Limits To Sympathy

 There is no current evidence that Trump is dying of Covid. He walked to Marine One under his own power and while that's not exactly the most rigorous test, it's important to note that he is not in imminent danger of dying. Still, it can be a tricky tonal piece for many of us in this moment. Biden, Harris, Obama and other elected and prominent Democrats have done the right thing and offered prayers and best wishes for Trump and his family. Biden probably even means it. Covid is a horrible, horrible way to die.

In a larger sense, however, Trump is so transparently culpable for this, it is hard to feel too much sympathy for him. Please read the piece by Jon Chait linked above. Trump and the Trump White House have gone out of their way to create conditions that make this worse. My wife has asked incredulously over the past six months of him attending rallies and not wearing a mask, "How does he not have it?" It turns out that it was just a matter of time. 

Moving Trump to Walter Reed has raised so many eyebrows, precisely because the Trump White House is unique in the pervasiveness and extensiveness of its lying. There really is no reason to believe anything they say. Perhaps being at Walter Reed will create a bit more transparency. The reality is both that Trump is likely to survive this, given the medical resources at his disposal and that he is at great risk of dying because of his age and overall poor health. Hell, if he really is an Adderall addict, he will likely go through withdrawals that will be brutal.

One of the snarkier takes on Twitter has been some variation of "I really hope he doesn't die, because then he can't go to jail." Frankly, his death would create yet another layer of chaos in an election rife with possible flashpoints. We already have terminally stupid Senator For The Moment Kelly Insider Trading Loeffler saying that China is trying to kill him. 

I hope he gets sick as shit. I hope he has some long term complications. But I don't hope he dies. I hope that he can somehow, for the first time in his life, feel empathy with the hundreds of thousands of people that his policies have consigned to death and lingering disability.