Donald Trump is “in good spirits,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, and Sen. Lindsey Graham have all said. Many things may be disorganized, but there’s no question what the official White House talking point is, anyway. Separate from any physical symptoms Trump may have, this an obvious lie, because he doesn’t appear to have been in good spirits much lately, what with the election he’s on track to lose and having contracted the often-deadly virus he’s been pretending is going away any minute now, which cannot be improving his mood on a political level if nothing else.
“In good spirits” is intended to project reassurance that Trump is not imminently headed for a ventilator and that Vice President Mike Pence will not be taking over anytime soon. But what exactly are Trump’s symptoms? “The president has had what one person described as cold-like symptoms,” The New York Times reports. He fell asleep on Air Force One on the way home from his Wednesday night rally in Minnesota, which was shorter than usual, and seemed lethargic at Thursday’s fundraiser in New Jersey, where he came into contact with around 100 people.
Meadows said Trump has “mild symptoms” and White House physician Dr. Sean Conley said he can “continue carrying out his duties without disruption while recovering.” Quite unusually, Trump had not tweeted for 11 hours as of this writing, while Melania Trump had described herself in a tweet as having “mild symptoms but overall feeling good.”
COVID-19 isn’t characterized by rapid onset, however, so at this point we don’t know where Trump’s symptoms are headed. He could be one of the people who recovers quickly after relatively mild symptoms. He could have serious but not debilitating symptoms and recover fully. He could become a long hauler, never requiring intensive care but miserably sick for months. He could follow the disease’s most serious path.
That’s one of the scary things about COVID-19—you don’t know how bad it will be, even in the early days of symptoms. It’s a scary thing many Americans have lived with for months now while Trump has imagined himself to be in a perfectly protected bubble and urged governors to reopen more businesses faster. Now he has brought the uncertainty of his own health onto the nation, and we will not be able to trust the truth of what the White House is saying about his condition any step of the way.