The CBC actually published an article saying that COVID seems to be targeting right-wing politicians. “Those who dislike them will see the hand of karma at work.” This is in the realm of serious WTF.
Besides being medically unsound, COVID-19 doesn’t “zero-in” on anyone as far as I am aware, the article is in the worst of taste.
This is the text – I still had the page open (pls delete if not allowed).
—————————————————————————————-
In a world with about 200 national leaders of every stripe and ideology, the COVID-19 virus has zeroed in uncannily on one group: the new breed of right-wing populists.
It was true in Europe, where in addition to Boris Johnson’s near brush with death, the virus also struck former Italian leader Silvio Berlusconi, a giant of European right-wing populism who, in many ways, was Donald Trump before Donald Trump.
And it has been true in the Americas, where — along with the president of the United States — four other leaders have acquired the infection: Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil, Juan Orlando Hernandez of Honduras, Alejandro Giammattei of Guatemala, and Jeanine Áñez of Bolivia. (One could add Luis Abinader of the Dominican Republic, although he was sworn in after overcoming the disease during his election campaign.)
All five of those presidents are right-wing populists who present themselves as law-and-order leaders — but are accused by their opponents of autocratic tendencies.
The virus has also hit cabinet members in the governments of President of the Philippines Rodrigo Duterte, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Dictators have been afflicted as well — including Alexander Lukashenko of Belarus, who described the pandemic as a “psychosis” and recommended treating the virus with vodka.
Left-wing and centrist politicians have been hit, including the Socialist deputy prime minister of Spain — but even there, the virus first reared its head in the far-right populist Vox Party, whose secretary-general tested positive in early March. Vox has spearheaded anti-lockdown protests in the country.
Honduran humility
The leaders have reacted differently to their COVID experiences, both as patients and as politicians. And their supporters also have reacted differently to their illnesses.
Some COVID-struck politicians have emerged with something like a newfound air of humility.
“Many think this is a game and it is not until they see a relative who gets sick, or when they get sick themselves, that they understand the seriousness of this issue,” Honduras’s Hernandez said after emerging from hospital in July. “I tell you, the truth is I don’t wish this on anyone.”
“I thought about what would happen if I could not be with my family anymore,” he added — wearing a mask as he admonished the Honduran people to take responsibility as individuals. “COVID has come to change our lives.”
Braggadocio from Bolsonaro
At the other end of the spectrum, Brazil’s Bolsonaro confronted his diagnosis with his typical bravado. He had little choice, having frequently dismissed COVID as a gripezinha or “little flu” and said that “as an athlete” he would suffer only a mild case.
When he and his wife did become sick in July, he announced that he would treat himself with the controversial drug hydroxychloroquine promoted by Trump, and soon made a full recovery.
But COVID did not put a dent in Bolsonaro’s aggressive and confrontational style. Six weeks ago he told assembled journalists that “when it gets one of you wimps (bundaos), your chance of surviving is quite a bit lower.”
But unlike his near-fatal stabbing during the 2018 presidential election campaign, Bolsonaro’s COVID experience did not boost his popularity in a country that has lost nearly 150,000 people to the disease.
Trump of the tropics
Bolsonaro is similar to Trump in many ways in that he draws more support from men than from women, more votes from evangelicals and people without higher education, and runs up his biggest vote margins in some of the country’s more forgotten regions.
Brazil is, if anything, more polarized politically than even the United States. Brazilians mostly reacted to their president’s diagnosis along those partisan lines.
Bolsonaro’s popularity has gone up more recently; about half of the country now approves of his government’s performance.
But a deeper dive into those polls suggests that the sudden rise in approval ratings was linked to the unprecedented generosity of the social programs set up to deal with the economic fallout of COVID in the period after Bolsonaro’s recovery, and did not coincide with his illness and recovery in July.
“It’s the 600 reales ($144CDN a month) in the pocket that’s popular, not Bolsonaro,” wrote Brazilian political analyst Thomas Traumann in Veja.
Those benefits will be short-lived, however.
“The approval of the government will fall gradually as the benefits are cut from 600 to 300 reales, and then drastically as millions are left with nothing” by the end of the year, Traumann predicted.
Meanwhile, COVID continues to kill nearly a thousand Brazilians a day.
How voters see it
Looking around the world’s democracies, it appears that voters judge the illnesses of their politicians by three different yardsticks.
The first and strongest is their pre-existing ideological affinity. Those who sympathize with Bolsonaro or Trump will express condolences and regret that others are “politicizing” a health matter. Those who dislike them will see the hand of karma at work.
But for those who are open to changing their views, gestures of post-COVID empathy, humility and greater understanding can soften hearts — gestures such as the one Boris Johnson delivered when he expressed his thanks to two nurses, “Jenny from New Zealand” and “Luis from Portugal.”
“It could have gone either way,” he said, looking chastened.
The third factor appears to be whether voters see the illness as a matter of bad luck — or the consequence of bad behaviour.
Johnson was widely criticized for his country’s slow and inefficient response to COVID, which led to it becoming the world’s epicentre for a time.
World leaders who have tested positive for the coronavirus
But unlike Trump, Johnson did not invest his own political capital in minimizing the disease, nor did he ever encourage the flouting of public health rules and guidelines, much less throw his support behind anti-mask and anti-lockdown movements.
Trump has done all of those things, repeatedly, and continued to do them right up to his own diagnosis.
Double standards of care
But none of the other leaders who have contracted COVID have done so with an election looming. Most were close to the start of their terms of office. Johnson had been in office just nine months, and Bolsonaro 18. Giammattei and Anez were just a few months in when they fell ill.
Trump is just one month away from an election in which over a million votes have already been cast. Even if he were asymptomatic (he’s not), his quarantine period would eat up half of the remaining campaign time.
It also seems highly likely that infections will continue to rock his entourage, his cabinet and perhaps his family. He attended a fundraiser in a private home in Minneapolis after aide Hope Hicks had already tested positive. It is not unlikely that other people — donors, rally attendees, Secret Service agents or staffers — will become sick and trace their illness back to contact with him.
The president may yet make a full recovery and return with a loud “told-you-so.” But the timeframe suggests it will be difficult for him to do that before voting day.
Some more equal than others
And things could get worse for Trump politically now that he has been moved to Walter Reed Army Hospital.
Bolsonaro never set foot in a hospital during his convalescence. Johnson, on the other hand, was in an intensive care unit. But the fact that he was treated in the country’s NHS public health system, like any other Englishman, saved him from allegations that he was compounding his COVID incompetence with hypocrisy and special treatment.
Should Trump now receive gold-plated medical care at taxpayer expense, while trying to strip public health care from millions of Americans who actually pay those taxes (unlike Trump himself, reportedly), that could create a very different impression.
And Trump’s treatment will be scrutinized for how it compares to what other Americans are receiving — and how it squares with his own previous statements.
A note issued by Trump’s personal physician on Friday listed the medications the president is taking. Notably missing from the list is hydroxychloroquine, a drug he frequently promoted to others as a miracle cure for COVID but which the FDA has warned is dangerous.
Needless to say, “disinfectant” and “sunlight” are also not part of the treatment plan. Other Americans who followed the president’s advice have had reasons to regret it.
At Walter Reed, Trump can count on the best medical attention in the world. But it’s difficult to imagine how that would help him with any American voter who has lost a family member, a friend, or a job to the ravages of COVID-19.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Evan Dyer
Senior Reporter
Evan Dyer has been a journalist with CBC for 18 years, after an early career as a freelancer in Argentina. He works in the Parliamentary Bureau and can be reached at evan.dyer@cbc.ca.
CBC’s Journalistic Standards and Practices|About CBC News
I suspect right wing politicians are simply more honest.
Thanks for the article. Here’s the problem with your link. Somehow, you’ve appended two non-printable HTML characters: %C2, the  character (a latin capital letter A with circumflex), followed by %A0, which is a non-breakable space character. The addition of these characters into your link, which you could not see, rendered your link non-resolvable.
Thanks. Not sure that happened!
“…his quarantine period would eat up half of the remaining campaign time.”
So he’ll still be campaigning more than Sundown Joe!
It’s Evan Dyer. Anyone who’s seen this twit knows what a complete fuck-head he is.
That makes him a typical CBC wonk and propagandist
cgh, yep.
I hope the Senate goes ahead with its hearings on the CBC on why it still gets funding when nobody watches it anymore.
Cheburashka, “the article is in the worst taste” Seriously? You expect “taste” from those newswhores?
Well done, Cheburaska. Yet again, more reason to defund the CBC.
Right wingnuts that socially behave like the Great Orange Buffoon with his stupid violating of the common sense COVID precautions are at greater risk of getting COVID. The CBC, for all their faults, are just stating the obvious. You morons need to give your collective heads a shake, FFS.
But that isn’t what the article says, is it? It actually says the opposite when it refers to Johnson.
You’re trying to get blocked, aren’t you?
@ DanBC:
No, certainly not, this site is far too entertaining. But from now on, I will reframe from using insulting terms unless I am smeared first.
kanuk, just stand in front of the mirror when verbally wanking off, smear done, self applied
Trump is going to win in November.
Except he wasn’t violating common sense Wuhan virus precautions. No doubt you think that masks are the answer. Masks are talismans for the weak minded. Which is why the Netherlands has said that instead of masks cutting down the infection rate, they can actually increase it. Which might be the reason why we are seeing spikes now.
“Talismans for the weak minded”, I like that. Yesterday I was in the local large grocery emporium, and there were about a hundred people in total including staff. Including myself, I counted four people not covered in a putrid germ filled mask. Sure the staff are told to, but the rest are idiots. I even remarked to a middle aged non masked female, “gee, I’m glad I’m not the only one without a mask” her reply,
“yeah, they’re all sheep with tiny minds, eh”.
Right on Gerry – My mask speaks for me! Today it says “THIS IS BULL$HIT BUT I NEED STUFF!
The vendors all (ALL) say yeah, I like your mask but I have to wear it to work here.
The population is not sold on masks!
The Center for Disease Control has stated the same thing with regards to masks and other Nonpharmaceutical Measures. Not that you will see any reporting of such from the State Broadcaster or Constant Trudeau Vision. Gotta keep the Sheeple stupid, doncha know.
You know, the one where Ontario university applicants from NB immediately have their marks reduced by 25 percent.
A true 75 percenter.
Of course, NB is lauded for its “inclusive” education system.
Good chance he’s one of the “included”.
Shame he’s denigrating a whole province with his inanities, but at least he’s smart enough not to use his real name.
Assuming he knows it.
@ achilles:
Ouch, clever retort.
” . . . the common sense COVID precautions . . . ”
. . . are the same this year as they were last year, and the year before, and the year before, and . . .
Of course they are.
If God is with Donald Trump, no Chinese bio-terror agent can be against him. He’ll be right as rain in a week.
I’m more concerned—much more—that his enemies will try to assassinate him in hospital.
Can the president count on the loyalty of the entire staff of Walter Reed?
How do we know we can?
In addition how do we know his contacting the CCP virus was not an assassination attempt? Never the less he will be back to make the Liberals cry again, with a landslide 2020 victory.
You don’t really believe that God is less capable of protecting DJT from his enemies at Walter Ried than He is the chicoms, do you SG?
My first thought when I heard it…is there a chicom agent getting a hero’s welcome in China.
The Leader is a Superman! No China Virus can harm The Leader!
Waiting for Jim Acosta’s reaction that its all lies. Followed by China’s Hollywood demanding to know when he is going to die so they can celebrate.
Doc just said Trump was diagnosed positive “72 hours ago”?
CNN will soon report Trump’s doctors claimed they’ve cured the common cold.
Trump makes a full recovery, radical leftists already formulating self-infection for sympathy, sensing the ground breaking away?
Meanwhile the EU moves to a cashless economy and quietly plans for perpetual bonds, where the principal is never repaid.
According to Martin Armstrong, who senses a giant covid takeover with Demarxists signed on for cashless globalist nirvanannuities.
As he said, they’ll simply spend what they get, which is never what they say it will be, and then break the bank with borowing.
And true to form every time, blame us for being too greedy, or lazy or not socialist. Joe’s party? Sucker play all the way.
He’s arguing the neo-regals now pursue that model of despotic governance onto climate change lockdowns with a UN carbon tax.
Apparently this guy is legendary; he must be because aside from Michael Campbell on the radio, you pay for his thoughts.
At the very least we are watching the same movie, but it’s turning into a horror flick. Progressivism – taxation, inflation, war.
The Head Doctor had more patience that I would have had. Stupid reporters trying and trying to get ” has he been in oxygen” question multiple times, Dont they have ears? The Doctor said NO, he never was and doesnt need it!
Most ignorant question. – Why is he at Walter Reed? The Doctor shot back – Because he is the President of the United States.
No doubt in his mind – he thought to add – dumbass!!
God Bless President Trump and keep him well. The First Lady also!
The media is a group of cynical, holier than thou con artists, looking to play wordsmith with anything anybody says. They dissect the most innocent of phrases and word combinations, to stretch the limits of believability beyond the actual truth.
Hyperbole, Exaggeration, and Propaganda, is the business of the MSM
Actually, this has since been confirmed by White House – Trump WAS on oxygen at WH prior to being transferred to Walter Reed.
Dr. Conley’s repeated, convoluted wording of Trump not being on O2 “currently” was the obvious giveaway that he was trying to hide something. The real question is, why even try to mislead the public? Simply saying “The President was briefly given some supplemental oxygen as a precaution on Friday, but he no longer requires it now” would’ve been truthful and straightforward. Instead, it’s another blow to the administration’s credibility, another self-inflicted wound from Trump’s merry band of amateurs.
Sean, if you don’t bate the hook, the fish won’t bite. Saying nothing, in today’s world , with lying press, is best option
Of course right-wing politicians catch Covid. They’re mixing with people all the time. It’s part of being a good leader. They don’t hide. On the other hand, has anyone tabulated the Covid cases among the Antifa/BLM rioters? I bet there have been many.
Wait, did Doc just say that it’s been ***72 hours*** since Trump was diagnosed positive?
The hacks did not like the answers they got. Sure enough, they quickly invented an anonymous source willing to say what they wanted to hear.
“The president’s vitals over the last 24 hours were very concerning and the next 48 hours will be critical in terms of his care,” they claimed this phantom said. “We’re still not on a clear path to a full recovery.”
Of course he is—unless that’s a coded message for an assassination attempt by an agent in Walter Reed in that time frame.
Nurses LaQuisha, Juanita and Aisha have their orders, I’m sure. I hope the Secret Service are watching them.
I believe this is the actual “quote” from yet another unnamed “official:”
“Twenty-four hours ago, there was real concern about the President’s vitals,” the official said. “For the past 12 hours, there has been zero concern. Early indications are for an extremely good prognosis – but the next 48 hours will be critical.”
Here’s more:
“At the press conference, Dr. Sean Dooley said that cardiac, kidney and liver functions are all normal, that Trump is not on oxygen and is not having any difficulty breathing or walking. He quoted Trump as saying: “I feel like I could walk out of here today.” Separately, Dr. Brian Garibaldi described Trump as being in “such great spirits.” The doctors also said Trump had been fever-free for 24 hours, and that symptoms of a nasal cough and fatigue had all “resolved.” However, they did not give a date for when Trump may leave the center.”
As usual, we have to fact check the mediocracy since they are fine with lies by omission and spin to change meanings of words.
If POTUS had contracted covid when Bojo did, I’d have been worried. Hard to believe it was in April. Has the media been in a coma for 6 months; effective therapies have emerged, maybe not cures or panaceas, but successful, never the less.
The media has been in a coma since 2015, or even before that possibly.
Our own immune systems appear to be the best therapy, as we have a 99.8% recovery rate.
All non-smokers. (Giammattei quit (ironically) for health reasons). Q.E.D.
It appears that Trump was taken off of the hydroxychloroquine. I think his doctors were intimidated and caved.
He may have been symptomatic during the first debate.
Well this sure proves that CBC needs to go…Defund CBC and stop sending out Taxpayers hard earned money to this Junk FAKE Media named CBC. GO TRUMP GO…GO TRUMP 2020!!
Now everyone can show their support! –
Mad Liberals
@mad_liberals
In support of our dear President and his battle to beat COVID, let’s all put up orange lights on our homes until the end of the month showing how much we love him. Orange gourds on our doorsteps can also be used. Hollow them out and put lights inside.
I am convinced that Dementia-Joe spends most of his daily hours sleeping in a hyperbaric chamber … like Michael Jackson. Speaking of supplemental oxygen.
Meanwhile … here in N.CA … the wife and I have to wear industrial respirators outside where the multiple arson fires burning have clogged the skies with a constant shower of ash. Speaking of unhealthy oxygen levels. Thanks Gavin. It’s “global warming” … right?
The number of people actively cheering for his death is just staggering to me. Of course, these are the same people with CNN updates hitting their phone every 30 seconds and watching that s#!tshow of a station for five hours a night, so I shouldn’t be surprised.
Mollie Hemingway sums it up perfectly…
**This is the worst possible media at the worst possible time to be covering an unfolding event with massive implications. They could not be more ill-suited to the moment. Their behavior over the last four years by itself has been unconscionable. Now? Nightmare scenario.**
It’s not REporting, it’s RAGEporting.
(I just made that up)
Most powerful man in the most powerful nation the world has ever seen gets the best available medical care.
The story will become about his hypocrisy for not getting treatment equivalent to the Schwarzenegger up-stairs medical clinic and bail bonds in Compton.
I hope he is back doing virtual fundraisers and tweeting his fingers to the bone while Biden ‘puts a lid on it’ every morning after his gruel.
BTW did you notice Biden is no longer wearing his giant mask when he speaks. Just a regular blue one.
you can bet that trailer trash on the view were ecstatic when they heard the news about Trump
Doctor: He has a cough, he has a fever, but he’s not on oxygen.
Press: So you’re saying he’s on oxygen.
Actually:
Doctor: He has a cough, he has a fever, but he’s not on oxygen CURRENTLY.
Press: So you’re saying he WAS on oxygen earlier?
Doctor: He’s not on oxygen CURRENTLY.
Press: Right, but was he on oxygen earlier?
Doctor: He’s not on oxygen CURRENTLY.
Press: We understand that. Our follow-up question, based on your stiff and contrived wording to the original question, is whether he was on oxygen earlier.
Doctor: He’s not on oxygen CURRENTLY.
Press: [Sigh]
[A short while latter…]
White House: The President was indeed on oxygen earlier on Friday.
I swear it’s like the Trumpists drop down half a dozen grade levels in English language comprehension when it’s anything related to Dear Leader.
You want to be a jerk, Andrew, we can go a round or two.
You’re the one addled by irrational hatred and rigid ideology, so don’t bother projecting your failings on others.
Plain language seems beyond you.
Imagine if they were that dogged about getting the truth out of Joe Biden.
Trump doing well?
Allan S – hardest hit.
mhb23re
Latest update
President Trump releases update, says he’s feeling ‘much better’ after hospitalization
I doubt Trump has very much say in his treatment. The Presidency is an institutional part of the US and any weakness or frailty will be pounced on by US enemies. I expect he was having breathing issues and the WH staff said “Put this on”. He has food tasters, you know. At some point, the institution takes over.
The hard left is divided between those who want to believe President Trump is dying, and the doctors are covering it up, and those who think he is faking the whole thing to get the sympathy vote.
There may be those irrational enough to believe both.
The CBC actually published an article saying that COVID seems to be targeting right-wing politicians. “Those who dislike them will see the hand of karma at work.” This is in the realm of serious WTF.
Besides being medically unsound, COVID-19 doesn’t “zero-in” on anyone as far as I am aware, the article is in the worst of taste.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/trump-covid-diagnosis-bolsonaro-johnson-americas-populism-1.5748871
It 404s right now. Did they take it down?
This is the text – I still had the page open (pls delete if not allowed).
—————————————————————————————-
In a world with about 200 national leaders of every stripe and ideology, the COVID-19 virus has zeroed in uncannily on one group: the new breed of right-wing populists.
It was true in Europe, where in addition to Boris Johnson’s near brush with death, the virus also struck former Italian leader Silvio Berlusconi, a giant of European right-wing populism who, in many ways, was Donald Trump before Donald Trump.
And it has been true in the Americas, where — along with the president of the United States — four other leaders have acquired the infection: Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil, Juan Orlando Hernandez of Honduras, Alejandro Giammattei of Guatemala, and Jeanine Áñez of Bolivia. (One could add Luis Abinader of the Dominican Republic, although he was sworn in after overcoming the disease during his election campaign.)
All five of those presidents are right-wing populists who present themselves as law-and-order leaders — but are accused by their opponents of autocratic tendencies.
The virus has also hit cabinet members in the governments of President of the Philippines Rodrigo Duterte, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Dictators have been afflicted as well — including Alexander Lukashenko of Belarus, who described the pandemic as a “psychosis” and recommended treating the virus with vodka.
Left-wing and centrist politicians have been hit, including the Socialist deputy prime minister of Spain — but even there, the virus first reared its head in the far-right populist Vox Party, whose secretary-general tested positive in early March. Vox has spearheaded anti-lockdown protests in the country.
Honduran humility
The leaders have reacted differently to their COVID experiences, both as patients and as politicians. And their supporters also have reacted differently to their illnesses.
Some COVID-struck politicians have emerged with something like a newfound air of humility.
“Many think this is a game and it is not until they see a relative who gets sick, or when they get sick themselves, that they understand the seriousness of this issue,” Honduras’s Hernandez said after emerging from hospital in July. “I tell you, the truth is I don’t wish this on anyone.”
“I thought about what would happen if I could not be with my family anymore,” he added — wearing a mask as he admonished the Honduran people to take responsibility as individuals. “COVID has come to change our lives.”
Braggadocio from Bolsonaro
At the other end of the spectrum, Brazil’s Bolsonaro confronted his diagnosis with his typical bravado. He had little choice, having frequently dismissed COVID as a gripezinha or “little flu” and said that “as an athlete” he would suffer only a mild case.
When he and his wife did become sick in July, he announced that he would treat himself with the controversial drug hydroxychloroquine promoted by Trump, and soon made a full recovery.
But COVID did not put a dent in Bolsonaro’s aggressive and confrontational style. Six weeks ago he told assembled journalists that “when it gets one of you wimps (bundaos), your chance of surviving is quite a bit lower.”
But unlike his near-fatal stabbing during the 2018 presidential election campaign, Bolsonaro’s COVID experience did not boost his popularity in a country that has lost nearly 150,000 people to the disease.
Trump of the tropics
Bolsonaro is similar to Trump in many ways in that he draws more support from men than from women, more votes from evangelicals and people without higher education, and runs up his biggest vote margins in some of the country’s more forgotten regions.
Brazil is, if anything, more polarized politically than even the United States. Brazilians mostly reacted to their president’s diagnosis along those partisan lines.
Bolsonaro’s popularity has gone up more recently; about half of the country now approves of his government’s performance.
But a deeper dive into those polls suggests that the sudden rise in approval ratings was linked to the unprecedented generosity of the social programs set up to deal with the economic fallout of COVID in the period after Bolsonaro’s recovery, and did not coincide with his illness and recovery in July.
“It’s the 600 reales ($144CDN a month) in the pocket that’s popular, not Bolsonaro,” wrote Brazilian political analyst Thomas Traumann in Veja.
Those benefits will be short-lived, however.
“The approval of the government will fall gradually as the benefits are cut from 600 to 300 reales, and then drastically as millions are left with nothing” by the end of the year, Traumann predicted.
Meanwhile, COVID continues to kill nearly a thousand Brazilians a day.
How voters see it
Looking around the world’s democracies, it appears that voters judge the illnesses of their politicians by three different yardsticks.
The first and strongest is their pre-existing ideological affinity. Those who sympathize with Bolsonaro or Trump will express condolences and regret that others are “politicizing” a health matter. Those who dislike them will see the hand of karma at work.
But for those who are open to changing their views, gestures of post-COVID empathy, humility and greater understanding can soften hearts — gestures such as the one Boris Johnson delivered when he expressed his thanks to two nurses, “Jenny from New Zealand” and “Luis from Portugal.”
“It could have gone either way,” he said, looking chastened.
The third factor appears to be whether voters see the illness as a matter of bad luck — or the consequence of bad behaviour.
Johnson was widely criticized for his country’s slow and inefficient response to COVID, which led to it becoming the world’s epicentre for a time.
World leaders who have tested positive for the coronavirus
But unlike Trump, Johnson did not invest his own political capital in minimizing the disease, nor did he ever encourage the flouting of public health rules and guidelines, much less throw his support behind anti-mask and anti-lockdown movements.
Trump has done all of those things, repeatedly, and continued to do them right up to his own diagnosis.
Double standards of care
But none of the other leaders who have contracted COVID have done so with an election looming. Most were close to the start of their terms of office. Johnson had been in office just nine months, and Bolsonaro 18. Giammattei and Anez were just a few months in when they fell ill.
Trump is just one month away from an election in which over a million votes have already been cast. Even if he were asymptomatic (he’s not), his quarantine period would eat up half of the remaining campaign time.
It also seems highly likely that infections will continue to rock his entourage, his cabinet and perhaps his family. He attended a fundraiser in a private home in Minneapolis after aide Hope Hicks had already tested positive. It is not unlikely that other people — donors, rally attendees, Secret Service agents or staffers — will become sick and trace their illness back to contact with him.
The president may yet make a full recovery and return with a loud “told-you-so.” But the timeframe suggests it will be difficult for him to do that before voting day.
Some more equal than others
And things could get worse for Trump politically now that he has been moved to Walter Reed Army Hospital.
Bolsonaro never set foot in a hospital during his convalescence. Johnson, on the other hand, was in an intensive care unit. But the fact that he was treated in the country’s NHS public health system, like any other Englishman, saved him from allegations that he was compounding his COVID incompetence with hypocrisy and special treatment.
Should Trump now receive gold-plated medical care at taxpayer expense, while trying to strip public health care from millions of Americans who actually pay those taxes (unlike Trump himself, reportedly), that could create a very different impression.
And Trump’s treatment will be scrutinized for how it compares to what other Americans are receiving — and how it squares with his own previous statements.
A note issued by Trump’s personal physician on Friday listed the medications the president is taking. Notably missing from the list is hydroxychloroquine, a drug he frequently promoted to others as a miracle cure for COVID but which the FDA has warned is dangerous.
Needless to say, “disinfectant” and “sunlight” are also not part of the treatment plan. Other Americans who followed the president’s advice have had reasons to regret it.
At Walter Reed, Trump can count on the best medical attention in the world. But it’s difficult to imagine how that would help him with any American voter who has lost a family member, a friend, or a job to the ravages of COVID-19.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Evan Dyer
Senior Reporter
Evan Dyer has been a journalist with CBC for 18 years, after an early career as a freelancer in Argentina. He works in the Parliamentary Bureau and can be reached at evan.dyer@cbc.ca.
CBC’s Journalistic Standards and Practices|About CBC News
I suspect right wing politicians are simply more honest.
Thanks for the article. Here’s the problem with your link. Somehow, you’ve appended two non-printable HTML characters: %C2, the  character (a latin capital letter A with circumflex), followed by %A0, which is a non-breakable space character. The addition of these characters into your link, which you could not see, rendered your link non-resolvable.
Thanks. Not sure that happened!
“…his quarantine period would eat up half of the remaining campaign time.”
So he’ll still be campaigning more than Sundown Joe!
And like clockwork here’s proof of this…
https://twitter.com/CalebJHull/status/1312539729141719040
So all the homosexual socialists at the CBC are safe, I suppose.
It’s still up.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/trump-covid-diagnosis-bolsonaro-johnson-americas-populism-1.5748871
It’s Evan Dyer. Anyone who’s seen this twit knows what a complete fuck-head he is.
That makes him a typical CBC wonk and propagandist
cgh, yep.
I hope the Senate goes ahead with its hearings on the CBC on why it still gets funding when nobody watches it anymore.
Cheburashka, “the article is in the worst taste” Seriously? You expect “taste” from those newswhores?
Well done, Cheburaska. Yet again, more reason to defund the CBC.
Right wingnuts that socially behave like the Great Orange Buffoon with his stupid violating of the common sense COVID precautions are at greater risk of getting COVID. The CBC, for all their faults, are just stating the obvious. You morons need to give your collective heads a shake, FFS.
But that isn’t what the article says, is it? It actually says the opposite when it refers to Johnson.
You’re trying to get blocked, aren’t you?
@ DanBC:
No, certainly not, this site is far too entertaining. But from now on, I will reframe from using insulting terms unless I am smeared first.
kanuk, just stand in front of the mirror when verbally wanking off, smear done, self applied
Trump is going to win in November.
Except he wasn’t violating common sense Wuhan virus precautions. No doubt you think that masks are the answer. Masks are talismans for the weak minded. Which is why the Netherlands has said that instead of masks cutting down the infection rate, they can actually increase it. Which might be the reason why we are seeing spikes now.
“Talismans for the weak minded”, I like that. Yesterday I was in the local large grocery emporium, and there were about a hundred people in total including staff. Including myself, I counted four people not covered in a putrid germ filled mask. Sure the staff are told to, but the rest are idiots. I even remarked to a middle aged non masked female, “gee, I’m glad I’m not the only one without a mask” her reply,
“yeah, they’re all sheep with tiny minds, eh”.
Right on Gerry – My mask speaks for me! Today it says “THIS IS BULL$HIT BUT I NEED STUFF!
The vendors all (ALL) say yeah, I like your mask but I have to wear it to work here.
The population is not sold on masks!
The Center for Disease Control has stated the same thing with regards to masks and other Nonpharmaceutical Measures. Not that you will see any reporting of such from the State Broadcaster or Constant Trudeau Vision. Gotta keep the Sheeple stupid, doncha know.
https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/26/5/19-0994_article
Does the NB stand for No Brains?
He’s showcasing his New Brunswick education.
You know, the one where Ontario university applicants from NB immediately have their marks reduced by 25 percent.
A true 75 percenter.
Of course, NB is lauded for its “inclusive” education system.
Good chance he’s one of the “included”.
Shame he’s denigrating a whole province with his inanities, but at least he’s smart enough not to use his real name.
Assuming he knows it.
@ achilles:
Ouch, clever retort.
” . . . the common sense COVID precautions . . . ”
. . . are the same this year as they were last year, and the year before, and the year before, and . . .
Of course they are.
If God is with Donald Trump, no Chinese bio-terror agent can be against him. He’ll be right as rain in a week.
I’m more concerned—much more—that his enemies will try to assassinate him in hospital.
Can the president count on the loyalty of the entire staff of Walter Reed?
How do we know we can?
In addition how do we know his contacting the CCP virus was not an assassination attempt? Never the less he will be back to make the Liberals cry again, with a landslide 2020 victory.
You don’t really believe that God is less capable of protecting DJT from his enemies at Walter Ried than He is the chicoms, do you SG?
My first thought when I heard it…is there a chicom agent getting a hero’s welcome in China.
The Leader is a Superman! No China Virus can harm The Leader!
Waiting for Jim Acosta’s reaction that its all lies. Followed by China’s Hollywood demanding to know when he is going to die so they can celebrate.
Doc just said Trump was diagnosed positive “72 hours ago”?
CNN will soon report Trump’s doctors claimed they’ve cured the common cold.
Trump makes a full recovery, radical leftists already formulating self-infection for sympathy, sensing the ground breaking away?
Meanwhile the EU moves to a cashless economy and quietly plans for perpetual bonds, where the principal is never repaid.
According to Martin Armstrong, who senses a giant covid takeover with Demarxists signed on for cashless globalist nirvanannuities.
As he said, they’ll simply spend what they get, which is never what they say it will be, and then break the bank with borowing.
And true to form every time, blame us for being too greedy, or lazy or not socialist. Joe’s party? Sucker play all the way.
He’s arguing the neo-regals now pursue that model of despotic governance onto climate change lockdowns with a UN carbon tax.
Apparently this guy is legendary; he must be because aside from Michael Campbell on the radio, you pay for his thoughts.
At the very least we are watching the same movie, but it’s turning into a horror flick. Progressivism – taxation, inflation, war.
The Head Doctor had more patience that I would have had. Stupid reporters trying and trying to get ” has he been in oxygen” question multiple times, Dont they have ears? The Doctor said NO, he never was and doesnt need it!
Most ignorant question. – Why is he at Walter Reed? The Doctor shot back – Because he is the President of the United States.
No doubt in his mind – he thought to add – dumbass!!
God Bless President Trump and keep him well. The First Lady also!
The media is a group of cynical, holier than thou con artists, looking to play wordsmith with anything anybody says. They dissect the most innocent of phrases and word combinations, to stretch the limits of believability beyond the actual truth.
Hyperbole, Exaggeration, and Propaganda, is the business of the MSM
Actually, this has since been confirmed by White House – Trump WAS on oxygen at WH prior to being transferred to Walter Reed.
Dr. Conley’s repeated, convoluted wording of Trump not being on O2 “currently” was the obvious giveaway that he was trying to hide something. The real question is, why even try to mislead the public? Simply saying “The President was briefly given some supplemental oxygen as a precaution on Friday, but he no longer requires it now” would’ve been truthful and straightforward. Instead, it’s another blow to the administration’s credibility, another self-inflicted wound from Trump’s merry band of amateurs.
Sean, if you don’t bate the hook, the fish won’t bite. Saying nothing, in today’s world , with lying press, is best option
Of course right-wing politicians catch Covid. They’re mixing with people all the time. It’s part of being a good leader. They don’t hide. On the other hand, has anyone tabulated the Covid cases among the Antifa/BLM rioters? I bet there have been many.
Wait, did Doc just say that it’s been ***72 hours*** since Trump was diagnosed positive?
The hacks did not like the answers they got. Sure enough, they quickly invented an anonymous source willing to say what they wanted to hear.
“The president’s vitals over the last 24 hours were very concerning and the next 48 hours will be critical in terms of his care,” they claimed this phantom said. “We’re still not on a clear path to a full recovery.”
Of course he is—unless that’s a coded message for an assassination attempt by an agent in Walter Reed in that time frame.
Nurses LaQuisha, Juanita and Aisha have their orders, I’m sure. I hope the Secret Service are watching them.
I believe this is the actual “quote” from yet another unnamed “official:”
“Twenty-four hours ago, there was real concern about the President’s vitals,” the official said. “For the past 12 hours, there has been zero concern. Early indications are for an extremely good prognosis – but the next 48 hours will be critical.”
Here’s more:
“At the press conference, Dr. Sean Dooley said that cardiac, kidney and liver functions are all normal, that Trump is not on oxygen and is not having any difficulty breathing or walking. He quoted Trump as saying: “I feel like I could walk out of here today.” Separately, Dr. Brian Garibaldi described Trump as being in “such great spirits.” The doctors also said Trump had been fever-free for 24 hours, and that symptoms of a nasal cough and fatigue had all “resolved.” However, they did not give a date for when Trump may leave the center.”
As usual, we have to fact check the mediocracy since they are fine with lies by omission and spin to change meanings of words.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/white-house-physician-update-trumps-condition-covid-walter-reed
The source was Mark Meadows, Trump’s own Chief of Staff.
Never heard of Evan Dyer – it’s the CBC so you’ll have to excuse my ignorance – He wouldn’t be related to Gwynne Dyer by any chance would he?
There isn’t racism in CBC, its nepotism. This article alludes to you being correct, in which case it is just another, in my opinion, a lack-of-merit grifter/parasite spewing Globalist filth on the public dole.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/waikato-times/life-style/614413/A-very-Dyer-situation
If POTUS had contracted covid when Bojo did, I’d have been worried. Hard to believe it was in April. Has the media been in a coma for 6 months; effective therapies have emerged, maybe not cures or panaceas, but successful, never the less.
The media has been in a coma since 2015, or even before that possibly.
Our own immune systems appear to be the best therapy, as we have a 99.8% recovery rate.
All non-smokers. (Giammattei quit (ironically) for health reasons). Q.E.D.
It appears that Trump was taken off of the hydroxychloroquine. I think his doctors were intimidated and caved.
He may have been symptomatic during the first debate.
Well this sure proves that CBC needs to go…Defund CBC and stop sending out Taxpayers hard earned money to this Junk FAKE Media named CBC. GO TRUMP GO…GO TRUMP 2020!!
Now everyone can show their support! –
Mad Liberals
@mad_liberals
In support of our dear President and his battle to beat COVID, let’s all put up orange lights on our homes until the end of the month showing how much we love him. Orange gourds on our doorsteps can also be used. Hollow them out and put lights inside.
I am convinced that Dementia-Joe spends most of his daily hours sleeping in a hyperbaric chamber … like Michael Jackson. Speaking of supplemental oxygen.
Meanwhile … here in N.CA … the wife and I have to wear industrial respirators outside where the multiple arson fires burning have clogged the skies with a constant shower of ash. Speaking of unhealthy oxygen levels. Thanks Gavin. It’s “global warming” … right?
The number of people actively cheering for his death is just staggering to me. Of course, these are the same people with CNN updates hitting their phone every 30 seconds and watching that s#!tshow of a station for five hours a night, so I shouldn’t be surprised.
Mollie Hemingway sums it up perfectly…
**This is the worst possible media at the worst possible time to be covering an unfolding event with massive implications. They could not be more ill-suited to the moment. Their behavior over the last four years by itself has been unconscionable. Now? Nightmare scenario.**
https://mobile.twitter.com/mzhemingway
It’s not REporting, it’s RAGEporting.
(I just made that up)
Most powerful man in the most powerful nation the world has ever seen gets the best available medical care.
The story will become about his hypocrisy for not getting treatment equivalent to the Schwarzenegger up-stairs medical clinic and bail bonds in Compton.
I hope he is back doing virtual fundraisers and tweeting his fingers to the bone while Biden ‘puts a lid on it’ every morning after his gruel.
BTW did you notice Biden is no longer wearing his giant mask when he speaks. Just a regular blue one.
you can bet that trailer trash on the view were ecstatic when they heard the news about Trump
Doctor: He has a cough, he has a fever, but he’s not on oxygen.
Press: So you’re saying he’s on oxygen.
Actually:
Doctor: He has a cough, he has a fever, but he’s not on oxygen CURRENTLY.
Press: So you’re saying he WAS on oxygen earlier?
Doctor: He’s not on oxygen CURRENTLY.
Press: Right, but was he on oxygen earlier?
Doctor: He’s not on oxygen CURRENTLY.
Press: We understand that. Our follow-up question, based on your stiff and contrived wording to the original question, is whether he was on oxygen earlier.
Doctor: He’s not on oxygen CURRENTLY.
Press: [Sigh]
[A short while latter…]
White House: The President was indeed on oxygen earlier on Friday.
I swear it’s like the Trumpists drop down half a dozen grade levels in English language comprehension when it’s anything related to Dear Leader.
You want to be a jerk, Andrew, we can go a round or two.
You’re the one addled by irrational hatred and rigid ideology, so don’t bother projecting your failings on others.
Plain language seems beyond you.
Imagine if they were that dogged about getting the truth out of Joe Biden.
Trump doing well?
Allan S – hardest hit.
mhb23re
Latest update
President Trump releases update, says he’s feeling ‘much better’ after hospitalization
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/president-trump-releases-update-says-hes-feeling-much-better-after-hospitalization
Oxygen schmoxygen
I doubt Trump has very much say in his treatment. The Presidency is an institutional part of the US and any weakness or frailty will be pounced on by US enemies. I expect he was having breathing issues and the WH staff said “Put this on”. He has food tasters, you know. At some point, the institution takes over.
The hard left is divided between those who want to believe President Trump is dying, and the doctors are covering it up, and those who think he is faking the whole thing to get the sympathy vote.
There may be those irrational enough to believe both.