Trump tests positive for coronavirus

[Jolene Benoir]

We're watching mania in real time -- he's ill with the virus, pumped full of steroids that have him high as a kite, heading towards the crisis of his illness (if he still needs his meds after the weekend, then that's seriously bad news for him) while he lives out his fantasy that all's well and he'll crush his enemies, just as he crushes the virus, which his personal survival will ensure, and on to win the election.

And we're watching it all, horrified, and knowing this is a man who may well have only days to live, but meanwhile is the President of the US, and there's an election going on, and the country is in the grips of a pandemic and an economic crisis.

Yes, but the kicker is that, it's not at all unfathomable that he would be saying the same things minus the illness, steroids etc.. Certainly over the past four years he has said things that are equally outrageous.

Is there nobody in his life or in the White House who has the balls to stand up to him and say, "You really should be in bed and off the phone"? How about Fox? He calls in and says outrageous things and they entertain it. The entire system has let his narcissist world become ours?

 

[Kara Spengler]

CPD: CPD Announces Second Presidential Debate Will Be Virtual

Campaigns Spar Over Debate Plan After Trump Rejects Virtual Face-Off (Published 2020)

The Trump campaign suggested new dates as Joe Biden made plans for a televised town hall. “American voters are the losers,” a member of the debate commission said.

www.nytimes.com

Well, erm, yes. And the moderator, the audience and the camera and sound crews.

Evernote link because paywall

So basically dumb don is mad they will not let him kill someone?

 

[Innula Zenovka]

Is there nobody in his life or in the White House who has the balls to stand up to him and say, "You really should be in bed and off the phone"? How about Fox? He calls in and says outrageous things and they entertain it. The entire system has let his narcissist world become ours?

According to Vanity Fair a couple of days ago,

According to sources, Don Jr. has told friends that he tried lobbying Ivanka Trump, Eric Trump, and Jared Kushner to convince the president that he needs to stop acting unstable. “Don Jr. has said he wants to stage an intervention, but Jared and Ivanka keep telling Trump how great he’s doing,” a source said. Don Jr. is said to be reluctant to confront his father alone. “Don said, ‘I’m not going to be the only one to tell him he’s acting crazy,’” the source added.

One area where the family seems united is over the president’s manic tweeting early Monday morning. After Trump sent out more than a dozen all-caps tweets, the Trump children told people they want Trump to stop. “They’re all worried. They’ve tried to get him to stop tweeting,” a source close to the family told me.

“Don Jr. Thinks Trump Is Acting Crazy”: The President’s COVID Joyride Has the Family Divided

The president’s recklessness at Walter Reed has Don Jr. pushing for an intervention, but Ivanka and Jared “keep telling Trump how great he’s doing,” a source says.

www.vanityfair.com

I imagine that, for those close to him -- whether family members or courtiers -- it's something like,

"he won't listen anyway, and he quite possibly won't see out the next two weeks, so do we want to have a blazing row with him about it, especially if he does eventually shake off the disease and remembers the row and retaliates?

"Anyway, he and Republicans are heading for disaster in the popular vote whatever happens, so let's simply try to keep him happy and contained in the White House as much as possible."

Many of them, I suspect, are hoping that he'll soon be back in hospital and they can invoke the 25th Amendment without anyone being able to question the decision.

 

[Kara Spengler]

I'm wondering how long it'll be before Pence admits he's positive. That goopy zombie eye of his was really creeping me out last night.

Yeah, I was watching David Pakman's stream last night and he noticed it too.

 

[Katheryne Helendale]

CPD: CPD Announces Second Presidential Debate Will Be Virtual

Campaigns Spar Over Debate Plan After Trump Rejects Virtual Face-Off (Published 2020)

The Trump campaign suggested new dates as Joe Biden made plans for a televised town hall. “American voters are the losers,” a member of the debate commission said.

www.nytimes.com

Well, erm, yes. And the moderator, the audience and the camera and sound crews.

Evernote link because paywall

Trump doesn't want a virtual debate because it deprives him the ability to talk over everyone.

 

[Aribeth Zelin]

Trump doesn't want a virtual debate because it deprives him the ability to talk over everyone.

More, it deprives him of another chance to try and infect his opponents and anyone who crosses him.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

Now I think about it, to my mind the debate isn't going happen next week.

Trump is currently on steroids, which explains why he's feeling so euphoric and ready for anything.

However, if he still needs steroids after the weekend, that's a sign he's in deep trouble, and he'll be in an ICU. If he doesn't, then he's going to come down his high with a hell of a crash.

 

[Sredni Eel]

It's about fucking time.

Pelosi questions Trump's health, says ‘we’re going to be talking about the 25th Amendment’

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi made a dramatic announcement during her weekly press conference Thursday by telling reporters that she intends to discuss the possibility of removing President Trump from office via the 25th Amendment, following questions regarding Trump's health as he recovers from...

www.foxnews.com

edit: Trump released a video of himself way out on the White House Lawn, as if he could walk all that way when he was relatively healthy. Clearly greenscreened, based on the artifacts clearly visible on his upper arms and the wonky lighting. Check it out.

 

[Sid]

His hair is moving in the wind though at some points. And there is a lot of hair detail in general.
I think it is really outside. And the man has golf carts, so....
He forgot his concertina though.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

 

[Innula Zenovka]

His hair is moving in the wind though at some points. And there is a lot of hair detail in general.
I think it is really outside. And the man has golf carts, so....
He forgot his concertina though.

The arguments in this thread seem to confirm your view, Sid

 

[Kara Spengler]

Trump doesn't want a virtual debate because it deprives him the ability to talk over everyone.

Which is one of the top two reasons everyone else wants it as well.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

 

[Innula Zenovka]

 

[Innula Zenovka]

 

[Veritable Quandry]

I have seen some other odd photos of Trump, but to me it looks like his photographer pool is probably from a fashion/modeling background instead of documentary/journalist training. They tend to use extremely narrow focus, which is what you use in fashion to make the model sharp against a blurred background, instead of stopping down and getting a large field of focus (I tend to shoot for landscapes, where you use the slowest f-stop and a tripod to get everything in the frame in focus). It tends to make the subject look dropped into the frame like that.

 

[Kara Spengler]

So basically he thinks donnie is an idiot on something.

 

[Jopsy Pendragon]

I have seen some other odd photos of Trump, but to me it looks like his photographer pool is probably from a fashion/modeling background instead of documentary/journalist training. They tend to use extremely narrow focus, which is what you use in fashion to make the model sharp against a blurred background, instead of stopping down and getting a large field of focus (I tend to shoot for landscapes, where you use the slowest f-stop and a tripod to get everything in the frame in focus). It tends to make the subject look dropped into the frame like that.

Kind of telling. Some presidents appear as part of their surroundings, engaged, involved, present. Trumps photos put everything but him out of focus because he's the only thing that matters to his presidency.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

 

[Veritable Quandry]

Kind of telling. Some presidents appear as part of their surroundings, engaged, involved, present. Trumps photos put everything but him out of focus because he's the only thing that matters to his presidency.

Here's a great comparison. Up first is the Obama situation room during the Bin Laden mission.

The entire room is focused to the monitor offscreen to the left. Obama is off center, and below the other people in the room, but clearly engaged. There are papers, coffee cups, and pens. This is in the middle of a situation. Everyone is in focus, even the people looking in from the doorway. Half the men in the room aren't wearing ties. Not all have suit jackets.

Next up, Trump photo from the Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi raid.

The wall behind Trump and the people in front of him are out of focus, making him look pasted in. The binders are closed, and the computers don't appear to be connected to the network cables. Everyone is looking at the camera. This is a posed photo with Trump centered. Suits and full uniforms on the all-male (and all ranking officials) grouping. These generals have likely been pulled away from the mission room for a quick, staged shoot.

Also worth noting that Obama had a single White House photographer for the majority of his time in the White House, and they got to know each other. From what I have read, Trump uses whatever photographer is available at the time.