Point besoin d’imagination pour écrire des romans puisque la réalité dépasse toujours la fiction pensait Tom Wolfe. Les récents évenements ne peuvent que lui donner raison avec le décès de RBG, le débat catastrophique et maintenant le virus qui s’installe à la Maison-Blanche.
Un peu avant 1 heure du matin, heure américaine, dans la nuit de jeudi à vendredi, Donald Trump postait un tweet informant ses 85 millions de followers qu’il avait contracté la Co-vid-19 ainsi que Melania Trump. En temps normal, on envisagerait les différents scénarios en partant du postulat que Donald Trump est bien malade. Avec ce que prévoit la Constitution dans les cas extrêmes avec le 25e amendement.
La section 1 concerne directement le président
« Section 1. En cas de destitution, décès ou démission du président, le vice-président deviendra président.
La section 4 avait déjà été évoqué et concerne la possibilité d’une initiative lancée par le Vice-président avec l’accord d’une majorité des membres du cabinet.
Section 4. Si le vice-président, ainsi qu’une majorité des principaux fonctionnaires des départements exécutifs ou de tel autre organisme désigné par une loi promulguée par le Congrès, font parvenir au président pro tempore du Sénat et au président de la Chambre des représentants une déclaration écrite les avisant que le président est dans l’incapacité d’exercer les pouvoirs et de remplir les devoirs de sa charge, le vice-président assumera immédiatement ces fonctions en qualité de président par intérim. Par la suite, si le président fait parvenir au président pro tempore du Sénat et au président de la Chambre des représentants une déclaration écrite les informant qu’aucune incapacité n’existe, il reprendra ses fonctions, à moins que le vice-président et une majorité des principaux fonctionnaires des départements exécutifs ou de tel autre organisme désigné par une loi promulguée par le Congrès ne fassent parvenir dans les quatre jours au président pro tempore du Sénat et au président de la Chambre des représentants une déclaration écrite affirmant que le président est incapable d’exercer les pouvoirs et de remplir les devoirs de sa charge. Le Congrès devra alors prendre une décision ; s’il ne siège pas, il se réunira dans ce but dans un délai de 48 heures. Si, dans les 21 jours qui suivront la réception par le Congrès de cette dernière déclaration écrite, ou dans les 21 jours qui suivront la date de la réunion du Congrès, si le Congrès n’est pas en session, ce dernier décide par un vote des deux tiers des deux Chambres que le président est incapable d’exercer les pouvoirs et de remplir les devoirs de sa charge, le vice-président continuera à exercer ces fonctions en qualité de président par intérim ; dans le cas contraire, le président reprendra l’exercice desdites fonctions. »
Mais nous ne sommes pas en temps normal. Pour s’en rendre compte, il suffit de lire les commentaires des lecteurs du New York Times, en grande majorité liberals mais peu enclin aux théories du complot. Et pourtant.
Balayons d’abord les différentes réflexions en partant du fait que Trump a été testé positif. Ironie du sort : il a été testé positif alors que depuis le début il balaie d’un revers de main la gravité de l’épidémie.
Interrogatif
Why does he deserve any compassion and sympathy? Has he shown any to over 200K people who died and their families?
Empathie
No matter how one feels about President Trump, I think that we should keep him in our prayers.
It’s difficult to feel compassion for a man who brought this on himself.
Sarcastique
I sincerely hope that Mr. Trump receives the best healthcare that $750 can buy.
Appel à la raison
Maybe the Trump’s testing positive will send a clear wake up call to them and those they encourage to not take the virus seriously.
Insensibilité
No prayers from me.He broke our hearts by ignoring covid and science , collapsing the economy and the magnified impact of that on social unrest.. poor and out of work people had made protesting “the reason to live”- “la raison de vivre’, then divisive hate
Punitif
He ignored scientists’ advice, he mocked people for wearing a mask, he proposed hoax cures for the virus – I’m only surprised it took him this long to test positive. Karma is everything!
Ironique
Irony of ironies—this could actually help Trump get re-elected.
Fataliste
It is what it is
Prospectif
Trumpism can only be defeated at the polls. If Trump is defeated by the virus, his intolerant politics will find new leadership.
Constitutionnaliste
Time for the 25th amendment to kick in?
Médical
I’ll believe it when I see him on a ventilator.
This is just an attempt to get the election postponed.
Mais au-delà de ces différentes possibilités apparait une autre idée, folle en temps normal : Que ce soit « a hoax » (un canular). Juste quelques exemples :
Has this been independently confirmed by the NYT?
“This is their new hoax.” D.J Trump. Feb 28, 2020.
How do we know this is real/factual? Has anyone traced this to ground? Is there a believable person in a position to verify? I don’t wish illness on anyone. I just don’t know what to believe any more. I certainly DON’T believe ANYTHING that comes as a text message.
The divisive campaign of Donald Trump has left me exhausted and cynical. When I saw this report, my first instinct was that this was a ploy, a hoax. A way for Donald Trump to absent himself from the reality that he is losing an election and fade to black.
Fake news! What a wonderful way to distract from the deplorable performance of the debate.
10% of me doesn’t even believe he’s sick.
Given Mr Trump is an inveterate liar, I see no reason to believe this announcement without concrete evidence.
Test DJT a couple more times, please. Two more positives and DJT is infected otherwise I am not believing a word this man tweets.
Trump is desperate to stay in power. This could be a ploy, a last-ditch con to delay or cancel the election until they can cook something else up.
It’s interesting that after his obscene performance on Wednesday, along with important Republican congressmen condemning the president’s unwillingness to disavow white supremacists, he claims to have contracted the virus. I’m not entirely convinced.
We have heard so many lies that we must at least consider this is a lie and a last desperate attempt to go for the sympathy vote.
NYT needs to be careful here. Trump’s tweets haven’t exactly been truthful in the past and there’s obviously no way to access his medical records to prove this is true, but we’re just going to take him at his word? This provides him (who’s trailing in the polls) with a way to stop campaigning, stop debating, and be a 74 year old survivor of Covid-19? He’ll be a hero. A martyr. Someone who’s been right all along about Covid being a hoax. And, unfortunately, not at all below his campaign at this point. Is this sensational headline playing right into his strategy? I hate everything about that question.
I wish the best to Mr. President and his family. Also I really hope there is no 4D “political” chess in this…
It is not sour grapes to question whether Trump actually has Covid-19 or not. After 4 years of “alternative facts”, it is intelligent to challenge literally anything and everything that this White House announces.
Could he be lying? I mean this sounds like the plot of a bad movie.
Que peut-il alors arriver ? Scénarios de politique fiction
1) He makes a full recovery and declares covid once and for all an overblown flu. Perhaps coinciding with the monetization of a miracle cure or vaccine. He uses his recovery as a reality twitter show to monopolize national attention prior to the election, slowly building up to his triumphant overcoming as commander in chief.
2) With all signs pointing to an election loss, the positive result is an opportunity to replace Trump at the last-minute with Pence as the president and Pompeo as VP. With Trump’s incompetence and bluster out, the Republican base will easily switch the conman for two neocon men. They will in turn pardon him and his family of all of his tax crimes. The GOP will have accelerated their long-term goals.
The soft exit: Data shows that he has no chance of winning, it is obvious. The party support is ending. By stepping down he doesn’t lose to much face because of health reasons, it is the best soft exit for a President with a frail ego. Pence will step in etc.
The election delay: He tries to delay the election by any means necessary because he can’t run or campaign. This fuels his lies about the rigged election and gives his cronies the needed time to tilt the table in his favour.
The sympathy vote: By not campaigning he reignites the fear in his base that he might lose. That in turn fires up his base more then ever.
The miracle: Having a cure at the ready (or not – he might be lying about being sick) he miraculously recovers right before the election, dominates the news and promises the end of the virus because there is a cure and it worked on him. This in turn fires up his base.
The distraction: Having poor ratings in pretty much every part of the news cycle on every subject from debates to tax (even on Fox propaganda). This is the ultimate distraction to be back in the headlines and drown out the news.
Un peu plus simple
If Trump becomes incapacitated and Pence also gets the virus, we are looking toward a complete change in government as the Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, becomes President according to our Constitution. May the Almighty be with us.