Trump, sick with COVID, has Americans confused by coronavirus message
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President Donald Trump returned to the White House after three days at Walter Reed. He removed his mask on the steps of the balcony.
USA TODAY
Analysis: Many Americans are torn between their emotions and their values, between retribution and reason.
It’s been four days since the world learned President Donald Trump contracted COVID-19, and many Americans still don’t know what to feel, who to trust and what exactly to hope for.
Despite coronavirus symptoms alarming enough that doctors administered oxygen and several rounds of aggressive treatment, Trump tweeted Monday, “Don’t be afraid of Covid. Don’t let it dominate your life.” He returned to the White House after spending three nights at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, though his doctor Sean Conley noted he’s not “out of the woods yet.”
Before entering the White House, where there is a growing COVID outbreak, Trump turned to face his helicopter and removed his mask on live TV. It’s unclear if he put it back on inside.
White House video: Trump downplays COVID
The spectrum of reactions in the days since Trump’s diagnosis reflect the complexity of the current moment. Fervent Trump supporters, many of them maskless, gathered over the weekend outside Walter Reed with balloons and bouquets. Some of Trump’s most notable ideological detractors wished him a speedy recovery, including former president Barack Obama and MSNBC host Rachel Maddow, a frequent Trump critic, tweeting that “This virus is horrific and merciless — no one would wish its wrath on anyone.”
But other users on social media argued the president has gotten what he deserved, gotten the suffering and existential uncertainty that some say his mishandling of the pandemic has wrought on far too many Americans. Yolanda Pierce, dean of Howard University’s divinity school, tweeted: “I will not perform false politeness in the presence of evil.”
Social media platforms issued warnings over the weekend reminding users they would be suspended for expressing hope for Trump’s death.
President Donald Trump reaches to remove his mask upon return to the White House from Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on October 5, 2020. (Photo: Win McNamee, Getty Images)
Yet what many Americans are feeling is much more nuanced than either sympathy or smugness. A human being, albeit a divisive one, has contracted a sometimes lethal virus that could take his life. He has contracted this virus one month out from a defining presidential election, an unrivaled October surprise. The course of Trump’s recovery, and the behaviors he exhibits during and after, may influence how the public views the COVID threat.
Many people are torn between their emotions and their values, between retribution and reason.
“This moment reflects the fact that we can feel multiple conflicting things at the same time and that’s very confusing,” said Vaile Wright, senior director of health care innovation at the American Psychological Association. “Regardless of how you feel about this particular president, nobody wants to be in this situation where not only are things uncertain, but they’re precariously uncertain.”
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Americans don’t know what to feel if they don’t know what to believe
Trump’s medical team has provided mixed messages on his health, with officials initially claiming the president had a “mild” case of COVID, and then failing to disclose the extent of his symptoms. Historically, presidents are not transparent about medical issues, said Barbara Perry, co-chair of the Presidential Oral History Program at the University of Virginia’s Miller Center.
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“This is the one presidential precedent that he’s followed,” she said. “Most presidents don’t want to be open about their illnesses for obvious reasons, and then especially when it’s within 30 days of the actual election.”
The Trump administration’s caginess may not be an anomaly, but it is adding to a climate of chaos and confusion.
A public opinion poll from Reuters/Ipsos published Sunday found more than 30% of respondents express doubts about Trump’s diagnosis. A recent Gallup poll found nearly 60% of respondents have little or no trust in the executive branch headed by Trump.
Trump’s diagnosis a productive suffering?
Feelings about the pandemic split sharply along partisan lines, and how Trump fares could have implications for how especially his supporters view the threat of the virus. If Trump comes through quickly and relatively unscathed, some wonder if it could bolster the myth it is not serious enough to avoid, further discouraging people from adhering to public health recommendations.
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Conversely, if Trump doesn’t bounce back right away, it could encourage skeptics to take the virus more seriously.
“Yes, it would be better if nobody suffered. But if Trump’s suffering is the way in which you dramatically reduce the total amount of suffering and death from the virus, then it’s not wrong to regard it as overall a good thing,” said Peter Singer, a moral philosopher and professor of bioethics at the Princeton University Center for Human Values.
Almost three-quarters of American adults say Trump didn’t take the risk of contracting COVID seriously, according to an ABC News/Ipsos poll released Sunday. Earlier this year, Trump said, “the coronavirus is very much under control,” and in February said cases were “going to be down to close to zero.”
More than 210,000 Americans have died from the virus.
Since the back-to-back announcements that Trump and his adviser Hope Hicks tested positive for coronavirus, at least a dozen other people who were in close contact with them have also been infected.
The ABC poll found that since Trump’s diagnosis, the percentage of Americans concerned they or someone they know will contact COVID increased from 72% to 81%. The amount who said they are very concerned jumped from 29% to 37%. The increases are mostly attributed to Republicans and independents, who saw an 18% and 13% increase in total concern, respectively.
For many Americans, a moral dilemma
Some people feel conflicted about Trump’s diagnosis because they believe he is at least partly culpable for the current crisis.
“I’m not a religious person, but if I were, I might say there’s a kind of divine retribution in the fact that somebody who has failed to protect Americans … should themselves actually get the disease and suffer from it,” Singer said. “That appeals to anyone’s retributive feelings.”
Psychologists say Trump’s diagnosis could feel a bit like the universe righting a wrong.
“There’s a normal level of wanting people to be held accountable for their actions, and in some ways I think that this feels to some people like maybe this can fill that space,” Wright said. “But I think some of us are being driven by our emotions right now, rather than our values. I think that the frustration and the fear, and the stress, it sort of overrides our cognitive ability to be reasonable.”
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Social media also offers people a place to air feelings that in the past would have been felt but not widely expressed.
“My mother was a lifelong Democrat and supporter of FDR,” Perry said. “Roosevelt died and she was so upset, but she got in her carpool that morning to go to work with her best friend from grade school, who became my godmother, which shows you my mother didn’t hold political grudges, and she told me, ‘I could tell Bernadine was happy.'”
Whatever you’re feeling, it’s valid
Experts say whatever you’re feeling about Trump, it’s OK.
“We should try not to judge ourselves too harshly,” Wright said. “There’s a lot going on right now.”
In a video recorded Sunday from his hospital, Trump insisted he finally understands the pandemic. He “gets it.”
And yet on Monday, the president told the public, “don’t let it dominate you” and “don’t be afraid of it,” and claimed he may have immunity to the deadly virus. That same day, the White House rejected an offer from the CDC to lead the effort to track down and notify Americans who were exposed to the growing outbreak linked to Trump and his top aides.
Trump appears to again be downplaying the threat, as public health experts have warned he’s done since the start.
“I think the best way to hold Trump accountable is in the coming election, and then it won’t be a kind of random thing about who gets the virus and who doesn’t, because good people get the virus as well as bad people. It will be a judgment of the majority of Americans,” Singer said. “That would be the most appropriate way to render a judgment on his presidency.”
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