Trump tore off his mask and seemed to gasp for breath, but he would not be deterred from delivering his message.
“Don’t let it dominate; don’t let it take over your lives,” he said, biting off each word. No one must think the virus had defeated him.
His supporters reveled in his return. A Congressman crowed that Trump had beaten the virus just like he beat the Russia investigation and the Democrats’ impeachment. His press secretary—who announced her own case of COVID-19 earlier that day—hailed his ability to “stand strongly on the balcony!” A Senator tweeted a doctored video showing Trump at a wrestling match, punching a man with a coronavirus sphere for a head. The Republicans understand the way Trump likes to be praised; even facing a crisis with life-or-death stakes, they
