WASHINGTON (MaceNews) – The following is Friday’s status check of developments in the U.S. that can influence economic, health and political outcomes.
· The wrenching change was overpowering, leaving Friday night an empty wasteland of spent emotions, whether for those in MAGA land or for many of those who were just wondering if they really knew how much was suddenly different. On Fox News the MAGAland contingent was bitterly attacking the non-MAGA media for jumping to inappropriate, even appalling conclusions. Anchor Sean Hannity said China should “pay a price” for spreading the virus. Laura Ingraham said the day “was very emotional for many of us who see him as an indispensable man. … Now we’re going to fight for you.”
· The point is not to mock, but to acknowledge the very sincere sense of loss among many whose attachment to Donald Trump is far deeper than a mere political preference. As Ingraham showed in a video of thousands of Virginians in the last campaign chanting, “We love you, we love you,” Trump has been nothing less than their savior. There are many prayers being offered for recovery.
· As Friday night wore on, the virus clung to more victims, like Kellyanne Conway who was one of those at last Saturday’s White House event where the Supreme Court nominee was named. The veteran Trump confidant and until recently, full-time presidential counselor, tweeted that she is feeling fine, with a light cough. Trump campaign chief Bill Stepien was another who was striken. Earlier, two Republican senators who were at that event, North Carolina’s Thom Tillis and Utah’s Mike Lee, reported the same. And Notre Dame’s president John Jenkins, who apologized to his campus community for not wearing a mask. He said the White House had told attendees masks weren’t necessary, everyone had been tested. Both senators happen to be on the Senate Judiciary Committee that a week from Monday will begin the confirmation hearings for Amy Coney Barrett.
· For many White House staffers, who had immediately begun working from home, the high anxiety will continue for days since it can take time for a past infection to become detectable. It is not yet known whether Trump aide Hope Hicks caught the virus from Trump or someone else in the White House or if there was a single source and at what point the virus began to spread.
· President Trump’s condition will be regularly explained in detail by Walter Reed specialists and by Friday night speculation had begun to settle down. Being infused with a still experimental dose of synthetic polyclonal antibodies seemed to some experts to be extreme so early in the treatment regimen. It was followed Friday night by another treatment not yet formally approved for general use, the antiviral Remdesivir. When COVID-19 patients become hospitalized it is typically 10 or 11 days into the infection. That might make next weekend a key inflection point for better or worse.
· The day’s developments up until the embargo lifted on White House spokeswoman Kayleigh McEnany’s notice of hospitalization was the stuff of an escalating drama that reached a crescendo of poignancy when Trump waved to the ropeliners as he entered Marine One. Then things calmed and late in the evening Trump sent chocolates via his chief of staff to a small group of supporters waving American flags outside Walter Reed Medical Center. The entire day was chronicled at frequent intervals at the @macenewsmacro account and elsewhere on this macenews.com site.
· The development with potential repercussions for tens of millions of Americans, pandemic relief negotiations between Treasury Secretary Stephen Mnuchin and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, seemed to be even more firmly on track toward a successful conclusion. Trump’s diagnosis changed the dynamic, according to Pelosi and two negotiation sessions were completed Friday. Pelosi’s view that Trump’s aversion to masks was “a brazen invitation for something like this to happen” was shared by many and also criticized as a too-facile told-you-so by others.
· The Trump campaign may not follow Joe Biden’s action in pulling negative ads during the hospitalization. Biden refrained from repeating his criticisms of Trump’s approach to the virus in his in-person remarks Friday but repeated other attacks on Trump policies.
· The recently renovated presidential ward at Walter Reed includes offices for top White House staff and has already become a hub of activity for the chief of staff and other top aides who so far have tested negative. Wednesday’s vice presidential debate is still on, with some minor adjustments to assure greater social distancing. White House staff bristle at any suggestion of any transfer of power to Vice President Mike Pence.
· Finally the sound of silence, or in this case, the sight of emptiness on Trump’s twitter feed was striking. Until late Friday, the feed sprang to life again. At 11:31p ET: “Going welI, I think! Thank you to all. LOVE!!!”
· Donald Trump’s likely recovery – for a man his age about a 96% certainty – may see a resumption of the tweeted insults, the MAGA rally attacks and often erroneous claims, but for now an unexpected respite from political warfare is to be appreciated along with a beleaguered president who nevertheless capitalizes “LOVE!!!” His doctors say, again, he’s has had his first dose of Remdesivir, is not receiving any supplemental oxygen and is resting comfortably.
· The upcoming week’s economic reports include the Federal Open Market Committee minutes, as Kevin Kastner previews elsewhere on this macenews.com site.
President Trump salutes as he disembarks Marine One upon arrival to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center Friday. (Official White House photo by Tia DuFour.)
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